Year: 1875

NOW FOB THE REMEDY.


The Republican majority in the House OF
Representatives has succeeded at last in get
ting the rules into such shape that-to quote
Gen. Buffers phrase-it "can pass bill by
(which the President can be armed with power
"to preserve the peace of the country so long
Gas he remains in the chair" Now let us see
what it will do. There can be no question
that the old reconstruction policy has been
disastrous failure. The rule of the bayOnet
and the deputy-marshal, tho tyranny OF car
pet-bag legislatures, the InceSsant inter-
ference of intimidation laws, the manage
ment of elections from Washington, and the
supervision of the counting by agents
of the Custom -house-all these heroic
devices have served merely to aggra-
vate the disorders of the unhappy South
As a result Of them there are certain districts
virtually without law of any Kind, and with no
government except the tyranny of armed des-
peradoes. The reports of Gen. Morrow and
other army officers, the testimony taken by
both investigating committees at New Orleans,
and the disclosures made to the committees in
Alabama all show that the present policy of
the Administration party leads to the break
down of civil government altogether. And
when We consider what class of men that pol
icy thrusts into power-whlte Adventures
whose only purpose is to steal, and black field
hands who can neither read nor write nor
understand the ordinary language In which
public business is transacted-We have no right
to wonder at the result.


The talk about "intimidatiOn" and political
ruffansm is idle. These are only the symp
toms of o grave disorder; the duty of the
dominant party is to search for the cause.
Gen. Morrow informed tho President that in
Louisiana, while respect and regard were
everywhere expressed for the General Govern
ment, the State authorities were held in uni
versal contempt. Fields were uncultiVated
and buildings were falling to ruin because the
taxes far exceeded the revenues of the
estates. Schools were closed because the
money to support them had been stolen.
There were parishes in which no courts
had been held for years. Judges were
openly charged with corruption. Muir
ders went unpunished. Violence of every sort
was rampant, and the local authorities were
afraid TO interfere. The political situation
"of the State" says Gen. Morrow, is the one
"subect of conversation everywhere, in pub
"lic and private, and among all classes except
the negro who feels no interest in it be-
"cause he does not comprehend it. The State
"Government has not the confidence or re-
"spect of any portion of the community"
And it is to this frghtful maladminstration,
this universal hostility to a corrupt and inefii-
cent despotisnl, that Gen. Morrow attributes
the existence of the Whito League.
"The determination q escape from the
"rule of the present State Government
"is fixed in every mind, and whenever the
opportunity presents itself blow will be
"struck for the liberation Of Louisiana to
"use the expression in common use. A COM
"bination or organization among the white
"men ramities every parish and neighborhood,
land there is perfect unanimity of sentiment
land will be concert of action whenever the
"time comes to take decisive stand" Every
witness who has testified to the prevalence of
intimidation, every white Republican who has
complained of ostracism, confirms Gen. Nor
rows story. Mr.. Dclahoussaye told the HOar
committee the other day that he was for
merly Democrat and Assistant Supervisor
of st. Martins Parish, in which capacity he
carried out the law in legal way" and re-
ected as many az a hundred political votes;
but having suddenly changed his politics and
become a supporter of the hated State Gov
ernment, he was ostracized" by all his neigh
bors and threatened with personal violence.
Of hostility to the negroes on account OF their
race we find no evidence at all. White and
black adherents of the present disgraceful
combination which calls itself State Govern
ment are involved in O common discredit and,
according to some accounts, a common danger.


TO attempt the suppression of these partcu-
lar forms of violence without removing the
great evil from which they spring, is like
plunging patient into tub of ice-water to
cure the heat Of raging fever. If the fac
ton which has now taken control of the Re-
publican House of Representatives retains any
common sense at all-whch we are inclined
to doubt-it must see that military and mar
shals are not what Louisiana needs. Give it
a government under which decent men can
live in peace and security, restore to its people
the right of suffrage of which the shameless
Returning Boards have deprived them, and
all this violence will quickly come to an end.
But if the old policy is to be continued, we
shall have nothing but chronic disorder, diver
siiied by occasional explosions.


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