The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1911-02-09
A Renaissance.
From the New Orleans Times-Democrat.


the agreement must be thorough, or in
days to come justice may be done. There
are men still living who remember the days
succeeding the Civil War, ana
the successful efforts then made to apothe-
osize certain public men and to eternally
damn others who were better men both IN
private and in public life. This conspiracy
was successful in large measure, and Its
results are still embedded in history, but
perhaps the last word has not been spoken
in respect of that frightful page in Amerl-
can history. The disinterment of Crom-
wells bones and the spiking OF his head
on the battlements was supposed to have
settled the status of that great Englishman
but the Protector is now re-
garded with reverence, and the mistakes
he made in his administration of affairs are
considered errors of great patriot, whose
every pulse beat for the good and the
greatness of his country.
A few days ago Representative Lamber-
ton introduced in the Kansas Legislature
bill to appropriate $1,000 for bronze tablet
in memory of Senator Edmond G. Ross.
That name means little to-day, but there
was time when it was anathema with the
South haters and when its bearer with
single negative changed the course of the
history of this country, and particularly
that of the South. Elected as radical
Republican from a State that@swas frantic
in its hatred of all things Southern, the
time came when Ross was to decide whether
Andrew johnson should retain his seat as
President, or whether Ben Wade of Ohio
should succeed him. The election of Wade
would have been so far-reaching that no
one can say what would have been the re-
suit, but it is almost certain that the COM
plete devastation of the South would have
been one of the consequences.
Never picturesque character, and dis
posed to be inimical to Southern sentiment,
Andrew johnson has never received the
credit from this section of the country that
was his due. Much he did, but he was
expected to do more, though ne was fight
ing all the time with his back to the wall.
It was Ross vote which saved Johnson from
conviction on the impeachment charge, and
the vote which saved the South also shat
tered the life prospects of the man who
cast it. The Chicago Record Herald says
of the introduction of the resolution tc
honor Ross that it made "many an old
time Kansas turn in his grave" and this
would be true, if skeletons had the slight
est power of motion. Forty-two years age
Ross was the most hated man in Kansas
He received thousands of vituperative let
tiers at his desk in tbs Senate, one of which
said: "Probably the rope with which
Judas hanged himself is lost, but the pis.
tol with which Jim Lane killed himself is al
your SERVICE" He was socially ostracizec
and financially ruined, and went back tt
the printers case to earn his living-bu
he never apologized for his act. 1t was {
dramatic moment when Ross cast the de-
termining vote in the impeachment trial
and this was the only time when Senato
Ross got within the limelight. He gave al
!, exhibition of courage rare in public men
: for he must have known the result of hi
action, for he knew Kansas, and he knew
the Mortons, the Wades and the Stevense
, of his party. Had Johnson been impeachet
, and had Wade succeeded him, the counter
, part of Thaddeus Stevens would have BEEF
, at the throat of the PROSTATE South-an'
) our condition to-day would have been
what no man can conjecture.