A loyal voice from Louisiana. Speech of Hon. A. P. Dostie, delivered before
the Union Association of New Orleans, Jan. 27, 1866.
Submitted by Jeffrey C. Holtz September 2003

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Fellow-Citizens--The friends of the Union and Liberty, in reviewing the
events that have convulsed our Republic for the past four years' rejoice in
the glorious fact that the most gigantic rebellion upon record has been
crushed--that the "Confederate States of America" are but an idea of the
past. To-day the flag of the United States waves over this vast country,
proclaiming the blessings of freedom and humanity to every man of whatsoever
race or color. Emblazoned upon its ample folds is the motto--No North, no
South, no East, no West--the United States of America, one and indivisible.
The leading traitors of the nation--the Davises and Breckinridges--with many
of lesser stamp, now languish in prisons, awaiting trial and condemnation or
are fugitives from the justice of a people they have clothed in the
habiliments of mourning, and who have doomed them to infamy, as the
murderers of their fathers, sons and brothers. To-day, fellow-citizens, the
nation is sovereign. The Constitution, Laws and Government command treason
to be silent that Justice and Liberty may reconstruct the Republic upon a
basis that shall forever exclude slavery, and establish universal Justice.

The friends of emancipation and of equal rights look triumphantly upon the
overthrow of that infamous system, which was enveloping, with its anaconda
folds, our republican structure, and undermining by its subtle poison the
noblest of governments, that it might build upon its ruins an oligarchical
despotism. We are now a nation of freemen. We claim that the people are the
legitimate source of power. They command the enemies of liberty to cease
their infernal work.
The rebellion, which has baptised our country in blood and caused hundreds
of thousands to seal with their lives their devotion to liberty, has
resulted in the liberation of four millions of human beings. It was a war of
principles--of principles that, when once fairly inaugurated, must result in
a full development of the republican elements which lie at the foundation of
our Government.
The progressive spirit of the age sternly demanded that the despotism, which
the aristocracy of the South arrogated over the poor man, should cease. That
the oppressed should have full privilege to enjoy the inestimable blessings
of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." But that the lingering
aristocrats of the land seek to withhold these from the masses, we have
ample evidence. What mean these late convulsive movements of the enemies of
Democratic Republican liberty throughout the South? Why have they combined
with the Copperheads of the North to overthrow the great work the friends of
republican institutions have accomplished in the last four years?

Do we not discover in their attempts the machinations of a relentless,
hydra-headed aristocracy repudiating still the immortal truths "that all men
are equally free and independent;" that "Government is instituted for the
benefit, protection and security of the people; that no free Government, or
the blessings of liberty, can be preserved to any people, but by a firm
adherence to justice, moderation and virtue?"

Why do the Legislatures of the rebellious States so persistently refuse to
recognize the fact that slavery has ceased to exist in our country? Alas !
are not the men who compose these bodies, and who have met to make laws, the
very men who have for the last four years been imbruing their guilty hands
in the blood of our heroes? Have not they murdered these noble men that
slavery might become the corner stone of their proposed despotism? Can we
trust these men to give to freemen their rights? Patriots and statesmen,
distinguished for their love of the Union and all who truly love their
country, exclaim against the outrage of having such rulers.

We are told by the Democratic party that this is President Johnson's policy.
I do not believe that President Johnson intends to place traitors in power.
I have had the honor of several interviews with him, and I was impressed by
the conviction that he is a true patriot, an honest man and able statesman.
I do not believe it will ever be Andrew Johnson's policy to place political
power in the hands of men who have labored to destroy the most beneficent of
Governments. His past acts and words have ever been in direct antagonism to
this suicidal policy. At Nashville, as Governor of Tennessee, he says: "I,
Andrew Johnson, hereby proclaim liberty--full, broad unconditional
liberty--to every man in Tennessee. Rebellion shall no more pollute our
State. Loyal men, whether black or white shall govern the State." Again as
President of the United States he says: "In adjusting and putting the
Government on its legs again, I think the progress of the work must be put
into the hands of its friends. If a State is to be nursed until it gets
strength, it must be nursed by its friends, not smothered by its enemies."

The great problem of reconstruction before the American people is now being
solved by a Republican Congress, with which the President is in accord.
There is no worthy basis for the Government of States but that basis which
contains the elements of justice and of equal rights. The corner stone of
all republican governments must be the self-evident truths, that "all men
are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with inalienable
rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
Shall the eleven rebellious States, which have declared these immortal
declarations to be contrary to their policy of government, be allowed to
send their representatives to Congress until they abandon their political
heresies, as they have the field? Does not the dignity of the nation demand
this? Does not Freedom itself demand that none shall be sent to our National
Legislature to represent the vital interests of these States, but those who
have been steadfast, devoted upholders of the Union, when the life of the
nation was assailed? If this policy is not adopted and enforced we shall
have treason again in our Congressional halls, and a new set of Davises,
Breckinridges and Slidells will seek to seize the reins of Government and
renew their war upon loyal men and upon the Union.

Heaven grant our Republic may never again be summoned to meet rebellion,
begun by Senators, Legislators and Governors--that Liberty and Civilization
shall be draped in mourning by traitors; men, who, having taken a solemn
oath to maintain the Government, betray it, and thrust their swords of
treason into the very vitals of the nation! In the name of God, let our
Congressional and our Legislative halls be purified from the taint of
treason! We cannot trust men to make laws for our State and for the nation,
who by their traitorous acts, have disfranchised themselves--have forfeited
their right to vote or to hold office under the National or State
Governments. Let them remain disfranchised until the evidence of their
repentance is perfect. If this policy is not pursued, the peace and unity of
the country will be constantly imperiled.

President Johnson has again and again declared that none but loyal men had a
right to rule the country. While Governor of Tennessee he said: "But in
calling a Convention to restore the State, who shall restore and establish
it? Shall the man who gave his means and influence to destroy the
Government? Is he to participate in the great work of reorganization? Shall
he who brought this misery upon the State be permitted to control its
destinies?" Again he says: "Why all this blood and carnage? It was that
treason might be put down and traitors punished; therefore I say, that
traitors should take a back seat in the work of restoration. If there should
be but five thousand men loyal to the Constitution, loyal to freedom, loyal
to justice, these true and faithful men shall control the work of
reorganization and reformation absolutely."

These are words worthy a Democratic Republican President, and we have reason
to believe that our truly Republican Congress will sustain these noble
sentiments. Then will treason be made odious, and genuine loyalty and
unimpeachable integrity be rewarded. Our Republic will no longer be in
danger of being buried beneath the powers of despotism. Treason will no
longer threaten the peace, harmony and unity of the nation. Anarchy,
convulsion and conflict will be among the things of the past.



Citizens:--In this work of reconstruction, let us earnestly labor with the
patriots of our country to establish the principles of universal justice and
impartial freedom. That in the reorganization, equity shall prevail. That
there shall be no repudiation of just debts, and no recognition of the debts
of rebels; no slavery--nothing but justice.

Should men who made the rebellion be permitted to possess the power they
seek, and succeed with the Copperheads of the North in their conspiracies,
we may, indeed, fear for the precious boon of Liberty. We want no rebel
party in disguise. We must not imperil our glorious heritage by a misjudged
magnanimity towards even the remains of an insolent aristocracy. This class
are still contumacious rebels, and, as such, are not worthy of confidence.
They must suffer the ignominy due their crimes, and receive their just
punishment that worketh repentance.

Long years these traitors have plotted the destruction of our Government--of
the Constitution--of Liberty. Let us hope and pray that in this great work
of the reconstruction of States this Union may be based upon the National
recognition of all men's inalienable rights, and that nothing may be
endangered by precipitancy. As Mr. Colfax has said, "Let the work make haste
slowly," and we can then hope that the foundation of our Government, when
reconstructed on the basis of indisputable loyalty and freedom, will be as
"eternal as the stars."

Freedom is the watchword of this age of progress. The decree has gone forth
that Liberty shall rule supreme in this Republic and throughout the world.
The words of our martyred Lincoln were prophetic: "This nation, under God,
shall have a new birth of freedom, and government of the people by the
people and for the people and shall not perish from the earth."

In my opinion, before this work of restoration can be fully consummated,
this Government must recognize and secure the equal political, as well as
religious, civil and moral rights of men.

My Friends, On the question of universal suffrage I feel as did Gadsden, of
South Carolina, in reference to the Stamp Act of 1765, when he exclaimed:
"We stand upon the broad, common ground of those natural rights which we
feel and know as men." The two elements now at work in our land are
striving, the one to perpetuate Freedom, the other to destroy the power
which justice seeks to give man. Whence arises this bitter antagonism to the
free, unconditional and equal rights of the oppressed? Are these rights not
denounced most fiercely by the infamous instigators of the rebellion--the
aristocratic conspirators of this country, who have declared, by words and
by war, that power was more potent than right--and oppression than equity?
The four millions of human beings made free during the past four years are
not recognized as freedmen by their former masters. Their rights are not
respected by them. The terrible events of the past four years have not
opened their eyes to sight in this matter. They will not look upon truths
which are in accordance with the laws of God and republican principles. Who
were the loyal and steadfast friends of the best of Governments in her hour
of peril? Who came forward by hundreds of thousands at the call of Abraham
Lincoln, and fought with a courage unsurpassed by the bravest soldiers,
helping the nation in the darkest hour of danger to turn the tide of battle,
and win the precious victory that made safe the Republic? O friends! let us
be just, and labor to extend to this portion of our fellow-citizens those
rights the God of Nature has bequeathed in common--the right of
self-government--of representation--of the ballot--for until these rights
are given we cannot become fully a nation of freemen. Refuse the just
demands of a brave and loyal people, and internecine war, discord, sectional
and national strife will re-appear, in some form, with their blighting
effects upon the country.

It is said by the enemies of negro suffrage, that this people are uneducated
in the science of government, and therefore unfit for the right of suffrage.
Have they not already proved to the world their capacity to appreciate all
the truths necessary to be understood by the loyal citizens of the United
States in order to maintain the rights of freemen? Do we not find them as
anxious for the acquisition of knowledge as the white race? Contemplate some
of the developments of freedom to this race. Go into the schools of the
freedmen in this State, established by this munificent Government, where
upwards of twenty thousand colored people are being educated. See with what
avidity they apply themselves to the various branches of knowledge. Examine
them in the progress of their various studies. Then, casting aside all
prejudice of color, tell us if they have not capacity to understand and
appreciate the principles which lay at the foundation of a truly republican
government.

The loyal heart of the Nation is fully aroused to the importance o?
educating the race morally, intellectually, civilly and politically. The
great defender of human liberty, Abraham Lincoln, says, in a letter to
Governor Hahn, "I congratulate you in having fixed your name in history as
the first Free State Governor of Louisiana. Now, as you are about to have a
Convention, which, among other things, will possibly define the elective
franchise, I barely suggest to you, whether some of the colored people may
not be let in, as, for instance, the intelligent, and especially those who
have fought gallantly in our ranks. They would probably help in some trying
time to keep the jewel of liberty in the family of Freedom."
President Johnson said, on this question of negro suffrage, "Were I in
Tennessee, I would introduce negro suffrage, gradually, first to those who
had served in the army, those who could read and write, and perhaps a
qualification to others."

The voices of patriots all over the land are proclaiming that freedom and
the right of suffrage are inseparable. It has become a historical fact that
stands out boldly upon American records, that the black men of this country
have vindicated this Government, and "cemented its foundation stones with
their blood." Shall we then refuse them support to maintain the laws? Can we
say, in justice, they shall not become citizens? The voice of Liberty in
thunder tones which shake despotisms and make oppressors tremble, says:
"Freedom means universal rights, universal justice." That voice has been
always speaking, not only in our own country, but through the patriots,
statesmen, poets and philanthropists of other nations. England has
proclaimed universal liberty and human rights, through her Wilberforce, her
Locke, her Pitt, her Shakespeare, and her Milton. Ireland, through her
O'Connell, her Father Mathew, and her Curran, speaks loudly for the precious
boon of liberty. Germany--freedom-loving Germany--sends forth her sweetest
notes of freedom through her Schilier, Luther and Humboldt. France breathed
the pure, immortal flame of liberty from the fires which burst from the
noble heart of Lafayette, whose pulse throbbed with that of our own
Washington, as they struggled together for human rights. Italy boasts her
Garibaldi--thousands of voices chant the strains of liberty at the mention
of that name associated forever with freedom.

In our own beloved land, the combined voices of millions may be heard
speaking for universal freedom, universal justice. Through our martyred
Lincoln, her living Johnson, her Banks, her Butler, and hundreds of others
we speak. Louisiana has her Durant, her Hahn, and many others who are
raising their voices in favor of humanity and universal suffrage.

Can the sneers and scoffs of the enemies of freedom--the hiss of
Copperheads, or the combined powers of any despotism, silence this voice?
Never! Ideas do not travel backwards. This voice of Freedom is now awakening
those who have been fighting in the ranks of treason and rebellion. The
Stephenses, Bells and Reagans of the "so-called Confederacy"--have recently
had the penetration to discover "the truth," that freedom pointed to the
right of suffrage. Who knows but we may live to see the rebels who have gone
to Brazil, in the hopes of finding slavery, return with the conviction that
equal rights, republicanism and democracy are better than slavery and
oppression.

God has given human beings reason and energy, and man has no right to chain
that reason and energy by oppressive laws, or in any way prevent the
exercise of those rights, which in equity belong to all. Kossuth, in
reviewing the rights of man, exclaims, "Liberty is Liberty, as God is God."

The adoption of the constitutional amendment has extirpated slavery from our
country. God grant that all things pertaining to its unjust laws, or to its
spirit may also be extirpated. The rebel Legislatures have recently made
laws in direct opposition to the Constitutional amendment, which reads:
"Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for
crime, whereof the party has been duly convicted, shall exist within the
United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."

These Legislatures also, true to their slavocratic instincts, ignore by
their acts the self-evident truth that man has an inherent right to enjoy
civil, religious and political liberty.

There is not on earth a Republic but this that legislates the rights of man
away. No nation but this disfranchises freedmen because of their color or
race. In slaveholding Brazil they do not go so far as do the enemies of
negro suffrage in this country. In Brazil, freedmen, regardless of color,
are equal before the law, and eligible to any office. In the British West
Indies, the blacks were sent to the Republican Chamber of Deputies, as
representatives. And yet, in what nation, we ask, have they fought for
liberty as they have in our Revolutionary war, in the war of 1812, and in
our recent great struggle for freedom?

In regard to political rights, we do not as a nation stand on the same broad
basis as did our revolutionary fathers. Washington, Jefferson, Hancock and
Hamilton, went to the polls and deposited their ballots where the negroes
did theirs. These revolutionary patriots advocated the cause of equal
rights, and maintained the rights of all freemen to the ballot box. The
black man voted under Washington's Adams', Madison's, and Jackson's
administrations.

In five of the New England States they have been voting ever since the
revolutionary war. In Pennsylvania they continued to vote until 1838.

In Maryland and Virginia they voted until 1832. In New Jersey until 1839;
and in North Carolina and Tennessee until 1835.

Negroes, after fighting in New Orleans under Jackson, helped to elect the
hero to Congress.

The black people of this country have been ardently and universally loyal,
and ever ready to fight against the anti-democratic and anti-republican
principles which despots have sought to establish in this Republic. They are
Americans by birth, and love freedom with an undying love which they
instinctively know is destined for all Americans.

At New Orleans, Mobile, and other cities, how did they spend the fourth of
July, 1865? Was not American Freedom honored by them? Was not the memory of
Abraham Lincoln glorified by this grateful people? On that day, the black
men of this nation proved themselves worthy to assist in carrying out the
principles inculcated by the Declaration of Independence. They proved on
that day their right to demand the same freedom the white man claims.

The negro wants no protection but just and equitable laws. He only asks, in
the spirit of 1776, to be enfranchised from the thralldom of oppression. He
knows as well as we do that distinctions growing out of color or race are
incompatible with justice. This is an age of progress not only for the white
man, but the black man.
The black man is becoming intelligent, and looks upon the enemies of
liberty, just as the intelligent white man looks upon slavery, serfdom,
vagrant acts, oppressions and wrongs, as all just men do. He knows that the
nation imperatively demands equal rights and justice, and believes, with us,
that this demand will be satisfied. He exclaims with the friends of equal
rights: "Let there be freedom for all, education for all, labor for all!"
Justice demands this, and nothing else will be satisfactory.

We want no more Opelousas ordinance, which prohibits freedmen from coming to
town without special permission; which prohibits them liberty on the streets
after ten o'clock at night; which declares that freemen shall not reside
within the limits of the town, unless they be in the regular service of some
white person or former master; which refuses freemen the right to hold
public meetings, to preach, or to carry arms; which refuses them the liberty
to barter, or to sell goods, without the special permission of their
employers, under the penalty of imprisonments, fines or hard labor on the
public roads. Neither must these persistent slavocrats be permitted to put
into operation those infamous laws enacted in the Rebel Democratic
Legislature of 1865, which force freemen to contract away their labor, and
submit themselves to slavery under new names.
We want no negro vagrant laws, no more jail fees, highest bidder, rendition
of poor and indigent persons of color!--no more reminders of the block, the
ball chain, the "nigger dogs" the fugitive slave laws and the slave gangs of
the past.
Let this people alone to enjoy the same protection we are entitled to claim.
Let this people with the aid of justice and liberty, work out their own
destiny. If they will not work, let them starve; but give them an equal
chance with us in the struggle of life.

When the slave oligarchy ruled in the plenitude of its power, the rights of
the laboring classes were trampled under foot. Free labor was reduced to the
level of slave labor. This shall be no more. The fiat has gone forth that
labor shall not be subjected to a domineering, unscrupulous aristocracy. A
new era has dawned upon this country. Labor in the future will be
respectable and dignified, and command the best portion of the fruit it
produces.


The Union party of Louisiana has labored earnestly and faithfully to wipe
out the disgraceful laws of this state, that she might become one of the
brilliant lights of the nation. Abraham Lincoln was the prime mover in this
work of reformation. His sympathies were ever with Republican movements. His
voice, which can never be lost to this nation, was heard on the eye of his
departure from earth declaring his sympathy with the Constitution of 1864,
which ignored the Black Code of this State, abolished slavery and the laws
which governed it from her statute books.

My Friends, The Republican party of Louisiana--counting white men only--are
in a minority in this State. A Rebel Democratic party, composed of
domineering aristocrats, who one year ago were fighting against Republican
liberty, and who today are seeking to crush loyal men, both white and black,
by a renewed tyranny, continue their satanic oppressions and wrongs, while
they attempt to draw the veil of hypocrisy over their damnable conspiracies.

The National Republican party, to which all loyal men in the South belong,
seeks to establish liberty and justice throughout the land. For the past
four years it has been working for freedom and equal rights, against slavery
and oppression; against that slaveocratic power which hates, with undying
hate, free schools, a free press, free speech, and all that pertains to that
freedom a just God designs for this mighty Republic.

We are called upon to battle with these rebellious tyrants. In that work, my
friends, we must be united. Our beloved Louisiana is in imminent danger from
the deadly foes of freedom. Let us who love the Union and liberty, forget
past differences, and combine to fight the oppressors who threaten to crush
out the legal element of this State. Shall we not with our President say:
"Let us be united. I know there are but two parties now--one for the country
and the other against it; and I am for my country." While we embrace this
noble sentiment, let us inscribe upon our Republican banner the motto:
Union, Justice, Confidence, Freedom, Enfranchisement."

Freedom must triumph in our State. Louisiana must become the land of human
rights--the land where every one can enjoy his own labor, his own
soil--where all can claim the right to educate their children, and have all
the rights of human beings respected by their neighbor, and maintain the
rights of self-government, of the ballot, and all other rights which
impartial justice claims for the citizens of a magnanimous Republic. Then we
can vaunt our freedom; then will the foreigner no longer reproach America
with slavery; then can we say, in truth, our land is the "asylum of the
oppressed and the home of the free." Men of every nation shall cherish it as
the land of human rights--the land where liberty means to enjoy manhood,
free and untrammeled, with all the inestimable rights of freedom in its
broadest and fullest meaning. Then may the citizen proudly boast--"I am an
American."

[The Reconstructionist Print.]