Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1868-08-06

ike ours hit tneir lives, ana theh nave
more character for courage than the man
who 10 trying TO bring on war Of races
by such speeches as were made. 'l
The great question which want to put
to you in behalf Of those whose views l
represent ia, are you going to approve
aud indorse Brownlow's declaration OF
war against the people. ! say declara-
ton OF war-so II Is against the people
Of the State. The pretext is myth-the
Ku- Kux; not that there may not be
such an organization, but II amounts TO
nothing. But the point in the message
Is that rebels and Ku Klux are convert
able terms. The Ku-Klux are TO be out
lawed and killed by the militia wherever
found; of course then the order is 10 kill
rebels, and there Is TO be no court, no
jury to determine whether they are ku-
Klux, or even rebels; and this indis-
criminate killing is to be protected BY
legislation beforehand. / tell you, gen
tlemen of the Legislature, while we are
still one people, while we still live under
the same flag, while we still eat at
the came table and take each others
hands instead of each others throats,
while we are presumed to have
a common county and q common
interest, while we are still friends and
not enemies-I tell you not by way of
threat, but in friendship-the day you
indorse this message for indscriminate
killing, your God shall not be our God,
and your people shall not be our people.
To send an army out 10 kill people with
out being responsible to the Judicial tri'
bunals Of the country, is war. But, gen.
tlemen, are you prepared in the present
condition of things, and the state of the
public mind, to organize an army and
send them out into the country, even it
you had the power under the Constitu-
ton, which you have not? Do you be-
lieve that you and |, or any other public
speaker or public mau in the land, could
keep the peace2 Don't you know the
result is bloodshed and war of races 7
Don't you know your militia would do
| indiscreet thipgs-that they would COM
NIT outrages Don't you know that
men on the other side would defend them
selves2 [Applause.] -.
You say you want the militia TO keep
down the Ku-Klux. Is the cause OF irrl.
tation all, or even principally, on your
side2 May not, without being offen-
sive, enumerate our grievances, so that
we can compare notes2 That the great
body of the paroled soldiers have kept
their paroles is thing that no sane man
can controvert. Ask the Judges who
have been holding courts in Tenn essee
how the rebels have conducted them.
selves. Ask Judge Hickerson, Judge
Steele, Judge Cooper, Judge Adams,
Judge Patterson and Judge Tilman.
| These men have all been appointed by
Governor Brownlow, and part of them
are Radicals still. They have held the
courts in the strongest rebel counties in
the State, and they will tell you they
never knew a more law.abiding people
than the former rebels have been for
three years.
And what makes them at least restive
They are many of them men Of intelli-
gence; they understood we'll their rela-
| ton to the Federal Government; they
| knew their offense was against the Fed
eral Government and not against the
State they knew you had no right to
puuleu tuciu, Uut db iouS % thCf "oiS
under bonds to the Federal Government
they admitted your protest Finally,
the Federal Government, against whom
the offense was committed, has restored
them to all their rights; the whole Of
them. This pardon is complete and full,
and under the decision of the Supreme
Court it releases the punishment and
blots out the guilt. 1t reaches both the
punishment and the offense, and makes
the man as if he had never ommitted
the offense. This is the decision Of the
Supreme Court of the United States
founded upon tho law Of ages
In England it has been held that it is
actionable to call man rebel who has
been pardoned of treason. Not only so,
but we see all around US, in Mississippi,
Alabama, Georgia, Virginia, and even
South Carolina, the white people are al
lowed to vote. Here the shackles are still
kept on the people; every message OF
the Governor, and many acts OF the Leg
islature contain the most offensive epi-
thets. We are still denounced as rebels;
our former slaves are daily taught that
they are our ,superiors. heard one Of
the hummer speakers of this city in a
speech to large crowd of negroes, de
scribe US as eighty thousand dead men.
The negroes were told that they we're the
live men that we had no voice at the
polls, and we ought to have no voice on
the stump. In these harangues the ne
groes are continually taught social equal.
ity, and our hummer judge says we shall
=,
over the North refuse to allow them to
vote, and in East Tennessee your Radi-
cal Judges refuse to allow them to sit on ju'
ries, and Radical jurors threaten to lynch
sheriff for Offering one on jury. The
hummer doctrine of social equality has
implanted new thoughts; ana the social
law, which forbids intermarriage after
the teachings which they receive, is
viewed as great wrong. The result OF
the whole thing is that these teachings
have led to the commission of q crime
whose enormity and frequency makes
the blood run cold. These outrages,
which are the result OF the teachings in
Loyal Leagues and hummer political
associations, are as far superior In num-
bers aud enormity to sll the crimes com
mitted by the Ku-Klux as it is possible
TO contemplate. gl
For fear forget it, l want to say to
those teachers aud their disciples that,
come what will, the torch or the sword,
pitch or turpentine, veal or woe, as long
as there are trees in the land and ropes
in the stores, we are going to protect our
women, If it costs the life Of every man
in the State. loud and prolonged cheer
ing.1
Your militia, last year, murdered iu
cold blood several men because they had
been rebels. Your Governor has sent
out upon us hundreds Of convicts from
the peni,entiary, ,and,in almost every case