New-York tribune., 1878-12-30
IDTyNIIN1 JEJUODN.

Elsewhere we print extracts from private
letter from the wife Of prominent Louisiana
Rcuubi,an to friend in New England,
which give the reader = glimpse of the po-
litlcal situation ~ that state The writer had
40 thought tnat the letter. or any portion OF
i, would Lc published, but simply recorded
in private communication 10 pG-onal
fil,nd the fact- that had fallen within h', own
knowledge apd partly under her own Obscrya-
tiop The narrative j. not open to the 0bI,C-
ti0n, therefore, Of havinG been prepared iol
the public eye and with the purpose of inilu-
cnciDg public opinion. II j. only plain ,torI
or what il costs tn bc "a Republican,, or 10 have
ANY opinions III opposition Ia ia" ruling CLASSES
i'm Louisiana. There j. some thing painfully
pathttic in the apology which this lady, IN
the closing extract, offers for the recital OF
this story Oi wrongs, OutTa@rS and murders.
il would take volumcs." she says, "to tell You
" what know and yet know 50 h,tic, COM
"parariycly and perhaps You may be like the
6. North generally, tncd Of the bloody shirt -
II is thi5 tone Of despair, this feeling Of hav-
mp been abandoned 10y the North to the tender
mcrcics Of rufianS, which finds expression in
the closing sentences OF the letter, that
furnishes the key to the present situation
"Thc trouble is not new" she says, OF in any
way different from that III preceding cam
"pagne, except that there was no protection this
time: formerly there WAS little" Doubt
less, in woman'o way, withou! reasoning upon
rcfncmrnts Of constitutional law and State
rights. she would like to zee these great
wrongs rcmcdird and something lik" pIotcc-
ton afforded the citizen by Federal iutcricr
4 4 .G...t ft..,
so. WITH u weary and dcspairinE compichcn-
SION Of the imposSibii!y Of such a thing, she
SAYS, I've are doomed at home, and aban
"dOncd abroad
1his is but one Of many similar cases. Be
IT "blOOdy shirt" or not, one thing is true be-
yond question, and that is that the desperate
men who lead and control the Democratic
uarty NJ the South are determined not merely
to have their own way, but to have
It mobStluctcd and unoppo,cd. They
brook no differences Of opinion, bat stamp
out aud pnt down hy violence and nllm-
idatIon, arson and murder, every sign
Of oDpoSilion. II is "a reasonable statement.
we think, tnat a man in Louisiana or South
Carolina or Florida may be u Republican aud
at the slmc time IN honest man and a pa
/
Southern society as now constituted toll
| crates no such thing. The citizen WHO
votes the Republican ticket is ostIa-
cised socially, and what is worsc, Is
put in daily peril Of life and prop
crty. II not absolutely so, it comes very
near being true that the active Republican Is
virtually outawed. Public opinion furnishes
him no protection from wrong and no re-
dress for injury. This 1t Is that gives the
Democracy "a Solid South, and makes that
party, with its Northern minority. 80 formid-
able in the Nation. But they say that comment
upon such state OF affairs il "hoistlng the
"bloody shirt again. and reyiving the ami
moeItles of the war = and if any one whis-
pers that it is II condition OF things which
calls for investigation, in order that the meth
DDS and the purposes of the party that profits
by it may be known, they say he advocates
a return to the policy of military government.