The Sun.
London, England, 1866-07-24 00:00:00

The Riots at Memphis.

_ The accounts from the Southern States are so
contradictory that it is not easy to tell what the ex-
act position is of the lately enfranchised freedmen.
Enough, however, transpires to show that through-
out the far South, and in many of the large cities,
a system of intolerable persecution is being inaugu-
rated—a system so atrocious that no measures how-
ever strong the Abolitionist can press on the Repub -
lican party, tending to crush the monstrous cruelty,
will be considered by Christendom too severe. It

3 the impunity which attends these outrages on

the negro race that make the scenes .so black, and
encourages massacres which shock humanity. The
Governor of a great British Dependency may con-
sider himself lucky if he escapes being hanged for
having, under a form of trial, illegally executed a
coloured subject of great Britain. This nation rose
indignantly, and Exeter-hall thundered denuncia-

tions against public officers who went far beyond
the bounds of justice and moderation in suppressing
a Ihuge conspiracy against their lives and property
on the part of their negro fellow-subjects. English
people forget that the same feelings which actuate
them move their descendants
States, and other N..-Inern conimunities, to express

in unmeasured terms their detestation of cowardly
cruelty and oppression—to legislate with a strong
hand for their suppression—and to force on the Exe-
cutive adequate measures for the object. It is im-
possible to read the Report of the Commissioners
despatched to inquire into the riot at Memphis
without feelings of the deepest indignation. For
four days we see a city given up to plunder, incen-
diarism, and murder. The mob, aided and abetted
by the police—incited to further enormities by one
of the highest officials—the chief magistrate, either
drunk, or feigning to be drunk—and the general
officer, expressly appointed to protect the victims,
helpless without a force, and narrowly escaping the
destruction which had overwhelmed the people he
was there to guard. We see the loyal inhabitants,
whose minds revolted at such barbarism, themselves
subjected to indignity, and threatened with expul-
sion ; the press aiding and excusing the rioters,
and not one step taken after the lapse of
weeks to bring to justice the mid-day murderers
of more than 30 fellow-citizens. If the Report of
these Commissioners is to be believed, the scene at
Memphis was no fight between the low white and
black inhabitants ; it was a simple massacre of a
helpless and unresisting population ; it was a con-
suming fire that burnt out for lack of materials to
prey on ; it was a causeless, senseless, diabolical
outrage, which would have disgraced the darkest
age, and to which fit parallels can only be seen in
history, as the result of the strongest prejudices,
and the deepest religious fanaticism.
It is the duty of the European press to strengthen
the hands of the North by stigmatising such
scenes as they deserve—by making the names of
the officials who led, and who tacitly allowed such
barbarities, infamous in all civilised lands.
Well may the negroes mourn over the memory of
their murdered President—the great and good
Abraham Lincoln, the instrument under Divine
Providence who shook the fetters from their
arms ; but Andrew Johnson should not forget the
task he accepted when Governor of Tennessee.

"Looking at this vast crowd of coloured people,"
he exclaimed, " and reflecting through what a
storm of persecution and obloquy they are com-
pelled to pass, I am almost induced to wish that,
as in the days of old, a Moses might arise, who
who should lead them safely to their Promised
Land of Freedom and Happiness."

" You are our Moses shouted several voices,
and the exclamation was caught up and cheered till
the capital rang.
" God," continued the speaker, " no doubt has
prepared somewhere an instrument for the great
work he designs to perform on behalf of this
outraged people, and in due time a leader will
come forth, a Moses will be revealed to you."
" We want no Moses but you," again shouted
the crowd.

" Well, then," replied Andrew Johnson,
" humble and unworthy as I am, if no better shall
be found, I will indeed be your Moses, and lead
you through the Red Sea of war and bondage to
a fairer future of liberty and peace."
Andrew Johnson has a gigantic task before
him. Few of us can appreciate the enormous
difficulties with which h, has to contend. Few of
us can fully understand the means by which he
hopes to perform the solemn promise he there made.
His measures may not appear to us directly to
lead to such an object, and we must not forget
that the children of Israel passed to their Promised
Land through forty years of suffering in the Desert,
and that their leader was only permitted to get a
glimpse of the country which Providence :had
marked out for his followers. There are those who
believe that the President's heart has failed him
in the task ; that he has fallen off from the stern
resolve required for the weary struggle. Bat we
do not believe this. We believe Andrew Johnson
to be a Patriot—with his heart fixed on the grand
object of Reconstructing the Union, of giving to
the South—the Law, Peace, Order, and Equal
Rights of the North. It is no fault of hit if ,
slavery has so degraded a large section of the citi-
zens he rules, that nothing but years of patient
legislation and strong government can elevate the
lawless people into the highest task of a civilised
community—that of governing its own passions.—
Anylo-Anterican Times.