Year: 1866

elepsed, after Gen. Sheridan's full report


characterizing the so called riot as a ''pre-


meditated massacre, after the report of


the Military Commission appointed by
| General Baird to investigate the affair, after


the exodus of SO many well known Unionists
| OF Louisiana on account of the total want Of


governmental protection this plea can no
longer be urged: and when it is, moreover


remembered that not single arrest of the
guilty parties has been made, and that the


same pardoned, perjured Mayor, with his


murderous rebel police, has been permitted
70 continue the exercise of the power he has
! so greatly abused, nit be elaiFftd, even bv
the most credUlous or the Host charitable.
that the President Is not responsible for the
bloodshed of that day?


But why continue the recital ofthis horri-


bic record. We have before us evidence


from every portion of the South, proving the


extent and increasing volume of the spirit


OF intolerance and pesecution above set forth


This committee Is in possession of informa-


ton that Union men dare not attend this


convention for fear of violence upon their


return. Gentlemen of this convention have.


since in this city, received notices warning


them not to return home. We have omitted


the relation Of acts of ferocity and barbarism


too horrible to relate and the recital of which


would scarcely be credited by humane


civilized people. We submit to the Impair


tIal judgment of the American people, if


these State governments, thus ruled by a


disunion oligarchy, and based on the politi-
cal disfranchisement Of three millions Of


colored citizens and the social disfranchise-


ment Of the entire loyal white citizens, are
republican in form? OF doubtful legal exist
ence, they. are undoubtedly despetic in the
interest Of treason, as We Of the South know
but teo well.


The review of the condition of the South


before the war, and Of the events which


transpired since, brings us to the considera-


tIon Of the confirmed, consolidated, intoler-
ant and defiant powers of disunion which
now control every department of the nom
reconstructed States.


All Of the restraining influences in favor
of the Union as existing before the war have


perished from the land, save the feeble light
kept alive by the loyaists. The armed eff
forts to overthrow the Government having


been treated solely as an unsuccessful but
heroic act, the leaders of the rebellion stand
justified in the eyes of their own people.
This is the basis of their moral justification.


They possess the lands Of the South


through the faVoritism of the military des-
potism enthroned at Richmond during the
war. They absorbed by contracts and spec
ulation the wealth Of our section. They
have been confirmed In the possession of
this i'll gotten wealth By the paTdoning pow
er Of the Executive. By the provisions of
the national bank act requiring local resi-


dence for directors, they possess control OF


the financial power of these States. Thus,
with the lands, the cotton, tobacco and rail-
road wealth and welding the banking infu-
ence of the country, and speaking by au-
thority of the President as the supporters of
his dynasty and administration policy, they
dominate With an absolute power.


If conflict Of arms for the qualification
of sectional and party hatred could be, as we
have seen, precipitated Notwithstanding the
restraining influences which existed preyi-
Gus to the late war. what guarantee have
we against repetition OF the bloody expert |
ment in politics, now that the entire South |
is more intensely sectionalized than ever? |
Overawed by the fearful array of power
which surrounds them, abandoned by the |
President, and impoverished by the ruthless |
rule which has so long oppressed them how |
can the Union men Of the South hope, unai- |
ded, to maintain their ground


The remedy which is proposed in the |
Presidents policy will only increase our |
and open the way for perpetuating |
the tyranny of our oppressors. The admis- |
sion of the Representatives of these treasoua-
bic conventions into Congress, carries with |
it the admission OF their vote in the Electo- |
raj College, They viii on many vital ques-
tons of legislation, hold the balance of pow |
er in Congress, and they will also hold the
balance of power in Presidential elections.
The effect of their vote in Congress, it is
true, can be neutralized by keeping in the |
halls of the National Legislature a solid body |
of men with whom it viii be impossible for
the agents of treason to affiliate. But the |
same check cannot be applied in the electo-
raj College. The hope Of welding the uni
ted Southern vote in the next Presidential
election has already corrupted the fountains
of national justice at the Capitol Anopen
and shameless coalition has been formed |
which needs only for its consumation the
success of the President policy. Into that
coalition have been already drawn, by one
influence or another, men heretofore identi-
fed with the dearest affections of the Amer
lean people. Thus the work of political
corruption VIII go on, the South compact,
defiant and sectionalized with Its anti-repub-
lican institutions resting on negro serfdom
as the corner stone, the North torn by fac
tions and distracted by the ambition of as
piring politicians and contending parties.
This conflict OF sections viii progress trans
ferred from the battlefelds to the halls of
national legislation, The spirit of disunion
will seek to gain by the ballot what it failed
to achieve by the sword. The second open
armed attempt at separation will be simply
a question Of time and favorable oppor-
tunity.


There is but one way to destroy this prin-
eiple of sectionalism in the South 1t is by
overturning the cornerstone on which it
rests. This work cannot be left to the vol
untary act of the disunion class because their
aristocratie, anti American instincts will find
their natural qualification in the secondary
form Of slavery. IF the question of emanci-
patton has been left to the voluntary action
of these States, does any one suppose they
would have adopted the Constitutional
Would their chosen represen-
tatiyes have voted in Congress for the civil
rights bilR Can we look to landed oligar-
chy for measures of liberation for the people?


Fellow -eountrymen, it is our duty to tell
you that nothing can be expected from the
disnnion element in the interest of freedom, |
right or Union. Weare driven to make
this declaration after having exhausted
every means to induce these desperate men
to do justice. We are forced to this conclu-
sion by that blind and intolerant spirit which
has abused the magnanimity of the nation
and returned all our deeds and words of
charity and forgiveness with ingratitude and
The time has come when the
States Of the South must be governed by
those who love the Union and glory in its
fame, or BY those who hate it. There can
/ 4 ~