The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-08-21
SPIRIT OF THE PRESS.
EDITORIAL OPINIONS OF THB LEADING JOURNALS
UPON CURRENT ToPICs-CoMP1LBD EvKRY
DAY FOR THE EVENING TELEGRAPH.
Affairs in Tennessee.

OF 10 reconcile us 10 IDe TEN ct VI thO 'JOuOh
ern indictments. Stories OF outrage have not
been rare for some time past. They have been
crcumstautial, have on all essential points
been verified and have been sufficient to prove
q near approach to social and industrial dlsor-
pauization. The statement we print this
morning differs from these only in its cOmpre-
hensiveness. 1t groups facts derived from all
parts of the State, and fastens upon di5loyal
persons and organizations the responsibility
for a crisis not many degrees removed from
civil war. What some have supposed to be
incidental in its character and confined to
particular localities, is shown to be common to
nearly all sections, and to be the product OF an
inveterate hostility to the authority and friends
of the Union.
Color appears to be less a crime in Tennes-
see than loyalty. The negroes suffer first, OF
course. Their weakness invites violence, and
their terror keeps them from proclaimlng It's
exercise. They are wrODged, robbed, even
murdered, with almost com flete lmpunity.
The boldness which has marked some OF the
outrages seems, indeed, TO indicate paralysis
of civil authority, Tor which parallel may be
sought in the disastrous dawn or Kansas.
White lOyalists, moreover suffer scarcely less.
Social ostracism they might outlve, though
that is bad enough. But they are maltreated,
stripped of property, hogged aud sometimes
killed, and in general way are denied the
exercise of their hts as citizens. 1t they
arraign the perpetrators OF crimes, or attempt
the formation of Republican organizations,
they do so at the peril OF their lives. Ii they
attend Republican demonstrations, they are
compelled to travel by by-paths and at night
TO escape assassination.
In this epitOne of the position OF loyal taml-
lies in the State We are not sketching from
imagination. We mention facts which the
local press either suppresses, or distorts or
publishes impeIf-ctly, because it is for the
most part in the hands OF Rebels. When one
leading journal OF Msmphis bids its readers
"set the law at defiance" " aud another rebukes
the Ku-Klux for not having "the hearts of
radicals on their daggsrs," " aud when the most
widely circulated papers OF the State share
these feelings, the chance OF fair hearing for
martyrs to Unionism be they white or black,
is exceedingly slight. Our CORES pondent tes-
titles, however, whereof he knows, and his
version of the case is in the main sustained
by the inquiries of a committee Of the local
Legislature.
The first effect of this disturb d condition
is upon the property and industry of the
State. In its natural advantages-its soil,
climate, resources of the forest and the mine,
and in its geographical position-it has no
superior in the Union. But how long will
Northern men continue to go there, or being
there will remain, at the risk of being hunted
by outlaws or robbed OF the means they pro-
pose to employ The mere stoppage OF
immigration would be- a calamity, but it is
inevitable unless lawlessness be put down.
Loyal settlers are driven out, or leave to seek
security elsewhere. Business is brought to a
stand-still, and the value of property expe-
riences large and constant depreciation. In
the nature of things it must be so. And
there can be no amendment until the issue
raised by the disattected i'll Tennessee be dis
posed OF summarily.
The danger for the moment seen is that of
local collisions. The UniOnists of the South
are peaceful, but they are not towards. They
ask simply the safety which the law Is sup
posed to guarantee, and the liberty to exercise
their rights and pursue their vocation5, to
which white and black are entitled. But the
time is evidently coming in which they may
be compelled to defend themselves against Ku-
kluX and all other outlaws. 1t We're better
they should be spared the trial. 1t were more
desirable by far that punishment should be
meted out by the State authorities, with the
aid of the militia, if necessary. Still the risk
exists. The loyal part of the population will
not always permit the dislOyal to brand and
Danish at will; and out of this latent d5termi-
nation may spring the organized strife which
not few anticipate. The Democratic leaders
predict conflict as result of any attempt of
the Executive to insure protection and punish
ment; but his course ought to be clear, re-
gardless of consequences. We are not among
the admirers of Governor Brownlow. AS be-
tween the law and its vioiators, however, or
between Union men adhering to the law
and disloyal men setting the law at def lnce,
there is no room for hesitation, no time for
parley.
We wish we could believe that these things
are confined to Tennessee. But they are not
Passion may be more intense there than IL
States more recently reconstructed; the ele
ments of strife may be nearer the explosive
point; but that they abound, with greater OF
less force, in several other parts OF the South,
is unfortunately incontesta6le. In Texas, Rebe
lawlessness is not whit less aggressive thar
in Tennessee; and Governor Warmouth's ap
peal for Federal help proves that Louisiana i
not much better. There, as in the districts
described in our Nashville correspondence
violence and murder, as penalties OF attachmen
to the Union, are events of frequent occur
renee. And the same state of things will b
reproduced in Georgia, if Cobb and other De
mocratic leaders find followers vile enough t
do their bidding.
1t is impossible to read Cobbs recen
harangue without feeling that his spirit is a
proscripuve, as murderous as that of an.
common Ku-KluX cut-throat. And as wit
Buchanan's Secretary of the Treasury, so it j
with others who are engaged with him in tn
canvass for Seymour aud Blair. They do no
onenly advise the killing OF Unionists, bu
they do propose that they Oe treated like dog;
and if possible driven from Southern commu
mites. They make no secret of their resOly
to make the South too hot for whites who vot
the Republican ticket; and as for the blacks
they are to be starved, or by sOm4 other mean
coerced into the ranks of the Democracy.
there is any difference between these deuuI
Citations and incendiary counsels of Georg
planters and the acts OF Tennessee ruff anisn