The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1879-10-04
APosTHuMQUs PROTEST.

rIOO1aUMVU0s1h O 110l.
Louisiana suffers in the eyes Of her sis
ter;States from the imputation that she
is lawless State, that life and liberty
and property are not secure. This in
jures us by keeping away emigration,
capital, enterprise, aud it also injuries
the Democracy in the North. Chisholm
massacres and Yazoo intolerance are the
strongest, nay the only arguments, used
by Northern Republicans. Ewing is now
struggling against them in Ohio. If he
is defeated, these arguments will defeat
him.
We beg our readers not to attrib-
ute the foregoing remarks to the
CHIEF nor yet to any Of the mouth
pieces Of /" stalwart Radicalism ?
which are so roundly abused by the
opposition for slanlering the peo-
pie of the South and waving the
bloody shirt for political purposes.
We know that the tenor of the ex-
tract would lead nine persons out of
every ten to regard it as emanating
from some such source, and we con-
fess that the sentiments expressed are
wonderfully like those which so fire.
quently found vent through the col
umns of the CHIEF in the days when
the bulldozer held political sway in
several psrishes of Louisiana and
coerced all opposed to him with the
shotgun and the rope; but we call
our readers to witness that it has
been our pleasure for many months
past to portray change for the bet
ter in the political atmosphere of our
State, and that, the outrages of the
bulldoner having ceased, there is no
longer occasion. to publish to the
world that Louisiana. suffers from
the imputation that she is lawless
State" where "life and liberty and
property are not secure"
To satisfy the curiosity concerning
the authorship of the utterances above
quoted which must be felt by all who
were not previously aware of their
source, we will state that they were
made by Congressman E. John Ellis
of the Second Louisiana District in
the course of recent interview with
reporter of the New Orleans Plea
yunc. Mr.. Ellis has long been regard
ed as one of the ablest and foremost
leaders of the Democratic Conserva-
tive party of,this State-tle appel]a-
ton Of silver-tongued Democratic
orator" which he has gained in advo-
eating the cause Of that party is al
most as familiar as his own name
and it may appear strange chat, at
this late hour, man of his position
and opinions should be reviving aud
giving expression to sentiments which
he was one Of the first to condemn
when they had some zeal application
to the condition Of affairs id Louisiana
and when their utterance BY political
leaders like himself would have had
great influence in suppressiug lawless-
ness and putting a stop t. the deeds
Of outrage and murder for opinions
sake that have disgraced this State in
years gone by.
The provocation for this apparent
change of front OH the part Of the sill
yer tongued Congressman is indicated
by another extract from the Picayune's
report of the interview referred to, as
follows:
Our people are divided and distracted;
there is no harmony in the party in the
State, and the emergency calls for Fred.
n. Ogden to so to the head Of affairs in
Louisiana.
The bitter contest which is being
waged by the friends of Wilt and
Ogden for the leadership of the Dem
ocratic- Conservative party is the ill.,
centive, then, to the tardy protest
which Mr.. Ellis, as chief fugleman of
the Ogden faction, raises against the
political murders that used to he of
such common occurrence and the in
tolerance that prevailed in certain
portions of Louisiana when Mr.. Ellis
and his friends either openly vindica-
ted this semi. barbarous condition of
society by silvery speech or palliated
it by golden silence.