The national Republican., 1869-01-01

mrhere is no longer any doubt that the |
people have made up their minds to
accept the situation. and TO let reconstrnetion
Col Forney bases this opinion Of the state
Of things existing In Georgia on the report OF
An estimabie Quaker, who has recently trav.
rrsed that State, and intimates that his In.
Iormsnrs opportunities ofJudsing were better
than are those Of the investigating commit.
lees and other such parties who are making
contrary representation.
with duo Difference to the Colonel, l doubt
The facti nay, both his facts: his fact that the
people Of Georgia "aeoept the situation"
and his fact that his Quaker friend had better
opportunities to come to a correct opinion
relative to the condition OF the Georgia popu.
lar mind than are enjoyed by Unionists Of the
State 10 daily intercourse with Its people. l
have before me a letter from white Union
ist Of Atlantis, Georgia, to the New York
Times, q journal whose Southern correspond
ence is notoriousiy in sympathy with those at
the South who oppose the reeonstruetion pol.
Icy Of Congress. In that letter nnd the fol-
lowing plain statement Of events OF the year
1868. 1 respectfully commend 1t to Colonel
Forney's attention, as follows, vizi
"sinee the lst OF January, 1865, there have
RACES, resulting fn murder or attempts to muir
der freedmen, or these these, 327 were by
whites and hfteen BY black violators Of law.
spread fear OF secret vengeance on those who
give Information Of such cases, that not more
than half or two-thirds Of all the cases OF
murder and attempts to murder freedmen are
ever reported.
"The manner 10 which justice has been ad.
ministered in the 33T cases known to have oc-
Cured, illustrates the tone Of popular feeling:
In ninety:two cases the victims were killed
at once: In six eases they died soon after.
ward Of their wounds. In three cases they
were permanently disabledI in seventy-nine
cases, were badly, dangerously hurt. and In
fortunately slight. OF those killed at once,
seyenty-seyen Of the murderers werO whites,
Of whom thirteen were reported as arrested
by the civil authorities and held under bonds.
Three Of them are since reported acquitted.
No one has been punished, or any further steps
taken looking thereto by the civil authorities.
military authorities and sentenced to long
term Of imprisonment, but he has since been
released by hdbeds corpus issued by the civil
authorities, and Is now at large; 10 many
lieved to be with intent to forestall action by
the military authorities, so that the guilty
Gases wSefe freedmen % died from injuries re- re-.
ceived, no action has ever been reported taken
by the civil authorities. In the three cases
has ever been arrested or prosecuted. Or the
cases wherein seventy eight freedmen were
dangerously hurt, only ten Of the guilty par
tie, were arrested They were All released
or punished yet. The manner In which freed
men, guilty OF crimes, are punished, 10 In
marked contrast to the foregoing. Or the
hfteen cases where freedmen were killed by
there were fourteen Of the guilty
parties promptly arrested, and already eight
of the fourteen have been hung or sentenced
to long terms OF imprisonment"
49, nEn
since the recent Presidential election, the
same writer says:
"Since the Presidential election a good
many freedmen have been killed and outraged
Zen days ago a black man was found hanging
dead IN Oglethorpe eounty, after being taken
out OF his house by Ku-klux. On last Satur-
day week ago, black was seized by masked
men, and when next found his throat was cut
from ear to car, This was q Gwinett county.
At Athens, Major Knox, OF the United States
murdered by = mob, but for a large body of
blacks protecting him and declaring that they
by burning the town. In self-defence, Major
Knox killed one OF those who attempted to
take his life. In Warren county a Ku-Rlux
was killed and another wounded, while at.
tempting to force an entrance into the house
Of a most worthy and exemplary family Of
blacks, two nights before the Presidential
election. Two nights after the election they
returned In Increased numbers, and forcing al
entrance found that all the blacks had escaped
except a crippled child only eight years old,
whom they fiddied with balls, and then placing
Its de ad body upon the furniture, bedding and
other household goods piled in the yard, they
consumed the whole to ashes.
"a eoroner,s inquest wss had, and the
present to testify, but NO result was had.
Great efforts were made to have the blacks
murdered, but they. were secreted and pro.
| othors. hNor the Inquest the blacks wished
to get away to a place Of safety, and were
command at wsrrenton, the sheriff Of Of warren %
county, and Hon. Mr.. Neal going along to
protect them. At Camaok their protectors
eft them, and at the second railroad station
beyond Camack the father OF the family was
taken out OF the cars with his four sons. The
old man named Perry Jeffreys and three OF
his sons were tied, but fourth son made a
Others were taken into the woods and pur.
dered. Since that attempts have been niade
to murder blacks who could Identity the guilty
parties, and the sheriff OF Warren county has
been shot and dangerously hurt by some Of
the secret assassins, Gases OF these Ku. Klux
outrages are OF frequent occurrence still In
Georgia."
The general estimate Of the state OF society
| in Georgia, made by Col. Forney's travelling
"friend," to the contrary Notwithstanding,
| respectfully aver to the Colonel that the oe.
| eurrenees narrated in the letter, from which !
| quote above, make 1t quite clear that the
minds to accept the situation and to let recon
| struction work out their certain redemption
and cure" The Colonel should recollect that
|facts-aets-speak louder than words.
The truth is, Georgia has not accepted the
reconstruction laws OF Congress IN any other
way, or to any other end, than that OF re-
storing the management Of her public affairs
to those who engineered her share of the late
abUrtiye rebellion, and who now propose, by
such manifestations OF frank acquiescence In
Congressional reconstruction, as l present
your readers In this letter to exile, to extermi-
nate, or to again reduce to virtual slavery, all
blacks within the States limits.
II Congress deals with unreconstructed
Georgia upon any other theory relative to her
actual condition than that legitimately dedu-
olble from the facts embraced In the letter
quote above, 1t will simply undo, not ouly all
that 1t has done so far In the matter Of IRE
construction" but all that the war has SO far
accomplished for human rights, the world
overall There can and will be no "peace"
In Georgia, l beg leave to assure Colonel F.,
until President Grant shall have made dozen
summary examples Of Individual assassins,
unfaithful courts and judicial executive ON.
GERS and peEjured ju ries OF that State.
The Missouri SESAToRsHIP.-A dispatch
| to the Cincinnati Ga=stic, dated st. Louis, De.
| eember 2s, says
| "SenAtors Henderson and Drake have ar.
rived here from Warrington, and have been
In close conhultAtiOn all dAy In reference TO
n I.nA NIn DAEa