The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-02-15
r,vontv-sevon Hundred Murders In n
Year.

tapers like tnghttul corpse on gay anu
busy stream:--
stSenator Roberts, of Texas, paints bor-
Ribe picture of affairs in that state lie says
chat twenty-seven hundred freedmen nave
boon murdered within a year, and the persecu-
t;on of tbe unfortunate blacks is so fearful that
tbev are praying for restoration OF slavery as
n protection against the murderous hate Oh Ihe
reconstruct ted white Rebels"
Who has paused as he read this item to
reflect on the state of things which it suggests!
Texas had a population at the last census OF
400 600. Connecticut of 45O00 Supposing
then. instead of Senator Roberts, OF Texas, II
read that Senator Dixon, of Connecticut, says
that twenty-seven hundred Irish laborers have
been murdered in his State within a year.
We could then family conceive OF the horror
of horrors that overwhelmed that State. This
comparison is not entirely opposite, for Sena-
4or Divon,s oourse shows that he would
hardly make an outcry against such an aboml-
nation As this that maketh desolate; as tins
is but the legitimate fruit of the policy he
advocates The Texan Senator is as much
in advance of the Connecticut as his State is
behind the atter's. On this same ratio Massa-
Chusetts should report three times that num-
Der murdered in a single year, or over eight
citizens. New York should report nine times,
or twenty-five thousand persons murdered!
What horror would freeze every soul at such
an announcement Well might the people,
thus driven as sleep to the slaughter, pray
for bondage as a protection against such mercl-
less massacre.
Think. too. of the harmless conduct of these
slaughtered ones. 1t is another Massacre of
the innocents They open not their mouths.
They give no proyocatiOn. They were taken
4hither by their masters who now turn upon
them and butcher them. They are faithful,
affectionate, laborous, attentive to all the i'm
peeious demands of the dominant and tyranniz-
ing race, doing all in their power to ward off
the terrible fate that hangs over them.
Think too, of the Herods who order or allow
this massacre These white men and women
surpass the ancient murderer in hate and
cruelty. He ordered but one execution, and
that of babes, and for a day. These rage in
devilish malice against babe and mother,
especially against the fathers and husbands and
brothers 10y whom their scanty pittance of food
is secured They pursue them not in single
city and for a single day, but from town to
town. from plantation to plantation, day and
night, year after year.
Who can tell the agonies that have rent
those victims hearts; the cries and tears that
have gone up to God from these His bleeding
and dying children? Who can imagine the
shuddering with which they lie down at night
or go out at day2 Every bush is a murderer.
Every eye burns coldly and hellishly upon
them. Every step they take is into destruc-
ton. Twenty-seven hundred bodies reft Of
life by open assassination in a single State, i'll
the circuit of this year of grace-the year
which many believed and yet believe to be
prophesied by Daniel and John as the dawn o.
the millennium! Twenty-seyen hundred souls
sent to cry to God against the famous healing
&c 81. fy,fo, f-aa ahnr n
Americas rulers Well may General Sheridan
declare that he prefers a residence in hell to
one in Texas; for hell has no such slaughter OF
holy and harmless men and women to add to
its cruelty and curse. ImpiOus as are its
fends, they are, at least, powerless against the
innocent.
Instantly should Congress proceed to i'm
peach and remove the President. For till he
is removed no loyal life is safe in Texas. Loyal
lives perish by the hundreds every month, by
scores every day. Hamilton and Sheridan
could make that land as peaceful as Connecti-
cut i'll ninety days. Loyal men for rulers, and
Government soldiers to uphold them, would
soon scatter all these murderers. Why is not
Sheridan there3 Why does Johnson say he
will not interfere again in Southern affairs eX-
oept to quell riotsl and then, as we have seen,
he only interferes to suppress the more effectu-
ally the victims of the rioters, and quells the
riot by establishing its DEGREES as law. Why
is he allowed to thus defy the Constitution
which declares, by an amendment he has
himself endorsed that freedom shall bt
guaranteed to the emancipated! Simply be
cause he despises Congress 1t may pass
bills over his veto it cannot execute
them. 1t may send committees of exami
nation; it cannot send soldiers for the
arrest and punishment of the murderers
1t may talk; he acts. Until it acts, too
and puts its foot ON his neck, murder stalk
Ted-handed through all the South. Congress
must cease to pirate, and begin to gird up it
lons for the greatest work ever sci
it to do. 1t cannot turn from it without meet
ing greater destruction. The voice of oul
brothers blood cries to us from the ground
how multitudinous, how awful that wall
Will the nation hear it, and obey the will o
God in putting its power into hands that will
decree life and liberty to all its inhabitants
F'How long, 0 Lord how long - these perish
ing millions of our brethren cry. Shall W,
answer 'suntil the city be wasted withou
inhabitant, and the houses without man, anC
the land be utterly desolate ~ II that is Hi
vision and declaration, be assured this natiol
will not escape His just and terrible displea
sure. AS for their thousands annually perish
ing before the W N, we atoned by our tens o
thousands slain during the war. 80 thi
multitude, daily destroyed by the permission
and therefore by the very power OF the Gov
ernment, that the North, thus chastised, ha
erected and allows to exist will bring upon u
further and more dreadful tokens OF Iii
Judgment. Take heed, o America for wit
what judgment We judge these murderers y
shall be judged, and what measure ye mete t
these victims and their slaughterers shall b