Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1874-08-29
rHr 1NnIaNAr1oN MEErINe.


THE INDIGNATION MEETING.
Last evening large meeting, com
posed of our best citizens, was held at
the Exposition building, in response to
a call in the morning journals and
signed by numerous citizens, who desired
to give expression to public Sentiment
as to the bloodthirsty acts Of the mob
of masked men at Trenton, Gibson
county. The meeting was presided over
by B. NJ. Estes, assisted by crowd Of
gentlemen as vice-Presidents. Eloquent
speeches were made condemnatory Of
the Gibson county mob by Hon. Jeffer.
SON Davis, Gov. Harris, Gen. Forrest
Landon C. Haynes, Duncan MeRae,
Chancellor Morgan, Charles Kortrecht
and B. NJ. Estes. Many of the
speakers seemed to differ as to who
were responsible for the outrage
a difference of opinion which will
always spring up on questions when the
course of reasoning is from effect back
to cause. The retrospective glance OF
some men is keener, surer and more re-
liable than that of others, it piercing far
back in the womb of time and grasping
the true causes of even far removed
effects. The responsibility of the troubles
at Somerville, Austin, Trenton, in Caro-
lima, Louisiana and Mississippi, which
have arisen between the blacks and the
whites rests with the Radical party, of
which General Grant is the head and
front as President of the United States.
Mr.. Jefferson Davis in his speech last
night displayed that clearDess of com
prehension and correct reasoning powers
for which he is so renowned, when he
used the following words:
The negroes were not our enemies;
why should they become sol We are
their friends. Yes, and the Southern
men are the only friends they have to-
day in any part of the world. II be-
comes us to be their friends. Every
Southern man in his memory runs back
TO the negro woman who nnrsed him. to
the boy who hunted and fshed with him
to the man who first taught him to ride
and to swim; and, as he grew to man
hood, the cordial welcome given him by
the old nurse, with tenderness scarcely
inferior to that Of his own mother, and
while he has such memories clustering
l.. kn ka n
that useful race which was the main
strength of our country when we stood
in this relation, which ! believe God In
tended us to occupy. If we have been
diverted from such relation, and if hos
tility has sprung up TO any extent, 1t has
been the work of those incendiarles who
have come in to destroy the natural re-
lAtions OF the races. and thus fomeating
a diseord by producing the evils which
now exist in society. / would only say
Tor myself, that as cannot have hostll'
ity TO these deluded people, the only
feeling Of Indignation / have is against
the white men who have disturbed this
relation between US; who have fomented
dIscord; who have led the imaginative
negro into evil against them say hurl
the thunderbolt OF your vengeance.
This is the truth to the letter. The
Radical white and black leaders in Ten.
nessee have been fomentiDg troubles for
years between the races, and all for the
sake of the spoils Of Office. The negroes
have been alienated from their best
friends who give them employment and
support. But these adventurersi,om the
North and the masses of the black
men have invariably voted solely
for the carpetbagger aud sgain,t
the interests Of the white people of
the South. Bitterness Of political
feeling widened the breach, and but lit
tie was needed to produce an outbreak.
The violence Of the negroes at Austin.
Mississippi, and Somerville, Tennessee,
is, however, no apology for the bloody
acts Of the masked murderers at Tren.
ten; but il is time that the laboring and
handwriting negroes Of Memphis were
discovering that their best friends are
the Southern people. and that their wors;
enemies are the Radical leaders. Take
ont the little ring Of Federal Office.
holders in Memphis, the crowd Of Office
seekers whose thirst for place is dis
played at every election, then the Radi.
cal party is exclusively composed Of the
negro voters. Not over one hundred
white men in this city bslong to the Rad
ical party, and to this handful Of barna-
cles have the negroes sold out. Its to
be hoped that the tine is not Ear distant
when the misguided negroes vii see the
error Of their ways and viii attach them