Year: 1866




: with an infuriated populace band of as
, sassins in the garb of policemen, headed by
that prince of murderers, the Mayor of New
Orleans, appears in the streets to reap the
} long account of smouldering vengeance.
procession of citizens peaceably bearing
the American flag attempted to appear up
} ON the streets to do honor to a convention
| which, it was said, was to bestow upon
them the natural rights from which their
} race had long been excluded in our coun.


try they are assaulted in the streets with
murderous weapons and dispersed The
members of the convention sitting there


had heard these sounds of tumult also, but


were without apprehension for did not


the American flag float over them, and was


there not an American general there to pro-


them They ordered their sergeant-at arms


to proceed to the houses of absent citizens


to summon their attendance AS he puts


his foot upon the sidewalk emerging from


the building, a murderous and traitorous


shot salutes him in the back he falls welt
ering in blood. A native of Louisiana, a
gallant man, who had taken up arms under
the flag of our country, and served honora-


bly, in Louisiana Union regiment, falls on


the streets of the city slaughtered when in


the peaceable execution of his duty. A
friend conveys him to his vehicle the
shouts of the savage mob salutes him as
he drives off he has not life enough left
to reach his home he hears the cry of the
multitude in the distance he hears it but
he heeds 1t not ; his eye is with his heart,
and that is far away, for he is thinking of
the dear wife and children at home, that
await their dying father with his expir-
ing strength he clasps the shoulder of the
man that drives the vehicle, and says, with
his fainting breath, "Give my love to my
dear wife and child" He expires there be-
| fore he reaches home. A reverend man,
who opened the proceedings that morning
with prayer, who stood beside him who
now addresses you, on the Fourth of July,
when we commemorated the anniversary
| of our nations birth--this reverend man,
fresh from the service of his Maker, invok.
ing blessing ON the leaders of the con-
vention, and descending with the emblem
of peace in his hand to still these furious
men, whom he too little knew--he also is
slaughtered in cold blood and treated with
marks of such savage cruelty that you
would scarcely believe it if | had the
tongue to narrate them to you.


Yes, under the blows of these more than
savages, the wretched Horton sunk to the
ground and barely having time to reach
his home and receive the consultations of his
wife and children-receiving in vain the
best surgical did--he sinks back, and his
spirit returns to his God who gave it.


But who is that l see dragged by me,
where | saw men slaughtered in front of
my own place of business? Who is that,
bareheaded under the scorching rays of an
almost tropical sun, his hair dishevelled,
his garments torn to fragments, his whole
countenance all streaming with blood
who is he thus ruthlessly dragged through
the streets with four armed assalants trail
ing him almost in the dust despite of his
crippled limb He is the man who had
been Governor of Louisiana under that
very Constitution which it is now pretend
ed was so sacred that nobody could say it
should be changed. 1t was the very man
who had enjoyed the confidence of Mr.. Lin
coin, your revered Chief Magistrate Great
applause. 1t was the Honorable Michael
Hahn who was thus ANONYMOUSLY dragged
through the streets of the city


But | cannot dIlate upon these horrors
The public prints have made you all but
too familiar with them Not even the bit |
terest of our foes, | believe, could now tell
tell them without tear. | do not wish to
impress it upon your minds, citizens, that
the whole mass of the population of New
Orleans who Joined in that confederate |
movement were men of this stamp. There
are among them numerous honorable ex-
ceptions-men with whom my life was
safe, and the life of any Union man; but |
I'll nd +nll +rt1lyy | 10
stand in Judgment, that these well meaning
and honorable men cannot control the saw
age element that elevated them to power |
They, in the hands of that mob, have no
power to restrain or disperse; and up to
this moment (and you must blush for the
inhabitants of New Orleans when l say it),
even up to this moment, no meeting of re-
spectacle citizens of New Orleans, of for
mer Confederate sympathies has yet been
held to denounce these bloody and afro
cious murders Can it be that they have
not excited sufficient indignation and SYM
pathy here in the free North | will not |
permit myself to believe it; | will not for
one moment so asperse your good name as
to breathe the thought that there is less
sympathy evinced for the sufferers in this
atrocious tragedy because the greater part
of them were men of African descent. For
each one of those mangled victims was a
man as we are. He had hung upon wo-
mans breast in infancy, and some dear
creature loved him and took him off to his
home to attend him in his dying moments,
with the same sympathies that your rela-
tives in like circumstances would bestow
on you. applause. And more, the Con-
gress of the United States, in the exercise
of their constitutional powers, has proclaim
ed the black man in the South and every
where where this flag floats, citizen of
the United States [great cheeringl, enti-
tied, in the fullest sense of the words to
the enjoyment of all his civil rights and
privileges as such. Therefore | will not
suppose that one tear the less has been
shed, that one sigh the less of sympathy
has heaved the bosoms of the loyal North
because the principal subjects of the ven
geance of the infuriated people in New Or
leans at this time were citizens Of African
descent 1t cannot be that you sympathize
with them less on that account for did not |
the poet well say,


Greasy locks and black complexion cannot forfeit


natures claim


Skins may differ, but affection dwells in white and


black tha