New Orleans Republican

It is not, as the New York Herald seems to think, "old political prejudices" that occasion party divisions in this State. We think nowhere else in the South is this feeling less dominant. True there are enmities, and old citizens, in many instances, indulge them. But these occasions are confined to a small class of politicians. They are the habitual office-seekers among the Democrats, and that hostility which bad Republicans can inspire on the score of race among the colored people.

The intelligent Southerner and the genuine Republican can meet and act in political harmony. This is shown by the cordial unanimity that has characterized the rise of the Liberal party among us. There is no question of antecedents in it. The Republican who is an adventurer will not join it-the Democrat, whose personal consequence depends on his rebel record, and the antipathies he engenders by it, does not join it. These people are separated upon distinctive class issues. But the great body of the people of Louisiana, Republican and Democrat, whether old or new residents, are in hearty accord and sympathy in their devotion to the best interests of society, and to the commercial and political advancement of the State.

It is true the conservative elements of the State may not sufficiently harmonize to carry the State against the Radical ticket, but this is not occasioned by old prejudices. On the contrary it springs from new and unexpected political complications which intemperate zeal may have brought about. Year by year old feelings of hostility engendered by the war are passing away. If our people are not utterly homogeneous, they are as nearly so as any Southern community, and it will scarcely be another decade before these feelings are remembered as a strange condition of society which is unappreciable.

It is more personal ambition than prejudice which divides us now. If those who have been long accustomed to lead public sentiment could for a moment yield their wishes and aspirations, our political divisions would speedily disappear. We have made exertions that way, and a condition so desirable will eventually come to pass. All men in time will yield to the inexorable logic of public opinion. It will prove as effective here as in more favored communities.