The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1877-09-15
MEETING AT THE OPERA HOUSE.
A FITTING AND DESERVED Tribute
TO GEN. r. N. OGDEN.

FITTING AND DESERVE TRIBUTE
TO GEN. r. N. OGDEN.
| A appropriate speeches Made by Members Of
the church, fine mar ana the Military.
Yesterday evening" after the various COM
mands had paraded through our streets and
pious hands had decorated the graves of the
| departed heroes a large crowd assembled, ae-
| eordng to appointment, with the view Of con
seerating with eloquent speeches the day that
had been passed SO pleasantly and glorously
The ceremonies of the night were opened
with an eloquent prayer by Rev. Mr.. Markham
after which Mr.. Percy Roberts, the orator of the
day, delivered the following address:
In the history Of all peoples are a certain few,
signal events, which seem instinct with creative
energy. Events which inaugurate epochs,
events which breed large and remote results,
and which set up dates In the calendar of time
to count from.
Such events are pregnant seed. which GERM
tor social and political sustenance. They ore
deep. notches in the staff Of a peoples life,
which keep the record of their great and criti-
OF such events the State of Louisiana has
two. One is the Eighth of January, and the
other. by grace 9f God, and powder dry, is the
II may seem invidious TO compare these two.
and yet, on an occasion like this, a parallel be-
tween them may be run, that shall be as Just as
Without derogating by one jot or little from
the glory Of the Eighth there are yet two things
| fires before the glory of the Fourteenth.
The victory of the 9Th of January was a vic
tory won after the war was actually ended. 1t
true. bnt an enemy hat had effected 10 general
and permanent Judgment; 40 exterior enemy
who. even # the worst had come. would only
have occupied single city, for single day.
The victory of the Fourteenth of September.
on the other hand was u victory won over an
| interior, domestic and multitudinous enemy;
| an enemy that had perineatad us like q poison
Gus malaria sitting our lungs. and carrying
paralysis to every vital function an enemy that
had come TO 9s under the fraudulent efagies Of
law; that had descended on zig with the impal-
| pable impact of frost. and as charged with with
ering wrath; an enemy that had sunk his roots
In every bill and vale and plain in every city,
town and hamlet. and was suck ing the .ch ness
from our soil and absorbing all the nutrment
OF our air; an enemy who had taken deep, ex.
fenced his stolen estate with briery hedges of
constitution and of laws Compared with such
a foe as this. the foe who was conquered on the
9Th OF January was tender friend. feeding us
There is yet another circumstance, which
marks a difference between the Eighth of Jan
uary and the Fourteenth of September, in ia
The victory Of the Eighth of January was a
bed 5 f9py hs pa
otto volunteers Of Kentucky. Tennessee and
Mississippi had focked TO our succor and the
great captain of sister State led them. and us,
But the Fourteenth Of September was Louisi-
ana's work. and Louisiana's W irk alone. Hers
the strong arms alone, which on that day reared
up the PROSTATE State. aud struck her shackes
off. Hers. the captain alone, who on that day
directed those arms, and nervgd them 10 double
strength and heroism. And hers the blood
alone, which on that day gave its red baptism
to our new born liberty.
And Therefore it is that we set apart the Four
M ann rat
Therefore 1t is that we pluck 1t from the roster
of its sister days and set 1t high and alone. and
own 1t YIN bdS aa OF and think Of
The libation of blood poured out that day has
made 1t to US O Sacrament forever, because we
know that the blood then shed was the blood of
After the successful issue of great struggle.
even Its friends and helpers will sometimes diff
aseribe 1t to. one prominent event and some to
another. Many Of our friends. for instance.
refer our redemptlon TO the 9th Of January. last.
who on that morning marched with locked step
and steady tread f, 70 Jackson Square. led by the
same gallant soldier who had led the Fourteenth
of September. They bid us observe that on
that day before the bayonets of those egions
the courthouse fell, the police stations gave UP,
Louisiana SOIL except O single rat hole on Royal
street. passed at once into patriot hands.
All true. and all-gl orious for the brave follows
who made 1t true. And vet he msconceives the
real nature of the event who does not see that
the 9th of January was more an effect than a
that MAJ, ASK hnb nero VINO neaaea me naa2ns
Ogden-and he will tell you that the 9th of Jan-
uary was the. mere elimination of the deed
wrought on the Fourteenth of September He
will tell you that the backbone of the Shiny
thing that had fouled our posts of honor. and
devoured our substance. was broken by the
Fourteenth of September, and that nothing
was left to the 9th Of January but to administer
the coup de grace, and spurn the wretehed car
cass with unarmed heel
nfIG ,nt tayn Ifxttf a., -, Il
we are by virtue OF the 14th of September, and
by virtue OF that alone Without the 18th of
possible. as impossibea lighted earth without
sun. Trace the genesis four recovered hap
plness, anu our recaptrred freedom, and we
are borne as the crow flies straight to the 14th
fresher in the memory, and more proximate in
their relations. but when you seek for the bot.
our restoration. you find it, and only can find
1t, in the I4th Of September.
When we consider that day and the progeny
of tremendous results it has given birth to, we
are amazed that the thieves themselves did not
mark the ominous shadow 1t had cast before it,
For many years Louisiana had been the mere
bookkeeper of her own wrongs. She had been
stripped of her sovereignty, she had been shorn
of all power of self-government. she had been
weighted witt, manacles. and relegated to the
fools. She was kicked by asses, whipped with
scorpions, and preyed on by all IN the unclean
stern record of her wrongs. At last, the
book Of their history was complete. The
measure of her suffering was full. Her gorge
rose. She could swallow no more. The manhood
of the State. which had writhed so long in hope
less agony, arose and girded itself for conflict.
And then 1t was that Louisiana cried aloud for
see with clear eyes to logical results and strong
enough Of heart and hand to shape those re-
isiana reached up for a leader, ana lol at the
beck of her great emergency the hero came.
Came with no blare Of trumpet. with no call Of
bugle. with no beat of drum. Game In his mod
eat citizens dress and took his seat in the tenn
pie prepared by fame, as naturally as If he,
Fred. N. Ogden. had been born there.
Around him Hocked at once the young ehivalry
Of the State, and under his plastic hand and the
hands of the able staff that gathered about him.
grew up, that organic alton. now known where
White League" The League, that 50 ,pricked
the Imagination of Phil Sheridan that he saw q
lurking foe in every. lamp-post and nightly
supped on horrors; the league that 50 shook
she ranted like. common scold. and snuffed
vague odors of possible Stonewall Jacksons:
Al, r