New-York tribune., 1868-09-23
THE GEORGIA REBELS.

the statements in our dispatch from Atlanta
yesterday--the important assertions OF whlch
remain unchalenged in any quarter.
"The right of the people to keep and bear
arms shall not be infringed." That IL the
pledce of the Constitution of the United
States AT the request of the citizens, NJ. G.
"PoOr the Sheriff, with committee OF SIX
"other citizens, went out to meet the process
"sion. and to state to them distinctly that II
they would put down their arms, no obJec-
"tion would be made to their entering the
"town and holding their political meeting.
That was the gracious permission OF the paroed
Rebel soldiers to the loyal citizens of Mitchell
County. Ga, according to their own elaborate
self-iustification. Gen. Howard telcgraphs the
statements of Republican in the dispersed
procession, who says he was expressly warned
against entering the town, on the single ground
that "the people were determined that kadi-
"cals should not speak at Camilla" and VINO
elsewhere incidentally explains that "the col
"ored men, being unarmed" could not Dc
rallied.
But we are willing to consider the case on
the showing of the Rebels themselves. Here Is
the understanding of the matter attained by
The Express, after a study of the accounts from
its friends:
"u ia quite plain that II the Radical candidate Tor
Congress and hs negro mob had forborne TO invade
town which the Sheriff and citizens begged them TO leave
In peace no outbreak would have happened"
"The Radical candidate for Congress and
"his negro mob" were SIMPLY political pro-
cession-nOt even charged to have acted thus
far otherwise than peaceaby-of citizens OF
the State IL they were armed, as Is possible
is that new thing at political aSSemblages,
or asscmblagcs of any sort III Georgian Is
there any law, written or unwrittcn. by which
one citizen shah be permitted TO bear arms
for that he has been a Rebel and ~ now
paroled soldier, and another citizen shall bc
punished for bearing arms for that he has
been a Union man and is now a Republican
Does it constitute an invasion" OF town In
Georgia for "a peaceable procession OF Union
men to enter il f-an invasion" 80 dangerous
as to warrant the late Rebels in mastering to
repel it, and in pursuing the scattered and
fleeing Union men five to seven miles from
the place killing and wounding indiscrimi-
nately all they can reachf
We now have five versions Of the occur
rence--that of our special correspondent, pub
lished yesterday; the Rebel version of the
Associated Press, given in the same paper;
the formal statement of the Sheriff and other
citizens of Camilla; the accounts gathered by
Gen. Howard and Others from eye-witnesses,
and telegraphed to Washington and report
made by Georgians to the local officer Of the
Freedmen's Bureau. They all agree on the
following points:
I. The Republican procession was peaceably
approaching the town, in accordance with
previous announcement, TO attend meeting to
be addressed by the candidate for Congress in
that district.
Q. While still some distance from the town
they were met, first by couriers, and subse-
quently by regular committee of resident
Rebels, warning them that they could not
enter it in safety.
3. They refused TO be deferred by such
threats, insisted on their rights, and, while
entering the town with their music, were fired
upon by white citizens.
4. They made little resistance. soon fed, and
were pursued six or seven miles They lost in
killed and wounded numbers variously stated
from forty, in one Rebel account, all the
way mp to a hundred in another. The
Rebels lost none killed and the largest number
claimed to he wounded is six.
These are the facts admitted on all hands.
Can the most prejudced man put any but one
honest construction upon themP Ii was de-
liberately determined that Republican meet
ing should not be held in Camilla. Carpet
"baggers,n "scallawags," and :" loil niggcrs"
were to be taught that Rebels ruled in that
bailwick, and none but true Democratic senti-
ments were tolerated
The Rebel accounts, in their impOtent and
impudent attempts to conceal this, fall into
sufficiently distressing difficulties. They admit
that "a citizen" j. e., a white Rebel, fired the
first shot, but plead in extenuation that he was
drunk. They insist that they were themselves
legally and virtuously unarmed, but admit in
the very next line that the moment the negroes
returned this shot, Immediately about twenty
" of our citizens sprang to their arms and fired
" into the column, by which two negroes were
"kiled and an unknown number wounded"
They profess only the most lamb-like dispos
ton and the most perfect willingness for Re-
publican meetings to be held, but in tho next
sentence regret that only negroes were killed,
and that the white men escaped with but
" little injury" j. e., with only bullet hole i'll
the leg of the scallawag" candidate for Con-
gress. They profess fears that the negroes
would have become can iDfurated mob" and
explain that therefore they got up mob them
selves. They complain that the negroes
vastly outnumbered" them, and were fully
armed, while they were wholly unarmed,"
and then exhibit, as the results of this danger
ohs state Of affairs, 100 negroes, more or less,
killed and wounded, with a beggarly loss of
" six wounded on their own side.
"A Himsv eYcnsn IL SET LID hv the Shnrilf