New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1871-09-30
iAELSsSNEss AND MARTIAL LAR

to invent. People forget, in their impotence
with the delay which attends the return Of
the Southern States to order, that before the
war there was always an easy license for
violent men, and that Judge Lynch is not q
new character in the lately rebellious States.
There has always been spirit of lawlessness
abroad in the more sparsely settled regions OF
the South; and In town, as well as country,
that element of brutality which we consider an
inevitable adjunct of the old system Of Slavery
has ever been dominant. Look, for instance,
at this last story of violence which we have
from Georgia: A negro, Pierce by name, Is
reported to have killed o white man named
Coleman, who had gone to arrest him. we
ara left in the dark as to the real causes which
led TO the attempt to arrest Pierce, as well as
those which resulted in Celeman's death. AT
any rate. the officer was killed and the negro
escaped to his own house, where he was
guarded By soldiers for some unknown reason.
Then, another civil process having been maoe
out, Pierce was finally taken into CUSTODY
Next appears on the scene company OF as
guised men, who capture the negro nom the
willing officers bind him in cart, and hurry
him away. We can imagine what became OF
him in a country where o cOlored mans life
Ia held cheap since emancipation has destroyed
the market price of negroes.
This is fair sample Of the "outrages
which continually afflict and disgrace the
South. On one side is presumed quiet, and
ON the other avowed lawlessness. Accused
men do not live long; the law and the remedy
are readily taken into unauthorized hands.
Aside from any so-called Ku-Klux outrages
and Impressions, there are numberless dis
turbances ell over the South, almost exactly
like this Georgia CASE In some sense, this
ia not an abnormal condition of things there;
it certainly is no part of Reconstruction; nor
can it be charged to failure OF the
laws of Congress relating to that
subject, though all Disturbance are greatly
increased and infamed by the results of the
war. How shall the seat of the difficulty be
reachedf 1t is proposed that martial law be
forthwith declared in the districts where the
greatest disorders exist. This remedy, the
most violent in our reach, should certainly
only be applied as last desperate resort
To declare martial law would be sure to in
crease the rancor and bitterness which now
exist in the South between the two classes
whose interests clash 30 incessantly. 1t may
be absolutely necessary to adopt this drastic
measure eventually, but we earnestly hope
that every other expedient will first
be applied. Mr.. A. J. Ransier, the
colored Lieutenant Governor of South
Carolina, has lately written a letter pro-
testing against the proposed declaration OF
martial law as confession of the failure of the
Reconstruction acts of Congress, and as tend
ing toward a military despotism. But Mr..
Ransier's plan for the pacifcation of the local
tiles where lawlessness exists is neither novel
nor practicable, unless, indeed, we are to shut
our eyes to the condition of affairs in the
South, and leave those States to their own de-
vices. This would be practical; it would be an
abandonment of the whole question to the South
ern people, who, Mr.. Ransier thinks, ought to be
left to manage their own affairs. He considers
that the remedy for the condition of affairs Is
the dispersion of worthless office-holders and
the suppression of the Ku-Klux by Demo-
cratic disapproval. Very good; we have al
ways proclaimed that the carpet-baggers and
the Ku-Klux were the two great curses of
Southern society as now organized. The first
may only be cured by the action of the people
of the South, who must vote out the worthless
men, who, Mr.. Ransier says, fail to fulfill their
duties. And if, as he suggests, there are
United States Commissioners, Marshals, &C.,
who are not up to tho requirements of these
troublous times, let us have their names, and
let them be removed forthwith. But who shall
reach the Democratic party and prevail upon
it to give its influential disapproyal to the
doings of the Ku-Kluxf 1t is easy for our
excellent friend to say that this would stop the
disorders of the South. But who shall bell
that cat
The fact is, as we have pointed out, the
violence and outrages of which we complain
are the legitimate growth of the imperfect
civilization of the South, aggravated by a
variety of recent circumstances. We have
nothing to expect Of reorganized Democracy
in the South-any more than in the North.
The only remedy possible is a rigid ap-
plication of existing laws, supported by
such an intelligent public opinion as
is possible for the South-such public
opinion az can only be possible in process of
time. So long as State laws and State officers
are not equal to the emergency, the laws and
officers of the United States must be invoked
to supplement the weaker and more inefficient
organization. That there will be disorders is
evident; that military force must, to some
extent reinforce the civil authority seems to
be equally true now. How long this will be
necessary, and how soon Gf ever declara-
ton of martial law will be imperatively re-
quired, we can only guess We ferventiy hope
that no such deplorable exigency will ever
exist.
We confess that we do not exactly comprehend
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