The evening Argus. [volume] (Rock Island, Ill.) 1861-1871, 1869-08-02
THE HAMPTON OUTRAGE HERE AND
THERE.

Inc NulChEO 4 oab'
on the steamer Dubuque at hamP'0", soy
A hundred burly raitsmen IL 'hs puts" af NO,
wronyful end, attack and I'm hAnu'H' % ,h"j,
rroes engaged in :he fsin.ua POI ~, "rticnatino
S,tyt II is murder and avery one par,'oPA'.hb
Hu.y - +. ynilty. We constantly berate the
~ - .ae @'s he bafbarity TO the black man. NO"
80 ts,o' an Instance Of II at our own doors-a
harihIc instance-an instance OF class natreu' OK
bibited in manner as brutal AID cowaIdly as
s,er characterized M attack OF the hu'hIuN Va
Texas upon a cabin fall of sleeping women Le'
u. vindicate the bcasted superiority OF our ''fn-
i.ation by visiting upon the miscresnts the ter
rors Of the law.
Suppose that upon FINAL trial, for want OF
positive Identification of the guilty parties
or the pure pervesenes' of juries, 1t you
nlease. these miscreauts should escape pun
;sbment. as most, If not nearly all, probably
will. will not tho state of facts call for q
military despotsm and reconstruction OF
the State government Of lliinoiaT Does
"sdequate protection for life or property
see reconstruction acts exist in the State
of Illinois, when clan Of raftsmen and nv
err roughs wantonly assault, beat, sIay, ana
murder q boats crew Of unolEending COL
ored citizens? If this same outrage hau
been committed within the jurisdiction o'
the S ate Of Mississippi, can there DC a
doubt that it would have furnished concIu'
sive evidence to Radical minds that the
whole people of that State were unfit Tor
civil government? The Post itself will ad
NIT that il would have hazarded the scheme
for an early restoration of the people oil
that State to their rights under the constitu
ton. And suppose the atlray hao
occurred on the James, instead of the upper
Mississippi, who doubts but that 1t would
have at once settled adversely to the State
the question Of the propriety OF Congress
admitting Virginis's representatives to their
seats
Neither since the war closed nor before
has there been so great an outrage perpetra'
ted against the favored Ethiopian race with
ia the whole limits Of the Southern territory
as Is this; and yet mere rumors OF less
ones have furnished a Radical Congress all
the excuse it wanted to indulge itself in the
most diabolcal legislation against the whole
Southern community. lnall cases OF wronJ
TO the black man in the South PREJUDICE
statement Of the case has been furnishe
sympathising readers in the North, and
courts failed to mete out such punishment
as the erparte statement would seem to re
quire. a super loyal press and Congress were
ready to attribute It to Il want OF disposition
to do it, and TO a sympathy with the otiense
and offender, not only among the officers
the law but the entire community, and thu
people Of the whole State. 1t has not suite'
the purpose Of those men 70 consider thb
crime belongs to no age, place or conditio
of life, but springs from deprayed huma
nature and that criminals must be caugt
before they can be punished that whe
caught they are entitled by law to bail, un
less their crime is SHOWN TO be murder, an
that when tried they are entitled, no matte
what their crime, TO aN the protection ~
opportunities OF tsChpe hOHi Puhl7"'h"'
which are afforded by the tcchnicalitles
law, the forms OF court, and the rules of e'
dence, which have been well defined TO be Il
securities which the law takes against q
indscreton Of any individual judge. If
the case under consideration the gull
should eventually entirely escape punis
ment, there will not be found wanting
readiness to attribute it TO the unfortuna
lack of that certainty of Identification al
concusiveness of guilt upon which consc
entious Jurors like to rest verdict Of gull?
Yet if prisoners accused Of similar otlens
committed anywhere in the South, shou
escape punishment for similar reasons, !
argument could satisfy our Radical coter
poraries, or Radical Congress, that me
known to be guilty of an atrocious Grin
had not been wiufully turned lose by {
court and jury for no other reason than tn
the subjects Of the outrage were loyal Poop
and the offenders dsloyal. This aft
should teach our forgetful Radical frier
that there is necessarily no more divinity
human nature in loyal than in social
rebel communities.