Year: 1872

|


Carter. The Democrats of the House are


thus mainly with him, avOwiDg that their


chief demand is REFORM and that they see


more hope of this from the Carter members


than from Warmoth. The cOlOred members


are principally nti-Warmoth, they having


followed the lead of the late Lieutenant
| Governor Dunn. There is thus seen the
| strange sight of Democrats and ex-rebels
| allied with literally black Republicans for
| the sake of relief from fagitious govern
ment.


| In its former stages the quarrel has been
called one of Grant and anti-Grant, tut 1T
has been proven that the President was not
responsible for the aspect thus given to 1T.
| In our Judgment he should have shown this
more cOnspicuously than he has. The Gus
tomhouse convention affair ought to have


been followed by the dismissal of one or
more of the meddlesOme officials engaged
in it. Later, the employment of the cutter
Wilderness as a refuge for anti-W Warnoth
Senators eluding their sergeants alarms,


was disreputable. Some pretended friends
of the President meanly compromised lin
in these matters, with which, however, no
proof connects him, while the evidence
shows that he had nothing to do with them.
The call upon him for martial law as War
moth extinguisher he has refused, with
good sense and clearness that the country
likes, thereby confusing the ranters who
accuse him of an eagerness for military in
reference in the South. His course herein
commands respect North and South, and it
is significant that in Louisiana nearly all
parties now profess to be for Grant. The
Democrats have faith in him as a friend Of
State that Warmoth would crush and the
Warmoth men pay tribute to the prevalent
Grant feeling by pretending to share in it.
The St. Louis Democrat may indulge in
broad assertions, but it can not point to
single act of Governor Warmoth in con-
nection with the organization of the Gen
! eral Assembly that has been arbitrary or
unlawful. The promptings Of the Carter
factionists have emanated from Democratic
politicians, who have used all the physical
force that a party which lacks the conf
dence of the people could command. In
| other words, the mob has been composed
of such small numbers that it was powerless.
The Louisville Ledger is still oblivious to
the fact that the chief conspirators against
| the peace of the State are Democrats, and
that Carters appeal was intended as much
| to call his Democratic Ku-Klux allies to
arms as to invoke the aid of his negro
| adherents." The Ledger say:


AT the tlme we Wrlte, tne ldteSt NEWS
| from New Orleans indicates that the con-
| tiict so long threatened, and so much to be
| deplOred on account OF the business and


reputation of that unfortunate city, will
| commence before these lines reach the eye


of the reader. The two miserable factions


which for weeks have been cOntending for


the spOils of the State have been unable to


agree upon any settlement which would
| afford them equal opportunities to rob the
| I'd 10 hx-a la


nation, deliberately calls his negro ad-


herents to arms, and announces his deter
| miuation to remove by force, if necessary.
| the Metropolitan police and other armed
| men who guard the deliberations of the
| WarmOth Legislature. OF course such a
| movement will be resisted, and thus the


scenes of strife and bloOdshed, which it
| seems are inseparably connected with Rad
| ical rule in this country, will be inaugur-
| ated in the streets of the first city of the
| South How many innocent men will lose
| their lives or their property In the lndls-
| criminate slaughter and burning which
| must inevitably ensue no one can predict


but the record of all such struggles shows


that, as a rule, the guilty escape and the
innocent suffer


We have refrained from expressing any


opinion upon the merits OF this disgraceful
| controversy, if, indeed it has any merits,
and we do not intend now to intimate a
preference for either of the cOntending fac
| lions. Our concern has been, and still is,


for the impoverished, distracted, and op-


pressed people of the city and State over


which these pratical cOrmOrants hold abso-
| lutte sway. If the lives, property and taml-


lies of the honest men who perform the
| labor and pay the taxes of the State could
| be assured against harm we should look


with the utmost Indifference upon the I'M


pending contest. and so. we believe. would


nine-tenths of the people throughout the


country.


We take this occasion to repeat what we


said IN substance some days ago, that the


condition of affairs at New Orleans is the


necessary result of the policy adopted for


the government of the South, and affords


the most conclusive evidence, not only OF


the folly of the system, but of the In


capaciy of the Radical party to govern.


Force, fraud and bribery are its choice


agencies in the accomplishment of its self


sh purposes, and all history teaches that


when such means are habitually employed


in the administration of government pub


lie liberty must perish, and the public


peace must, so. ner or later, be broken.


Peaceful remedies are ignored and honest


measures snurned by the most active


and efficient leaders of that party in


the South, and truth cOmpels US to


say that, to a very great extent 1T


is the case in the North also. We


believe that there are many patriotic and


honest public men belonging to that party


men who sincerely desire to see law and
| justice prevail over force and fraud and
| who would scorn to secure a personal or
| political advantage by improper means, but
| they are not the men who shape the policy
| OF the party, or give tone and character to


its administration of public affairs. The


Buffers, Schencks, Harlans, and the men of
| that ilk, are far more potent in the councils


of the party than such statesmen as Trum-
| bull, Schurz or any of their associates who


stand up for law and honesty. If this


latter class of men could once obtain their


proper share of influence in the party or
| ganization, such disgraceful scenes as those
| at New Orleans, and such disgraceful ex-


pOsures as are almost daily made elsewhere,


would instantly cease to bring the blush OF


shame to the faces of the people


| We copy the following extracts of a New


Orleans letter to the st. Louis Democrat,


only remarking, as previously stated that


Governor Warmoth recommended the re-


peal of the very laws which the Carter fac


ton affected to oppose. There was no


'backing down" by Governor Warmoth.


The correspondent says:


The sudden flank movement, or backing
| down of Governor WarmOth, by which he


tion have been fighting, as the price for one
| Democratic Senator to exc out a quorum


has not had the effect of uniting the two


wings OF the Republican party simply be-
| cause with the leaders reform is a means,
| not the end of their warfare. Both sides


now show the cloven foot in their mutual


distrust. Carriers Legislature is afraid to
Z