Martinsburg weekly independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1873-1875, 1874-09-05
PUBLIC MEETING IN MIhPHIs

Wnlte ana black, met In the Exp
sition Building of Memphis, Ten
nessee, on Friday, August %, and
adopted resolutions denouncing
the lynching Of the negro insur-
rectionists in Gibson county i'm I'M
qualified terms. The following,
among other speeches were de-
livered:
Loud calls were made for Presi-
dent jefferson Davis, who upon
ascending the rostrum was loudly
cheered. Mr.. Davis then spoke as
follows:
Friends and Cotut,yma:
You have assembled tonight,
not for the bare purpose of giving
an expression which humanity de-
mands, but you have assent led for
higher and holier duty. ZAP
plause. J 1t il what yon owe to your
sires, what you owe to your pos
terity, what you owe to the liv-
ing, and what you owe TO the gall
LIANT dead who fell for the sake of
Southern Independence. Never
has a country been more truly in a
condition Of having lost all save
its honor, and you men of the
counties Of Jackson, Grundy, Polk
and many others of wide reputa-
ton, may be expected to d nounce
whatever would stain the honor
and whatever would tarnish the
fair name of thelivIng, Applause
You are not here, then, merely to
express your horror Of a particu-
lar crime still less are you here
to argue what is due from one
race to another. 1t is crime, and
crime to be punished as it de.
serves, but that belongs TO he law
and its officers. That they will do
their duty, only those who distrust
our people can fail TO believe. But
you come To appeal to the moral
sense OF the world /; your words are
TO go abroad to mankind. Let it
understand that you are not race
of assassins; that you are not the
men who 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 iae end of your lives will
go forward with honor which
never seeks concealment, wears no
mask and never blackens its face.
( Applause. / was peculiarly
struck with the remark of the ne
gro who was called upon by one Of
the committee sent TO South Caro-
lima, and who was expected to give
testimony 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 boys to-
gether. They then said to him,
"Do you believe he has been en-
gagged in these kuklux outrages 2"
No, don't believe it," "Why
don't you believe it?" Because
if Mars Wade Hampton had been
in it it would have been the white
man, and not the negro, that he
would have struck"
The negroes were not our enc
mics; 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. IL becomes us
to be their friends. Every South
ern man in his memory runs back
to the negro woman who nursed
him; To the boy who hunted with
him; to the man who first
taught him to ride and to. swim
and, as he grew 10 manhood, 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 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 i be-
lieve God intended US to occupy.
Ii we have been diverted from
suc, relatio and If hostility has
sprung up TO any extent lit has been
the work of those incendaries who
have came in to destroy the natural
relations of the races, and thus TO-
nenting di5cord by producing
the evils which now exist in
society. But my friends, 1t rests
with you, whatever be the result.
to show to the world that you are
incapable of secret crime; that you
hate the man who wears a mask
(applause), and whatever it is nee
essary for the public peace to do,
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
10 on ~ tha u,,J &c tip,n Nnuy