Year: 1877

The letter from New Orleans which appears
in The TRIBUNE this morning gives a bright
picture OF the condition of Louisiana on the
day Of its emancipation. The removal OF the
military government which has pressed upon
the people OF that State for fifteen years Is
celebrated not by wild rejoicings, but in a
calm and sensible spirit which promises
peaceful and prosperous future. There are no
SYMPTOMS of the lawcss eXutatiOn which We
were told to expect as soon us the Southern
Democracy found itself at liberty to persecute
the freedman. The planter is not cracking
his whip: the buldozcr is not brandshiDg his
shotgun; the White League is not on
in the woods. Everybody speaks well
of the President; there are even good words
for Packard; there is certainly no disposition
at present to Ostracize Republicans; and, as our
correspondent remarks, "by sudden rcvulsiOn
"Of feeling the people now turn 70 the National
Government with something more nearly
approaching affection than they have expert


"enced for score of years." Instead of
scheming to restrict negro suffrage. as they
might do by imposing publications of property
or intelligence, the white party III Louisiana
avOws lis intention to extend and perfect the
school system, and thus to avoid the danger
of an ignorant constituency by giving the blacks
an education. The same sensible policy is urged
in South Carolina, where Gov. Hampton advises
the Legislature /" to place within the reach OF
"evcry child, the poorest as well as the richest,
"black as well as white the means of ac


"duiring an honest and honorable education"


All these indications of a wise and liberal
,I,o oh nv ha Rn
publican party with deep interest, the more so
because of an erroneous idea that Hampton
and Nichols are required to vindlcate the
"Presidents policy" by keeping the fair prom
ises which they made before they got possession
of their governments. There is vague
notion that the Democratic State
carnations have been recognized in pursuance
Of a sort of agreement, by the terms OF which
these governments have bound themselves TO
treat the colorcd people fairly, and to keep the
peace, and if they break their promises it
seems to be assumed that the Gscrcdit will
somehow be reflected upon President Hayes.
Republican newspapers are constantly declar-
ing that they look to the Democratic party in
Louisiana aud South Carolina to justify the
policy of the President.


This is all wrong. Hampton and Nichols
cannot discredit the Presidents policy by any
thing they may do hereafter, neither can they
Justify it. There has been no compact with
them. They have made pledges voluntarily,
and we hope for their own sake and the sake
of the communities over which they are
placed that thc pledges will be kept, but it
was not in consideration of such pledges that
the President removed the military fiom
Columbia and New-OIleans. The soldiers
were marched away merely because there WIS
no domestic violence which authorized tie
Federal Executive to employ them in the
service to which they had previously been as
signed. The new Southern policy is not ba3cd
upon the pIOmlses of two Southern Gov
ernors, but upon the principle of the
right of every State to govern it,
self and 10 settle ifs own controversies.
II is a striking illustration of the confusion of
thought and decentralization Of political ciecds
to which the violent practices OF Gen. Grant