The People's vindicator. [volume] (Natchitoches, La.) 1874-1883, 1881-06-11

the incuIcat'On Oh hDerai
views aud progressive tenets into the
party II the country, and
particularly "f our OWL State. The Gin
rinnatti Esqsirrr was particularly enlo-
CYSTIC and patronize,l M far beyond merit.
We do not wonder that these efforts
should attract attention, when, with en-
lightene,l people, the hi.le-bound Isonr.
l'onis,n exercised in political feelings and
actions IL the South II q subject Of Ml-
verse comment. They cannot understand
why We should cling to tlose ideas which
can only tend IL prevent those very things
We most clamoroasly desire immigra-
ton and the influx Of Northern capital.
To them, that We should furnish brains
and votes for that wing Of Northern men
whose political theories arr ~ antiquateh
~ the cONrtiers Vi Louis XVI, In o matter
Of special wonder. And yet We cannot
tolerate the person who would dare tell
ns these things. Nay, M u Northern wri-
ter has very justly observed, We regard all
these criticisms, however proper, ~ per-
sonal insults. Deep in M lies the fiction
that We are losers by cause in the late
contest. That II II q fiction, We have on.
~ 10 enquire III ourselves to determine.
II IL true, reconstruction was on evil which
no one can measure save those here who
experienced it, AMI from this sprung bad
officials and ignorant rulers. Bnt recon.
stractiOn was an effect in itself. 1t il
equally true the war was an evil-bring-
ing to our tiresi,les all the horrors to which
mankind can liz subjected. But the war
was an effect. The cause for all these ills
was summed in slavery, IN institution
without adefence and scarcely an apology.
The war and reconstruction have passed
and gone forever, but the blight Of slavery
still remains. 1t remains to meet nv in
the false civilization horn Of aud nurtur.
I'll under II. A civilization that judged
Itself perfect, aud struck down with an
imperi"ns hand every opposition. II
cloaked itselfin the simple toga Of Liberty
in l.6l, and proclaimed that the Nortl,
desired to wrest from us "rights We held
dear" and plunged the people Of the South
into contest which was hopeless from the
hour that Snmpter's gun awoke the slnml'.
ering nation. Defeated in the field, il
Swallowed itself under ANDY JOMNsON's
wing and augmented the ills Of suffering
and ruined people by the enactment Of a
system Of peonage Statutes, and by that
sin made that worse than hell, rconstruc.
ton possible. And yet this civilization, >
rank with fsn'lalism, from its strong hold
Of Bonrbonism, terrorizes those who dare
exposes its sins, and reeking with tin
crimes it has committed against tn.
South AMI her people, brazenly proclaim,
itself the party which has relieved then
If ills.
Ifthcpcople were contente,l and happy nm
der the iron.hanletl rule Of Bourbonisn,
which Is intolerant in all its acts; which
villifies, abuses and terrorixes every citi
zen who dares stand up in the broad ligh
Of our American civilization and indie
pendent government, and proclaim tn
right to speak, think and act, free ftor
the shackles which it has ~ long fasteu
Ell upon the people Of the South; whic
pins its faith to dead issues, aud build
its hopes Of future usefulness, glory an
greatness upon abstract ideas belonging
I" the dead past" and which need q bu
rial no resurrection trumpet can ever col
{" light again, would they clamor for
change and I'll the land with continnou
demands for something better, purel
more in consonsnce with the restless spir
and increasing activity Of the timesi
This same party Of "abstract ideas
and issues settled beneath the sulphuror
smoke Of hundreds of battle fields, a,
etenally vOciferous about the "blooil
shirt" mania Of the Northern Republican
while they fail to discern the crimso
stain on their own garments, while the
shout an nnfaltering fsalty to "soli
SOUTH and appeal with frantic cage
ness to the spirit Of 1861.
To-day there is new generation Of "
ters in the land from what there was ov,
a score Of years ago. Men who have 81
lsrge.l IDEAS, an exalted conception Of Il
needs Of the present times, whose min,
grasp with tenacious power the requir
ments Of progressivenes in politics,
well a. in science and art. These IN,
will not lie hamperel and shackletl
> abstract questions" or dead issues
They propose to battle right royally-n
for q "solid South" nor = "section
I North"-but for one country, with sin
Q larity Of ideas in all its limits, who
0 progress, greatness and grandeur shall
2 their chief aim, and far removed from Il
/ spirit which has made the late session
/; the National Congress a burlesque on d
Lucrative assemblies, the rillicule aud ,
| prOach OF oil classes of well Think,
men.
This spirit horn Of the exigencies Of 4
, times, means . liberty of thought and 9
precision which has hitherto been ftown
down, brow.besten and abused witho
!. stint or measure. If progressive ide
which meet the full measure Of the pr,
ent, are not to be countensnced or tole,
. ted, because they are considered an inn
walton on principles of . century ago