Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1872-04-19

had cruelty beaten a Democrat with
slung-shot without any provocation was
convicted he would fine him a penny and
costs.
That Judge has made most s. loyal" CT
forts in behalf the Government against the
Ku KltIx in the way have mentioned, but
although he added to ignorance and parti
sanship what meeting Of the bar solemn
" resolved was GO willful violation of the
plain letter of the law and although the
memorial was presented TO the late Demo-
cratic Legislature, they RETAINED from inn
peaching him, because Of their anxious de-
sire to avoid even the appearance of par
tisanship, and to keep down political eX-
element. Another one of the Radical
judges resigned after steps had been
taken for his impeachment, another
has been publicly charged with re-
ceiving bride, others with habitual
drunkenness and the grossest igno-
rance; but life is too short, to say nothing
of my brief hour, for Il recital in detail Of
all these things. The conduct OF these Of
fcers, and Of the United States deputy
marshals and detectives, destroyed all con-
fidence among the people in the courts,
and few of the more reckless of them,
consequently, sometimes took the law into
their own hands. They were nothing
more nor less than vigilance committees,
sWch as have existed i'll other parts of the
country, and they never embraced any con-
Siderable number of the citizens but their
existence has been made the preteXt for
maligning the whole population OF the State,
not only by partisan press, but i'll the Off
cial documents of the executive department
of the Government.
The President, i'll his message, while APP
pearing to desire to harmonic public sem
timent and inaugurate long demanded re-
forms, INDUCED in the usual misrepresen-
/ tation of the Southern people, and fore
Swallowed the report of the majority of this
committee. BY what authority he under
! took to say what the committee would re-
/ port l do not know. The committee did
not confer with him on the subject, and
! they authorized no one to do so, or to say
| what their report would be. However that
I may be, the facts alleged by him as to the
/ state of society in the South are not
| true, but they were sufficient per-
! haps, for the accomplishment Of the
| desired purpose. The President in that
message, among other baseless assertions,
/ says that in every case of arrest in
| South Carolina during the time the hdbcds
! corpus was suspended, there was 'indubi-
! table evidence Of the guilt of the parties
| seized" and yet kn07c that one gentle
man, a descendant of Judge of the SUI
! pIeme Court OF the United States, and a
! grandson Of Il distinguished Governor OF
North Carolina, was arrested and confined
/ for thirty-fOur days and nights in a dun
geon part Of the time, in the same cell
with a negro felOn, before he was informed
! OF the accusation against him, and when at
7 tie expiration of that time he was informed
OF the charge, so promptly and .conclusively
proved its falsity that even his military per
secutors were compelled from mere shame
n 1-nln hi i'm at l,at ant lon 1ly1
has no redress, and his case is by no meaus
/ a solitary one.
Perhaps the most pitiful complaint in
that message against our people was one
! which was worn out by the carpet-bag
! thieves ard Freedmen's Bureau bummers
! several years ago. [ allude to the whine
about social ostracism. That is crime
which it is impossible to peIpetrate against
! a gentleman, and therefore it finds a place
in the catalogue of ofenses complained of
! by the Executive against the southern
people. What proper connection that has
with our duties as citizens of the General
| Government, and how it is to be made a
/ subject Of legislation by Congress are ques-
( tiOns which stagger me. The Secretary OF
/ War, too, found it necessary to give all ,eX-
| CuSe for the campaign in the South, mas
! much as the Army was needed elsewhere,
aud. with d decidedly military emphasis
/ worthy of the war minister Of a military
/ Government, he, scOrning the assistance OF
/ any evidence, prOclaims as a fact that "a
! second rebellion exists, the suppression of
/ which requires the presence OF the Army"
! lie says, too:
/ 1T is painful fact that in some portions of
! tie South freedom OF opinion is not tolerated if
! doctrines of the late rebellion
! AS the Secretary, in 1861, was afraid the
/ rebellion would not succeed, and veXed his
| soul with anxiety on that subject, perhaps
| lie ought to know the doctrines" on which
| it was based. The generally received opin-
| ion, believe, is that those doctrines
| were the right Of State to secedc, and the
! right to hold slaves. The allegation of the
. Secretary, therefore, is that a new rebellion
I exists, and that the Southern people will
! not tolerate opposition TO secession and
! Slavery-an assertion which illustrates alike
! the Veracity of the Secretary and the extent
! Of lis confidence in the intelligence of the
people.
| Why did not the President and the Sc
cTetary tell you that in county of the dis
/ trict which l represent, band Of negro
/ outlaws, led by one LOWrey, have for
| years been rObbing and numbering white
men with implInity that they have killed
tlirtv-fOur respectable citizens, (more than
! the ku kluX have ever killed in the whole
State; , that the citizens had begged foI
United States soldiers, and that Il squad
was sent there, and, like the amy OF the
I King Of France, had "marched up the
hill and then marched down again." thcii
| only experience being to hear the crack OF
LOwrey's rifle withintW hundred yards of
their camp, and TO see Il murdered citizen
lying on the highway? If Lowrey's gang
had been ku klIX, and the victims had
been negroes Or Republicans, docs anybody
the country prodUcin" 4 reign oftcrrGr
Why did they not tell you that their sol
diers, not content with running riot over
the poor, degraded, Inundated State OF
South Carolina, had, with all the panoply
of war, invaded North Carolina, where the
machinery of civil government was quietly
at work. and had arrested the chairman Oi
thcBoaTd 0t commissioners of Cleveland
county and three other citizens, had alb
Quoted them by force ont of the State. and
had imprisoned them without form or color
Of law in South Carolina, where the hNbe0s
corpus was suspended, aud where thev
could not even inquire into the cause OF
their arrest, or get the least redress for such
an outrage? Why did they not tell you
that some Of the United States marshals
III North Carolina 90 about with pistols
in their belts and cowhides in theil
hands insulting and brOw-bcating citi-
zenS, cN&cting Illegal fees from and black
mailing them, arreSting and imprisoning
them upon the nerest preteXt, and then
di5charging them without trial that one
of them had Shot down with impunity and
: left lying on the roadside an inoilcnsivc
citizen, against whom lie had no process
and who had offered him no resistance, be-
cause he would hot 90 to jail at his bid,
ding, and that this official assassin had
gone scot-ffee? Which Of the gentlemen
! 50 eager to punish Ku-KlnX and protect