Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1874-08-29
THE FACrs AND TEE r%UFU

respondents manifest keenest Of appre-
citation OF the outrage committed at
Trenton that is quite suggestive. These
gentlemen seem to have suddenly awak-
ened to realization of the condition of
the southern States, as enVendered by
the reconstruction laws, and the Tadi-
calisn in politics OF which those laws
have been the prolific source. But by
asingular stTsbismism Of political think
ing, these ethical purists are conscious
only of one cause of the barbarism in
Gibson county, to wit: the radicalism Of
the white southern citizens Of that and
other southern communities. Under
cover of the Just indignation of our peo-
pie at violation of the law so grossly
antagOnistic to the training and tradi-
tions Of southern men, as that alleged to
have taken place at TrentOn-and
which your correspondent from Hum
bOlde shows to have been most WOfully
eXaggerated-these writers Of moral fus-
tian, white and black, read southern
gentlemen lecture on the beauties Of
law and public order, with grace only
equalied by Ben. Buffers defense of a
thief, or TiltOn's euiogy on marital fidel-
ity. The country Is to believe, forsoOth,
that Gibson county is the home
groes in cold blood a favorite
pastime OF her peoples people among
the best, most law-abiding and reapect-
able ia the State. This attempt to mis-
lead public sentiment, which the AP-
PEAL, in its love Of fair play has become
the medium of sending abroad on the
thousand wings of its yesterdays issue.
is entirely too thin; and when the tide
of sober second thought of the public sets
in, the true origin and responsible source
Of even the crying mischief at Trenton
viii discover itself in the Radical camp,
to which the aforesaid writers av0wediy
belO8g. The press of the south should,
in condemning the Trenton crime, keep
10 mind the exciting and exist
ing public evils which made
that crime possible. 1t should not for
get that to the pernicious teachings of
such political Institutions as the Loyal
league and other offshOots of the Radical
party, ,Lyncb-laW in Tennessee and other
southern States, owes its disgTacefll and
disgTacing existence. The bloody spirits
of the negroes murdered in F0rked Deer
valley should haunt the pillows Of those
Radical leaders who now prate about
peace and order, and accuse those scoHn-
drel hypOcrites of being the ma
licious and moving caUse of send
ing them so suddenly to their
long account. "Be ye not deceived;
God is not m0cked; whatsoever a man
soweth that shall he also reap. .NWhO that
listened to the incendiary speeches Of
those leaders of black mobs assembled
on the bluffs in this city during the late
campaign, could doubt that murder was
the logical sequence of their Incorporate
and malicious zeal? Who doubts the
condition of things which the white
men of Memphis would have been con-
frOnted with had those kBaves tTium phsd
in the late county election? It was to
prevent the necessity for, perhaps, such
scenes as have given unhappy promi-
hence to Trenton, that the professional
men, the merchants, bankers, me-
chanics, clerks, and others, of
Memphis, unused to the role
of politicians, worked all doy long
at the ballot-box on the sixth OF August
last, and secured the legal triumph Of
the white mans ticket Let us not in
our fiery indignation forget to be Just.
Without attempting any defense Of the /
Trenton affair per Sc, which all good
men Of Gibson county condemn, it |
should not be forgotten that veritable |
reign Of terror peryaded the minds Of ]
the people Of that county, that the j
women and children were panic /
and that every Jungle was be- |
lieved to be peopled with armed and /
barbariOus men melted to rapine and /
murder, and to svenge imaginary /
wrongs, by the teachings Of carpetbag-
gers and scallawags, whose political sue
cess depended upon the commission of
race Outrages and public disturbance. 1t
should be borne in mind that the races,
white and black, would now be in
peaceful and prosperous unity but for
such teachings; and that for every race
outrage committed In the south, from
Louisiana to Kentucky, and thence to
the South Carolina seab0ard, the Radical
leaders are directly or indirectly re-
sponsible. These real public enemies
would now save themselves from the
odium OF responsibility for the laWiess- /
ness which is the Inevitable resUltOf their
midnight plotting, by platitudenic dia-
tribes against southern customs and
communities. If these phar-
lsaical m0ralists desire peace be
tween the races, they have but
to take their hands OFF the ne
gro, to cease instilling into his ignOr-
ant and impressible mind their own ha-
tired Of southern men. The remedy is
an easy one. Let them attend to their
private business like any other class of /
our citizens, and give up the counter /
sign, the gCip, the dill and the treason /
Of secret political societies. They should l
remember that the people are g0aded on |
to desperation by the tyranny Of an un- I
seen but ever impending evil, and that |
desperate men are not to be trifled with. /
9lti Sc sent goteuE Sc gale. zas