The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-10-23
ACKLEN.
THE DEMOCRACY or ASCENSION IN
COUNCIL.

At large meeting held in Ascension, or
Saturday last. the following speech was dc
livered by Hon. J. Ell. Acklen, who was intro
duced by Hon. i. N. Sims:
FetIo1v- Citizens Of The Parish Of A sccnsio1t-
Two years have passed since had the honor
of addressing you In this hall; but on that
occasion q little incident occurred which in
CelibIy impressed Che meeting on my mind
Owing to o displacement of the trap door on
the platform. met with 81 fall, but rising. |
remarked that the audience in this case saw
but the fell Of an Individual, whereas, In the
then coming election they would witness the
fall from power of that band OF Kepubllcan,
political buccaneers who had SO burdened
our people and well nigh ruined our State,
The words were prophetic, and our Demo
cratic victory OF 1876 verified their truth.
Two years have now rolled by since thaC
great campaign-a campaign that shook the
political and social interests OF Louisiana to
their very foundations; o. campaign that
awoke 50 keen an interest in the hearts OF our
people that. realizing that then or never they
effort, threw off the yoke that had long op-
pressed them, and wore rid, trust forever,
Of the thieves who for years had plundered
the people, bankrupted the State, and brought
us indeed to the very verge Of ruin. But the
two years that have passed have been like
wise fruitful in history to this nation. In this
time have we seen perpetrated by that same
party, whose iron rule has crushed the South,
Lu6 GEcHbtSb CLlIl6 hShluSb LlS COlkStlbubou
and the rights Of o free people that has
marked our history since we have been o ma
tion-the theft Of the presidency. They
have marked the utter falsity Of the blatant
administration, indicted into office through
fraud, attempted to soothe the waves Of in
dignation that ran riot in the hearts Of the
people Of the Suites. They have shown the
sPG ce Of criminals Fewafd h'o by
placed in positions OF high trust and honor
by an administration that halted slip-shod
in the path of justice, and mee6ly, gave way
under the party lash to abuses whose rcfOr
nation had been promised to the people. We
have also seen, under q vicious attempt at
forced resumption and contraction Of the cur
rency, one Of the severest financial crises
ever endured by the nation. And we yet see
this same party boldly proclaiming the same
financial doctrines that have we'll nigh ruined
the country, willing to sacrifice the life blood
OF the people to pay the penalty of the bond.
But IL these fateful years have made sad
pages in our history, they have likewise,
ing overthrow OF Republican rule. This
party has sown tho wind and shall reap the
whirlwind; and the forest Of fraud that has
grown from the corrupt, sowing OF years is
storm OF principle, and honesty, and WILL after
1880, be known only as Il thing Of tho past. +
Before discussing, however, the great issues
Of the day let me hold up the mirror to re-
party. 1t is unnecessary to go into the ques-
tionable parentage of this bastard offspring
OF the old Free Soil party Of l848, whose loins
were lined by worthless Wings and apostate
1864. and which was born in 1856 with full
anti-slavery tendencies as q menace and
curse to the South
Whenthe exigency that calls into life a party
! causes Intervene to feed afresh it's whitening
y trunk. The war was ended the great issues
Between the North and South which had been
Telegated to the God of Battle We're decided
and the stars and stripes waved VIGOROUSLY
in every Southern town. -Four millions OF
enfranchised blacks had become citizens of
the States, and the Republican party had vic
toriously vindicated it's principles and accom-
plished its mission. But the men who had
ridden to power on the tidal wave Of battle
had held too long the reins to readily release
their grasp on office: so to still control the
government they must invent new issues
They would attempt farce that might end q
tragedy. And SO the words q rebel South
were pinned to q "bloody shirt" and hoisted
as their political banner. And now, mark the
result; for eight years o President Of the
United States, conducted the admins
tration of tho government towards
nation over conquered provinces. Aye, even
worse; for whereas such nation would natur-
ally guard and protect, in their own interest,
the country they had conquered, the South,
ruined, bleeding and torn from the results of
the war, was handed over to q worse fate
than that of military despotism. She was
placed by the Republican party in the
hands Of the most Inscriptions political
freebooters that history records Then indeed,
the state of political affairs in Louisiana was
fearful to contemplate. Her body polite was
rotten to the core. The administration of her
finances was in the hands of men whose sole
object in obtaining office, was to prostitute
their positions to purposes Of personal gain;
men who regarded the Legislature of the
State not as body for framing laws to
protect the rights and liberties of the
run in the interest Of lottery companies,
market-house rings, and other Jobs OF private
and public plunder. The Democratic victory
of '76 has, thank God, swept these leechCs
the honest representatives Of the people,
who have the interest of their State truly at
heart to guard against extravaganza in pub
lie expenditures, and let the State gradually
come back to that prosperity Of other days
which was destroyed by the twelve long years
of misrule following the war.
The memory Of these days IS still fresh in
your minds, for the iron Of political and
Thank God, however the day has passed
when Republicans in the North can win po-
litical victories under that bloody banner by
the cry, that the Rebel spirit still fingers in
our hearts, ready to burst forth anew and en-
gulf the States in another civil war.
iIteS say bllS W CllLou ID Ullb
'solid South Well, my friends, admit the
South is solid, but for no reasonable pur-
poses. She is solid for reform; she is solid
for the recognition of her rights and privi-
leges; solid for national aid for her levees and
internal improvements, and, thank God! she
will be solid in 1880 for a President who shall
TaaliZa that wa arc I1ot provinces, but States,
holding equal rights with all the others Of
this glorious Union.
The war and changed circumstances have
exploded some Of the old dogmas of the Dem
ocratic party. AS new occasions teach new
duties, SO must we, with the light of the
present before us, attempt not to open the door
of future prosperity with the rusted key of
past ideas. With us the vitality important
question of national aid for our internal i'm
provements overshadows all the rest. While
we have been suffering for the want of gov
ernmental aid, rich stream has been con-
sttany pouring into the Laps OF the people Of
the South has received but S16000,O00, over
S170,00o0oo has been given to Internal i'm
proveIueHts in the North. Some of their
WretcSai little inletS have heen ira Storm ed