New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1877-01-02

Tbs freshmen sOf EIississippi ~GEez to-aey
represented in Congress just - they were
when slaves before the war,prwith only
this,difference, that their emancipation has
increased the representative strength ef
their white masters, TheSState of Louis
lana on fair vote ia as laRgely Re
publican as was Mississippi. .Yet, within
the past eight yesrs, Ave organised at
temPts have been mede in the interest Of
the same class. to oveSoome theval of the
majority; four times by violence and
once ,.by fraud. The success.,Cf any
one Of these effects would have
placed the State of L0uisianapin the
same, position that Mississippi now holds.
There ,-oan be no mistake as to tho atti-
tude of the opponents of the tRsp0blican
party in Louisiana towardthe constitutional
smendments. 1t is clearly cut and.well de-
dned. The proof does not rest. upon evi-
dence of violence in any one or more par
ishes, or at any one election. Itis1egibly
written all over the history of the-State
since the termination of the war. The
Legislature of 1866 convened under the
reconstruction policy of PEesidentJ OhnsOn,
ard composed exclusively of white citizens,
many of them still prominent aspirants for
political office, tabled the fourteenth amend
ment by a unanimous vote in both housed,
and passed laws cOnsigning the freedmen
to virtual psoaage. One Of the drst public
efforts to giye practical effect 70 the new
amendment when finally adopted by the
country, was met by the terrible massacre
of July, 1866. No word of condemnation
OF that crime has yet been heard from the
opponents of Republican principles in this
State. 1t is justified and approved. The
judge of t6e criminal court, who refused to
charge the grand Jury In relation to the.
murders then committed, has ever since
been biennisIly re slected to the same of
fee by the majority OF the voters Of the
city of New Orleans.
In the spring of 1868 the Interpolation of
military power under the direction Of Cen
gress enabled the oolored people to exer-
else their newly-eonferred right of suffrage,
and to elect Republican State govern
nent. Whatever may be the. errors or
shortcomings justly ChaEgesble against that
administration (which entered upon it's du.
ties under circumstances Of great dificultyL
it is matter of record that no disposition
was shown to wait and judge it fairly
by its acts, or to accord tOit moral support
in any effort for the general welfare. 1t was
at Ones denOunced as usurpatiOn thrust
upon the people by federal bayonets, and
the young men of the State were invited by
public resolution TO form themselves into
clubs and arm for its overthrow. A few
months later in that same year the candi.
date of the national Democratic party for
the vice presidency of the United States de-
claIed the constitutional amendments void
and the reconstruction acts q nullitE, and
called upon the President to use the army
of the United States 10 suppress the usRrp-
ing Southern governments established
under those enactments. As natural cOu-
sequence of this declaration aud of the
scenes of violence which followed, scarcely
more than five thousand out of the forty
eight Thousand cOlored men in Louisiana
who had voted in the spring for Rspub.
lican Governor were permitted to cast their
votes in the fall for Republican President.
These are matters of nOtOriety. It is
not necessary to trace in detail the
subsequent history of cOlored suE-
frage in this State, through the
Fusion frauds of 1872, the mAssscres of
COlfax and Coushatta, the White League
riots of September, 1874, and the later out
RACES attending the last election, which
have shocked the moral sense of the whole
country. Viewed separately or together,
these crimes disclose one motive; their 40
complement has tended to procure one
end. Their perpetrators are shielded by
public sentiment; their defenders are re-
warded by election to public office in com
munities where hostility to Republican
principles predominates,
It is painful fact in the history Of the
State that when number of white citizens
were arrested, tried and convicted before q
jury in the United States Circuit Court Of
the murder of more than hundred surren.
dered, defenseless Oolored men at Colfax
courthouse, the most influential residents Of
New Orleans formed associations for their
relief. The entertainments given for the
benefit of the sO-called Grant parish suf-
fersrs' were the most popular Of the season.
No terms of opprobrium were found too
strong fer the United States Circnit Judge
who, acting under strict sense Of duty,
held that the proceedings taken under the
reoonstrueticn acts of Congress against
those accused persons were legal and valid,
an no praise too extravagant to be be-
slowed upon the Associate Justice Of the
Supreme Court Of the United States, who,
acting, 1t is to be presumed, under an
equally strict sense Of duty, declared those
proceedings unconstitutional and void.
| Phe Grant parish massacre is still regarded
Y e 8 iustifable assertion of white supremacy.
1t is argued with apparent plausibility
that the disorders admitted to prevail in
some Of the Southern States are the result
Of the inefReiency Of the Republican State
authorities and their inability to enforce
the laws and bring the guilty parties to
justice. II August last the executive of
shis State officially directed the attention Of
tbs State Central Committee OF the op.
posing party TO the organized violence
exercised in certain parishes Of the
State toward prominent Republicans,
The chairman Of that COMMITTEES replied
that the paEishss nsuned were presided over
by Repablioan officials, whose dnty it vas
10 bring evil doors 70 justice under the
stats laws, and that If there was any