The daily gazette., 1874-09-03
The Tennessee M0ss0c1'e.
JEffERsoN DAVIS VIEWS ON THE PRE-
SENT CHAsIs-

btNlo HIVE Wv Af''- '''-
SENT CIAsIs-
The following is the Memphis (Tenn
APPEALS report of The speech made
by jefferson Davis at The mass meeting
held in that city on Friday evening
last to denouncc the horrible and in
excusable massacre of negroes at Tren-
ton, Gibson county, on the Tuesday
night previous
Friends and Countrymen:-l was
peculiarly struck with the remark of
the negro who was called upon by one
OF the committee sent to South Caro-
lima, and who was expected 10 give
testimony which would involve Gcncr-
nj Wade Hampton in the kukluX out
RACES. He was asked If he knew
Wade Hampton. lie said he did, and
had known him since the time they
were both boys together. They then
said to him, "Do you believe he has
been engaged in these KukluX out
rages?" mo, | do not believe it,"
why don't you believe it?" because
it Mars Wade Hampton had been in il,
1t would have been the white man and
not the negro. that he would have
struck
The negroes We're not our enemies;
why should they become so? We are
their friends les, and the Southern
men are the only friends they have to-
day in any part of the world. Ii be-
comes MS to be their friends. Every
Southern man in his memory runs
back to the negro woman who nlrsed
him; to the boy who hunted and fished
with him; to the man who first taught
him to ride and swim, and, rs he grew
to manhood the cordial welcome given
him by the old nurse, with n tender
ness scarcely intcriorto that of his own
mother: and while he has such memo
ries clustering around him he cannot he
the enemy to that useful race which
was the main strength of our country,
when we stood in this relation, which
believe God intended us to occupy.
II We have been diverted from such re-
lation, and if hostility has sprung up to
any extent, it has been the work of those
incendiaries who have come i'll TO destroy
the natural relations of the races. and
thus fomenting II discord by producing
the evils which now exist in society. But
my friends. it rests with you, whatevt l.
be the result, to show to the world that
you are incapable OF secret crime, tina (
you hate the man that wears mask, and
whatever it is necessary for the public
peace to do, you intend to do that openly
and manfully. Now, then. let MS say what
is the necessary future of these two races
living together. They require the white
man to provide for them and protect them
as much as they ever did and believe
they will require him to do so to the end
of time. Now, then, as to these white
men who believe in war of races that
the black may he exterminated, and Sc,
in this future that is desirable, | hay,
nosEmpathy. The negroeswerc my friend!
| in the olden times. They were our pro
tectors when our brave men went to tn,
| field and the women and children remain
ed at home. (Applausel. 1t was the,
who brought the Mississippi Valley int,
| cultivation, and by them alone can tha
valley, in my opinion, ever be cultivated
| They are as necessary to us as we are l.
them; and, that kind of relation existing
| between us, it is no reason why the pros
perity of the future shall not exceed tina
\ of the past. But | don intend to trencl
upon question on which every one ha
! formed his opinion. | would only say TO
.'ysel; that rs | cannot have hostility t
IA. ,e 4. Iuded people, the only feeling q
Indignation ! have is against the whit
men who hays disturbed this relation be
tween us; who haye fomented discorc
who have ned the imaginative negro int
evil against them, say. hl,rl the thun
derbolt Of yCuI vengeance. tAppllns"