Rensselaer Union, Volume 5, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 June 1873 — The President’s Proclamation and Louisiana. [ARTICLE]

The President’s Proclamation and Louisiana.

The madness of the Louisiana Democracy is of. such a nature as to admit of no easy cure. To those who remonstrate with them in all kindness upon the imprudence of tlieir course, who would stop them in that cruel policy which is destroying the poor remains of their commerce and wealth left by tlie rebellion, whose only desire is to secure them ease and prosperity, they reply with insults, and rejeet—their friendly counsel with scorn. They seem resolute to persecute the colored race, who are the only resource for the cultivation of their laud, and to drive off Northern capital and enterprise* which can alone save Louisiana from ruin. It is stated that they have made the visit of the Congressional Committee to New Orleans so uncomfortable by their bad manners and childish petulance as to hasten its departure, that they met the Congressmen with insolent remarks, and gave them such a Welcome as can not fail to leave no friendly recollections behind it. Yet Louisiana is a persistent applicant for the bounty of the whole country. A low, marshy: strip of land seated along the mouths of the Mississippi, thinly peopled, impoverished, and decaying, its only hope of improvement or even of preservation lies, wtyire told in the message of one of its Governors, in the. repair of its levees. These embankments that line the river alone save the State from complete submersion. They require constant repairs. Many millions have already been expended upon them since the war. But their condition is still dangerous; they crumble away with each rising flood; they are threatened with total destruction; nor is it incredible that should they still remain neglected they may be wholly swept away, and thc richest land of Louisiana be sunk beneath the Mississippi. In such an event, the Governor’s message assures us New Orleans might still be saved, although even this he thinks not altogether certain. To provide help to secure their levees, therefore, the planters are begging aid from the National Government. Another project for which New Orleans is asking assistance from the North and West is the deepening of the mouth of the Mississippi. * * * * * * * * Such is the condition of this unlucky State. With an extravagant debt, a heavy taxation, small resources, and no help from Immigration, instead of giving all its'errergies to peaceful labor. Hit; madness of its Democratic politicians has nearly plunged it into a civil war. The origin of this contest is one of the'ihost shameful passages iu our history. Those—and we fear there are too few—who have studied carefully the Congressional reports on the Ku-Klux conspiracy will find there the source of the woes of Louisiana. In 1808, the “White Brotherhood.” or the Ku-Klux, began their murderous attempt to convert the Republican population to Democracy. In the spring of that year the elections showed a large Republican majority; in the autumn, so successful had been the efforts of the murderous associations that but a few thousand votes in the, whole State were given for General Grant. In one parish, where the Republican majority was large, no Republican vote was offered. The State was almost unanimous for Seymour and Blair. Yet the horrible means by which the victory was achieved might well bring a blush to the cheek of every Northern supporterof the opposition candidates. Two thousand negroes were murdered or maimed to secure the terrible result. The sworn testimony of many witnesses proves the number and the crime. The “Knights of the White Camellia” rode through the rural parishes inflicting atrocities that are altogether unparalleled. In the famous Bossier negro hunt alone it is shown that nearly two hundred peaceable colored men were killed in one raid. The desired effect was gained. No colored man in many districts dared vote for Grant and Colfax. But from that moment a stain has rested upon Louisiana that not all the floods of the Mississippi can ever wash away. The outrages were continued withvarying intensity through the succeeding elections. We do not believe that many of the merchants -or the planters looked upon them with but horror and dread, yet they made no effort to save the colored population. They have never dared even to rebttke the murderers; and in the last election of 1872,we are told, whole parishes were carried for the Democracy by similar acts of violence. Even Mr. Carpenter was forced to admit that had the vote been fairly taken, Kellogg would have been chosen by a large majority; arid the real question "now to be decided in Louisiana is not whether Kellogg or McEnery is the legal Governor, hut whether the supporters of McEnery are not actual rebels who have endeavored to deprive their fellowcitizens by violence* of the right of voting, and who under the Constitution and the Enforcement act have become outlaws and the enemies of the nation. If the party of McEnery obtained a nominal majority, at the recent election by means as desperate and unlawful as those employed by Seymour and Blair in 1868, when two thousand victims suffered in order that the rights of the people might be overridden and destroyed; if, as the colored citizens told Mr. Carpenter, they were afraid to vote; if the massacre at Colfax properly represents the impulses of that desperate faction which is laboring for the ruin of Louisiana, and seeks to place McEnery in power—we think tha safety of the colored population and the honor of the Union demand the retention of the Kellogg Government. Rejecting the fraudulent returns and the returns of parishes where no free election could be held, Kellogg was certainly chosen. No decision of Congress or of courts could confer legality on the blood-stained election of his opponent. The employment of violence or intimidation in politics is a crime So great as to be inexpiable. We trust that the people of Louisiana will soon learn to think it so. If the white

r-" 1 " ■■ 111 1 population of that State have not sufficient courage to protect the liberties of * all their, people, we hope the aid of the National Government will not prove ineffective — Harper's Weekly.