The Sun.
London, England, 1863-07-09 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY_ EVENING, JULY 9, 1863.

MURDER OF .A CHILD AT ISLINGTON.

men's minds (those of the contractors, jobbers, and
war-Christians.excepted).and if General Lee have
half the success which friends as well as 1, es pre-
dict, he can extort it before many weeks, and give
the American people the anniversary of another
successful rebellion to celebrate, in a !di; ion to that
Fourth of July which has hitherto held their un-
divided affection.
But, pending the clash of arms which his mere
existence has excited," the irrepressible negro" rules
the hour. The instinct, the sentiment, the pride,
or the prejudice of race and colour—whichever of
these terms may be the most suitable to express the
repugnance which the great mass of white men
entertain for a too close and intimate personal con-
nexion with the black, except in that of the strict
subordination of slavery—continually asserts itself.
In Federal America the negro is not a chattel, but
he is an outcast trim all sympathy, except that of
the pulpit and of the sentimental tea-table, which
never admits him personally to its charmed circle.
Negroes must not be clerks in counting-houses,
banks, law-offices, railroads, or public companies ;
they must not serve as shopmen and assistants at
the linendraper's, the mercer's, or thedrygoothdes
stores ; they must not dispense medicines at
chemist's, or groceries at the theygrocer's;machinist,
must
not act as policemen. If any carpenter,
smith,ma
n many
handsengineer, other
sourmesto
artificer
ofa
negro to
employing
e
addskilled
those
number, the white hands imaammedeiaattehlyersathriap keawr ofrake.„
and betake themselves to
tory where the " boss'' will
on notthbe unwiseeasiognitycfh
their
setio
commit such an outrager
colour. For a negro to lift his hand in anger against
a white man is an offence more atrocious than any
white man can by any possibility commit against a
negro ; and, worst case of all, for a negro to assault
a white woman indecently is a crime that can only
be expiated by the blood of the offender—a crime so
flagrant and detestable that ordinary law is con-
sidered to be too merciful to deal with it, and the
slow course of justice (fast enough for a white
man's crime) is found to be inadequate to keep
pace with the burning desire of revenge that
takes possession of the white bosom. A case in
point has just occurred in the pleasant town of
Newburgh, on the Hudson River, about 60 miles
from New York. A stalwart negro, accused of
violating the person of an Irish girl, was, on
her testimony, arrested and thrown into prison on
Saturday night last to await his trial, Newburgh,
like any other town, city, and village in America,
swarms with Irish people. The story of the outrage
spread rapidly among them. On Sunday morning
they gathered in angry groups at the corners of the
streets to discuss it. The priest, fearing mischief,
hastened out to pacify his congregation, but his re-
monstrances and admonitions were in vain. The
cry of vengeance was raised; and, without plan or
leaders, a furious mob of 1,500 persons rushed to
the gaol, broke it open, took out the unhappy
criminal, knocked him down, spat upon him, kicked
him, buffeted him, stoned him, trod upon him, and,
when nearly dead, carried him off to the nearest tree
and hung him, standing by till they were quite cer-
tain that he was dead, and that ail attempts to cut
him down and restore animation would be useless.
They then set fire to the extemporised gallows which
bore his lifeless body; but a violent rain soon com-
ing on the wood would not burn, and they retired,
leaving a couple of policemen to take charge of the
remains. The Tribune, the friend and apostle of
the negro race, in denouncing this lawless act, de-
clares " that white men have repeatedly committed
the same outrage in worse circumstances, and the
law has been allowed to take its course," adding,
what it has no right to assume, " that every man in
the mob would be ready to commit the very crime
which they made the pretext for putting the negro
to cruel death." The Tribune allows its zeal to warp
its judgment. It looks upon rape as a great crime,
whether attempted by a black man or a white, but
the mob whom it unjustly accuses of a predilection
for that particular form of wickedness is of a diffe •
rent opinion, and considers that it is infinitely more
hideous if committed by a black upon a white. The
Tribune fiercely demands justice, and declares that
" every scoundrel who shared in the cowardly out-
rage isbeyond question guilty of murder, and ought to
to be hung. No doubt the Tribune is perfectly right
in considering these men murderers. -But it reasons
in vain when it demands their punishment. Public
opinion is stronger than law. The case is not one
for argument. Were every man of the Newburgh
rioters to be hung, as the Tribune recommends, to
appease the manes of the negro ravisher, and to vin-
dicate the insulted majesty of the law, their punish-
ment would only bring the law into disfavour and
contempt, and would by no means operate as an ex-
emple. If a negro in any other part of the Union
were to perpetrate the same crime upon a white
girl, the probabilities are that the same scene would
be re-enacted, though all the pulpits and presses of
the land were to teem with dissuasion. Europeans,
who seldom see a negro, are slow to understand this
prejudice, but that it is largely prevalent in America
is a fact no one who knows anything of the country
or the people will dispute. Uunfortunately, too, the
war has had the effect of strengthening it. The
working classes believe that if there had been no
negroes in the country there would have been no
war, and speak of them with a growing vindictive-
ness that augurs ill for that unhappy race—most
unhappy in those portions of the country where
humanity and philosophy, in accordance with re-
ligion, have declared that they shall be free. They
dopmo
Postmaster-General—that
as altogetherter.
Gne e r
atilt agree
awt
theit A h lr. Lincoln and the
negroes ought to be
expelled from American soil ; but they assert that
all coloured people ought to be banished to the South
to take their chances there, and even to be enslaved
if the Southern planters or others should think fit.
This may be a very deplorable state of things, but
'it not only exists, but is increasing. Although this
antipathy is strongest among the Irish, it is not
confined to them. It pervades all classes of the
American people—the Germans, perhaps; less than
any other—and is far too powerful for law to
meddle with. Under such circumstances it will not
be considered extraordinary that the reports of the
excesses committed by the negro troops in Georgia
and South Carolina, under the leadership of the in-
famous Col. Montgomery, have excited a storm of
indignation in every part of the North, and have
compelled even the Tribune to visit Col. Mont-
gomery with its reprobation, very mild, however, as
comparea with the scathing denunciations which it
hurlsagainst the heads of the Newburgh rioters.
"The
sack
and plunder of unresisting towns," says
that journal,
gfi is not in ordinary circumstances a le-
gitimate military operation." There may be a reason
for the licence which Col. Montgomery allows his
troops ; but if there be one, it ought to be made
public, that his reputation and that of the national
cause be not sullied by the disgrace which such acts
" The Tribune's
sceneo wn
correspondent at Hilton Head describesof
plunder and destruction without manifesting dis-
aPProval. He admits that Col. Montgomery, on
landing at Darien, formerly a town of 2,000 people,
found not a single armed inhabitant to dispute his
entry ; and
states that he carried off every article
that he could make room for on board of his boats,
and that what he could
not
carry
away he destroyed.
This done, he set fire to the town, and remained
with his negroes gloating over the mischief, until
he was assured that the destruction was complete,
and that not one habitable tenement was left stand-
ing in the place. The correspondent winds up his
description by stating that these bold, rapid, and
successful expeditions of Col. Montgomery are
spreading terror throughout the entire coast, and
are compelling the rebels to abandon their rice and
cotton fields, and all the smaller villages which
would be at all likely to be visited by him.
The Tribune is indulgent to a man of its own faith,
but Colonel Montgomery is too strong for the
stomach of the American people. He canuot re-
main where he is without damage to the health of
the body politic. His warmest adherents either
disavow or seek an opportunity to drop him; and
as he is a man without political influence, without
hold upon the ropes or wires that place and displace
functionaries in this country, the chances are that
Georgia will be relieved of his presence, and that if
he be not disgraced, which is scarcely probable,
since he is an Abolitionist, be will be transferred to
some new scene of activity, where he may serve the
Government without disgracing it.