Year: 1874

traordinary chapter in our history. A long
series Of crimes, misfortunes and misgovern-
ment have resulted in civil war. The mad
man Toombs has made speech at Atlanta
breathing the worst spirit of the rebellion-a
speech that is calculated to infiame the pas
sion OF the North, to summon into life the
spirit that awoke with the fall of Sumter and
swept through years of fire and blood to the
surrender OF Lee Kellogg and Penn, chiefs
of the contending governments, address us
letters OF explanation and pretext which will
be read with earnest feeling. The President
has taken the promptest measures to meet
the crisis. He has sent military and naval
forces to New Orleans, and declares he will
take the field to suppress the Penn revolution.
General Sheridan has been ordered to be ready
tor the fed, and he will command all neces-
sary operations. Sheridan In the field
means prompt, unpausing war; Those who
have studied this Southern volcano and the
phenomena OF the past few months will not
be surprised at the eruption. The surprise
will be that it did not come long time ago,
and that the government of q Commonwealth
'Suppooeu W pc Ia poSScooloA Va IA tuo Ie-
sources Of the State and sustained by the
power Of the federal government should have
fallen at o touch like toy house
built of cards We are accustomed to South
American revolutions, when General makes
a pronunci0mie,ato before breakfast, to be Pres
ident at dinner time only to be shot at supper
by more successful General. We have seen
governments suddenly pass away in Spanish
and French countries before pavement mobs,
but generally there was a contest, or the
threat of contest which could only be avoided
by the combatants' magnanimity or severe
and bloody contests. In Saxon countries
revolutions are not made in day, and men of
our sturdy nature do not surrender power
without struggle. But in New Orleans there
has virtually been no struggle. The Kellogg
government iell at the touch. Even as brave
and enterprising a soldier as Longstreet could
do nothing but surrender to the armed bodies
of citizens.


So far as we comprehend the affair it had
all the elements and all the dignity of a revo-
luton. 1t was coup fta, made not by an
ambitious soldier to serve his ends, but by
people against constituted authority. If the
vote Of New Orleans were taken tomorrow we
have no doubt large majority Of the citizens
would sustain the usurpation. Nor do we
doubt that this majority would embrace the
wealth, the social standing and the character
of the Crescent City. The riots in New York
on the occasion of the conscription were the
work OF the ignorant classes, who had been
maddened and betrayed into crime. But here
we have the intelligent classes uniting in an
outbreak against the law. 1t may perhaps
not belong to the argument, but We
cannot fail to see in the revolution the re-
vIval OF the old Confederate spirit. In the
brilliant letter from a correspondent, printed
elsewhere, he shows the extent and ferocity
Of this spirit. What ore called ''White
Leagues" have been formed-that is to say


associations Of white men who would have
no relations with any but those who had
its purposes, and who especially intended
that the negro should have no position of
social or even industrial equality. We find
women commanding husbands, sons and
brothers to join these leagues. The members
armed themselves and assumed military dis
cipline They made war upon the Northern
ers, and implacable war upon any one of
their own faith who did not aid them.
The case of Longstreet is cited MS show
ing the fury of this sentiment Longstreet,
next to Lee and Stonewall Jackson, was the
most accomplished and efficient General of the
! Confederate armies. His genius, his valor
and his fortitude were alike conspicuous


When Lee surrendered at Appomattox Long
street stood by his side, his chief and trusted
lieutenant. When the war was over, instead
of lapsing into the sullen and as history will
be apt to say, selfish seclusion of Lee, he
took ground in favor Of reconstruction,
arguing that the strife was ended and that it
was the duty of every Southern man to
accept that fact as forever determining the
issues OF the war. From that hour he became
marked man, and our correspondent
describes him as living Stunned
life among the men and women who deemed
him their hero and their leader. In this we
see the root of the feeling which has gerra-
mated into one of the most extraordinary rev.
olutions in our history. And it is only an
other form of the spirit of secession.


Unlike the secession movement, however
the revolution in New Orleans is not without
cause that commends itself to the sympa-
thies of mankind. We have had occasion to
dwell at length upon the character of the
Southern governments, and we shall not re-
peat arguments familiar to our readers.
American history has no more painful chap
ter than that of Louisiana since the war,
and there has been no government so shame
less as the government of Kellogg. We have
done all in our power to bring the States into
Republic such governments are possible, for