New-York tribune., 1874-10-15
THE COUNsELS or A POSTMASTER.

Mr. J. NJ. Edmunds, Postmaster OF Washing
ton and central directing intelligence of the
Republican party, has written letter to the
Chattanooga COnvention-tO Powell Clayton,
Poker Jack, George E. Spencer, Thousand Dol
lar West, P. B. S. Pinchback, and the other
clamOrous persons there assembled, whom he
addresses as " sincere and thoughtful states
"men "-and has advised them what sort OF a
manifesto will be most useful in the ap-
preaching elections. Whatever they publish
must be short but shocking. They must crowd
into the smallest possible space the fullest pos
sible list of murders. assaults and other out
RACES committed against Republicans in the
Southern States, with vivid picture of society
trembling under Democratic oppression, and
prosecuted negroes fleeing to the woods. "Out-
"rages of all classes should be carefully re-
"pOrted, whether resulting in crime or extend
"ing only to intimidation" The benefits OF
Federal protection are also to be reviewed,
and probably Mr.. Edmunds will be pleased to
have the Convention point with pride to the
results of the Presidents intervention in
Louisiana as ex-Gov. Parsons did in his open
ing address. There is no State in the South
wherein q terrible showing of Democratic
of the Washington Postmaster reign of ter
ror might be proved in the City OF New-fork
itself by the same methods.
The "sincere and thoughtful statesmen"
however, will find it no easy matter to con-
tradct the perfectly fair and intelligent ac-
counts of our special correspondent in Ala
bama, begun a few days ago and continued
in THE TRIBUNE this morning. He shows us
State as quiet and peaceable as any in the
South-we might almost say as any in the
Union-where nevertheless unscrupulOus pO-
litical agitatOrs and scatter-brained deputy
marshals would have us believe the midnight
air is forever resounding with the tramp of
masked assassins and the shrieks of bleeding
negroes. There have been two murders,
probably traceable to political animOsities; /;
but these dark deeds, which may be matched
almost anywhere, are execrated quite as loudly
and doubtless quite as sincerely by one party
as the other, and there is nothing remarkable
about them except the failure OF the Repub-
lican State authorities to take any pains
for the apprehension of the criminals. If
there is any armed White League in Alabama
it is not discoverable by the disinterested in
yestgator. If there is any wholesale terror
ism it has frightened nobody but Judge
Abrahams. If there are riots nobody hears OF
them but the Hon. Charles Hays. If there are
massacres nobody seems to be hurt by them.
In short, the stories of anarchy which have
been sent abroad from the Department OF
Justice and copied by every Administration
newspaper in the United States prove to be
nothing but scandalous falsehoods, deliberately
manufactured for dishonest purpose. Ala
bama will doubtless give place before long to
Arkansas or some other State, and desperate
effort will be made not only to affect the
Northern vote, but to prepare the public mind
for some such violent interference with South
ern State Governments as reversed the verdict
of the Louisiana election two years ago.
This is the meaning of the letter of Post
master Edmunds. and it is plain enough that
the Convention understood it. We are to
have another campaign of lies and violence,
and the South is to be turned over for another
term of years to the tender mercies of plum
dering prOcOnsuls. 1t is fortunate, however,
for the public that while Government officers
are devoting themselves to the dissemination
of slander and misinfOrmation, the indepeDd-
ent press is represented in the " disturbed
"districts" by able correspondents who cannot
easily be deceived, and who will not lie,-men
who have no party prejudices to warp their
Judgment, and who can serve their own in
terests only by telling the exact, unvarnished
truth.