The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1874-09-05
THE RECENT OUTRAGES IN THE
SOUTH.
speech of Hon Jefferson Dayi,
From Baltimore sun.

TTIeIluS anu toultI Hull L ou nav Z
assembled tonight not for the bare pur-
pose of giving an expression which
humanity commands, but you have
assembled for higher and hOier duty.
Applause 1t is what you owe to your
sires, what you owe to your pOsterity,
what you owe to the living and what
you owe to the gallant dead who fell for
the sacred cause of Southern indepen-
dence. Never has a country been more
truly in acOndition of having lost all
save its honor, and You men of Ithe
counties of Jackson. Grundy, Polk, and
many Others of wide reputation may be
expected to denouncc whatever would
stain,the honor and whatever would tar
nish the fair name Of the living. APP
plausel You are not here then merely
to express your horror Of particular
crime, still less are you here TO argue
what is due from ono race TO another.
1t is crime, and crime to be punished
as it deserves, but that belongs to the
law and its officers. That they will do
their duty those only who dlStrust our
people can fail to believe.
But you come to appeal to the moral
sense of the world; your words are to 90
abroad to mankind; let it erstand that
you are not a race of assassIns; that you
are not the men that mask, but stand in
the dignity of your manhood, and in
the likeness Of your Creator; with eyes
open and exposed you dare assert your
rights and protect them to the best of your
ability, and to the end of your lives will
90 forward with honor which never seeks
concealment, wears no mask, and never
blackens its face. [Applause.l was
peculiarly struck with the remark of
the negro who was called upon by one
of the committee sent to Sonth Carolina
and who was expected to give tsst-
mony which would involve General
Wade Hampton. in the ku-KluX
outrages. He was asked if he knew
Wade Hampton, He 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 en-
gagged in these Ku-Klux outrages?'
"No, l do not believe it, "Why don't
YOU bclive it?' because if Mars Wade
Hampton had been i'll it, it would have
been the white man, and not the negro,
that he would have struck
The negroes were not our enemies.
Why should they become so? We are
their friends. Yes, and the Southern
men are the only friends they have
to-day in any part of the world. 1t be-
comes us to be their friends. Every
Southern man in his memory runs back
to the negro woman who nursed him;
to the boy who hunted and tished with
him; to the man who first taught him
to ride and to swim; and, rs he grew TO
manhood, the cordial welcome given
him by the old nurse, with a tenderness
scarcely inferior to that of his own mo-
Their, and while he has such memories
clustering around him he cannot be the
enemy of that useful race which was
the main strength of our country when
We stood in this relation which / be-
lieve God intended us to occupy. If We
have been diverted from such relation
and if hostility has sprung upto any cx-
tent, it has been the work of these
inccndiarics who have come III to des-
trov the natural relations OF the races,
and thus fomcnting discord by pr"duc-
ing the evils which now exist in society.
But, my friends, it rests with you, what
ever be the result, to show to the world
that YOU are incapable Of secret crime,
that YOU hate the man who wears II
mask Applause land whatever 1t is
necessary for the public peace to doayou
intend to do that openly and maniuliy.
Now then, let us see what Is the
necessary future Of these two races living
together [Applsuse.l They require,
the white man to provide for them ana
protect them as much as they ever did,
and | believe they will require hm to
do 50 to the end Of time. Now then As
to these white men who believe in war
of races that the black may be extcr-
minated, and see in this future that Is
desirable, have no sympathy. APP
plause1 The negroes were my friends
in oldcn times. They were our pretcc-
tors when our brave men went to the
field and the women remaindcd at home.
[ Applause.l 1t was they who brought
the Mississippi valley, into cultivtion, and
by them alone can that valley, in my
opinion, ever be cultivated. They are
rs necessary to US as we are to them;
and that kind of relation existing be-
tween lis, it Is no reason why the pros
perity of the future shall not exceed that
Of the past. But l do not intend TO
treanch upon a question on which every
one has undoubtedly formed his opinion:
l would only say for myself, that as !
cannot have hostility to those deiuded
people. the only feeling of indignation
l 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, I say, hurl the thunder
bolt of Your vengeance. APPLAUSE
RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED.
WHEREAS, this meeting has received
formation--dcemed reliable-that with
il the last few days large body OF
armed men entered the town of Trenton,
in Gibson county, Tenn, and without
authority oflaw, an by violence, took from
the Jail of said county a number OF color
ed prisoners, amounting in all to some