Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-04-29

pOllIlC lihS 30 man lOSShOe, any
how they are sapping the substance
of this people, and how every bar
rier Of law which represses them
is to be broken down. I-
-A --------.--- ESP Ai'
RESPECT FOR LAW AND ORDER IN
/ ,i1oE EAST TENNESSEE sd1 /
( We invite the attention of Gov.
Senter to the article printed else
where, detailing the particulars OF
diabolical outrage committed in
the loyal county of Blount. "A de-
vout, humble and inoffensive min
lister of the Gospel of Christ--a
man whose christian excellencies
of character are well becoming his
holy profession whose mission,
under the sanction Of his church
and the authority of his God,
would have been sufficient in other
chimes, to disarm even the savage
of his ferocity and awe him into
reverence-has been again cruelty
mobbed and bruised and beaten
with many stripes, on the Sabbath
day, almost within hearing of
the church bells of Knoxville"
This is the second minister
of the gospel that has been cruelty
beaten in Blount county by a mob
Of bigoted, illiberal partisans, for
no other reason than that he was
minister of the Methodist Episcopal
Church South. The men who
mobbed and almost murdered the
Rev. Mr.. Neal escaped with i'm
punity, and now similar occur
renee has disgraced the annals of
Tennessee. We call the particular
attention of Gov Senter to the fact
that when outrages were committed
by lawless bands in counties in this
division of the State, the "loyal
militia were precipitated upon
those counties. There was no
scruple about inflicting the militia
upon this people, Notwithstanding
it was susceptible Of the clearest
proof that they do not sympathise
with or encourage mob violence.
We are aware that Gov. Senter did
not call ont or order the militia
into these counties, but he has per
mitted them to remain as a
standing menace to the people, and
TO that extent has sanctioned the
act of his predecessor. What
better then are the people of BlOunt
county, where these diabolical
outrages have occurred, than those
Of Giles. In the latter county a
minister of the gospel of any
denomination is as safe and free
from molestation as he would he
here in Nashville. The Radicals of
Blount county will not tolerate
religious freedom, and two Metho
dist preachers have barely escaped
with their lives from mobs in that
county. Giles has been punished
with militia; is Blount to escape? If
the militia were necessary to keep
the citizens of Giles in subsection,
as was pretended, what should be
done with loyal Blount ? IL would
be an act of retributive justice TO
declare martial law and quarter a
few companies of militia in Blount
to teach the Radicals there tolera-
ton and respect for law. And we
insist that Gov. Senter apply the
Radical panacea for lawlessness
and mob violence to that people,
or that he disband the militia at
once.
Commenting on the diabolical
outrage committed by Radicals in
Blount county, the Knoxville Press
and Herald says: ..tE
"The swift recurrence of this outrage
in our very midst, coupled with the
threats of the perpetrators that its repe-
tition may be daily looked for, is we'll
calculated to shock and to startle peO-
pie who have been educated to revere q
God and to respect His ministry. We
have become somewhat Indifferent to
crime and to deeds Of cruelty, of late
years but even the war, with all its
demoralizing influences, had not pre-
pared our community to receive, with~
out shudder of horror, the intelligence
of such acts of barbarism and savage
cruelty as the civilization % of BlOunt
county seems capable of perpetrating.
The mind of every reader will natu>
rally inquire What has inspired this
devilish spirit of intolerance and
wicked persecution Of branch Of the |
Christian Church 1t is not the re-
suit Of life long education with these |
men. Their fathers before them taught |
them no such acts of cruelty and bar
barism. Sectarian bigotry and exs
clusiveness, in former days, wrought |
their mischief in East Tennessee, as
elsewhere, but sectarianism here, in its |
days Of worst intolerance, never prompted
the use OF the cudgel, the stone or the
lash. But in this case there was no room
for sectarianism. The doctrines held and |
preached by the victim of this cruel per-
secution, differ in no respect from those
which the instigaters and perpetrators OF
the villainies profess. Religious bigotry
has shed rivers of blood in its day, but it
is not responsible for this outrage. Pa
ganism persecutes the christian missien-
ary with the sword and the torture, but
the scene of this persecution is
in a christian community. Whence,
then, had this devilish act its
origin? Who inspired it, if neither
religious biogotry, MOI fsnaticism, nor yet
pagan fury urged on its perpetrators? |
There can be but one answer to this
question. This outrage, like the many
which have preceded it, is the direct and