New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1877-06-02

publish its extended circulation subject
to the censorship of Major General Benia-
min F. Butler, United States army, COM
mahding the department of the Gulf
We wish especially to divert the atten-
ton of leading Republicans from the
paramount duty of recommending the
best appointments to Office, to the neces-
sity of deciding what position the party
should take upon the questions Just pre-
sented to them:
1. Shall the sectional question be re-
opened on the issues presented in the late
letter of Senator Morton? Or
2. Shall the administration of President
Hayes suppress and supersede that issue
by presenting measures which will re-
unite these sectional antagonists by pro-
noting the interests Of eack? ~
We deprecate the first issue. 1t can
only be insugurated upon an attempt to
enforce the laws of the Union by military
force. We are compelled to say that the
authority of the Federal government has
been set at nsught and nullifed in sever
al of the Southern States, and that the
whole work of establishing Federal su-
premacy must be done over again. We
do not wish to see this enterprise under
taken here It will be attended with con-
sequences too fearful 20 contemplate, and
would involve the establishment of mill
tary rule. The experiment could be just as
we'll made in the coal mines of Pennsyl-
vania as here.
Our Republican friends may be startled
at the following quotation from the New
York Times, a leading journal which has
sustained the Presidents experimental
policy
The sooner we acknowledge that the
Presidents action was surrender of all
that remained of Federal authority in the
form to which the country has been &C.
customed under the reconstruction meas
ures, the better for the President and the
party. He can no more re-assert right
to interfere in matters over which the
| State is, by the constitution, made SUI
preme, than he can restore Mr.. Chamber
lain to the Governorship from which he
was driven.
We are prepared to demonstrate the
impossibiliiy of restoring the power of the
Federal government here The great mass
of the Republican voters are of color.
They have neither arms nor skill to use
them. They have surrendered to supreme
force, and have made terms for future pro-
lection. We doubt whether the Federal
government could rely upon their assist
ance, even with an invading army, and
trust never to see this docile and defense
less population subjected to any such ter
rible test.
We really think the Federal government
may assert its sovereignty with better
effect ia any State or in any case where
the decision OF the Supreme Court may
require to be enforced. We think Louisi-
ana should be relieved as a subject for
any further demonstration of political
morbid anatomy. The doctrine now es-
tablished in Mississippi and Louisiana is
that any community may take it upon
themselves to violate the State law, even
to the open murder Of old men, helpless
girls, and boys below the age of legal
responsibility. They may forbid the State
authorities to investigate or punish for
such offenses, and deny the authority of
the Federal government to protect these
individual citizens.
We fear this disease of lawlessness has
become chronic, and can not be checked
by any remedy more mild than its own
paroxysms.
The other basis of Republican unity
and success is more CONSTANT with the
evident philanthropy Of the President 1t
would seek to conciliate the harmony of
the sections by leading both into fields Of
enterprise and progress sufficient to absorb
the activity, satisfy the wishes, and re-
quire the cooperation of each.
Upon this last basis we should like to
see the President SO organize his offices as
that we shall never hear of the Offices OF
incumbents again. This may be done by
appointing none except competent men Of
the State to Office here, and sending all
other meritorious and peripatetic APP
plicanta to Washington or elsewhere for
subsistence.
The President should then recommend
some such measures as follows, and the
Republican press should impress their
Importance:
/. Such revision Of the tariff as viii
and Sonora to the Pacific.
make it efficient for revenue and prOtso-
ton.
2. The construction on national account
Of a protection Ievse, which will enable
the United States 10 produce IS own
sugar, rice and cotton, in competition
with the eoolis and slave-groHn products
Of other countries.
3. Thea appropriation Of lands and bonds
20 open nnAionnl highway through Texas
a a m Of treaties, supported BY
miAisiEa 81 ehn1aete1 and ability, under
rbieb Sc West and North may End an
onl.ss g.. lAsl4 a.ssiepssesel and snearzeS-
tlas eaerliss IL ihs adjacent siales and
colonies aeon th's eoaiinsak
ana kindrsd zaeasuTsa win kaach
a. Alaeaishn people We value q Rspsb.