The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1878-01-18

vative platform, their own speeches
aud pledges, snd, moro than all, the
saceed ,pgomise-more sacred bocause III
was tacit, and expressed only by u
look, or grasp Of the hand--that the |
State Of louisiana, 80 long oppressed
and outraged, should be u free susie
once more and 1t home for intelli-
gent beings, come from what quarter
Of the earth they might, and then an
swer ua whether the pledges Of Demo
cratic reform have been redeemed ?
We say they have not, and cannot be
until the present Constitution is oblit-
Grated. -. f,,.,,,.tt,, In =. ..j.,,-. 4
We are asked to ssput up'''f with
amendments to the Constitution and
legislative acts OF reform. We have
shown that no amendments can be
for +ratiacation without
the consent Of: the Republicans In the
Legislature, because the Democrats have
bat q scant majority In the two houses
r 4 inajoftty Of II In an assembly Of
1856 MISREPRESENTATION amendments can
only he proposed for the peoples ballot
by . o. two-thirtis majority Of each
house. The recollections Of Radical
\ nisrule, the gravity of the occasion
and the Importance Of a change TOR
better government are prudeutly left
to the care Of Republicans by q Demo
cratic legislature and q Democratic Adj
|ministration chosen to keep these mat
ters In holy ~trusti We haveia speci-
men OF Republican faith in the Bill oi
|ex-Gov. Hahn, to create commission
70 propose amendments, Of which COM
mission Packard :. IL "a member.
Mr.: Hahn, who lis q facetious
member, should have given his bill
the title, An Act to make Bad Mat
ter Worse. And yet he is more than
an average fair exponent Of Republican
reform. He was, doubtless, inclined to
meet the Democratic thinkers half way.
It IL apparent that we shall be over
wheimed with constitutional amend
u,ents,s bills and resolutions for reform,
and an arid waste of make-shifts, with.
out one effort at killing blow at the
" rongs from which the people suffer
and to right which the Democrats in
the legislature were elected. "a. to1lta
Against this last and greatest injustice
we hero solemnly protest. The life
and soul of the Democratic victories in
this State, ever since the war, was not
y sabmission to a government violent
~ imposed upon the people; but q con
tihuous warfare against it. We see
the gradual lisintegration of political
parties, the wild haste OF men to catch
the popular breeze and the wide chasm
which still yawns between Louisiana
and her final redemption. Actuated
by the spirit of compromise, whether
with Wheeler, or Hayes, or by that OF
submission, the people had better long
since have recognized their allegiance
to Radicaiism and made no efforts to
be free. The wasted energies of resis-
lance, the mental agony suffered, and
the almost super-human endurance Of
the people might have been econo.
mized by q philanthropic resignation
to fate, and the whole might now be
balanced had the people only manft,lly
folded their arms and met death with
the indifference Of Comanche savages.
Such, at least, Is the natural and log
ical deduction to be made from the &C.
tion Of our legislators, upon whose
dull, cold ears are falling the walls of a
people bankrupt in fortune and hope
less for the future without instant re-
lief. s,,e.. A. ....U -.., s.... .a
LETTER FROM COL. GREENE, Elk.
STATE SENATOR. .a.- ....