American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1875-09-18
HOT BLOOD AND BAD wH1sXY.


ready a disposition for race conflict,
together with that almighty ad-
junct, mean whisky, is calculated at
this time not only seriously to re-
tard the general welfare and pros
perity in the destruction and loss of
property by causing abandonment
of the crops, now ready to be gath
cred, by the labOrers, aud the dis
organization and Decentralization of
the present labor system; but the
entire population is put in terror in
the immediate localities of such
affairs, alarm spreads throughout
neighboring regions, caryying a
general and wide spread feeling OF
insecurity, not to mention the loss
of life to a. more or less extent i'm
mediately effected Oh such Oc-
casiOns.
Now, to adopt the exclamation of
the dying Federal soldier at Bull
Run, as the life-blood dripped from
the CHASTITY wound in his side, III
that awful moment of last reflection,
when it occurred to him that his
country men of two sections, ar
rayed against each other, had
caused all this havoc and blO0dshed,
be moaned out: any God, what IS
all this for!" So We sit down
calmly to think about the loss of
life at Clinton, about an estimable
and happy family now rendered a
bereaved widow aud orphans in the
loss OF the husband and father We
think of the young men whose
homes have been rendered desolate
by their butchery and then think
of q number Of negro labOrers
slaughtered, and of hundreds OF
others who abandoned the crops
where they were so much needed.
and in terror sought safety at the
State Capital. while general con-
dillon of insecurity prevailed even
in adjacent counties, and We cannot
help asking, in all reason, what is
il all fort What caused it?
Alas, the caption of this article
affords the solution. A few white
men desiring to take drink at
Rep'c'n meeting, retired some little
distance tor the pu, pose. The cold
marshal of the day, desiring, per-
haps with too much zeal, to carry
out the order prohibiting drinking
on the ground, and imagining that
whether the young white mel got
full of whisky and fight immediate
" on the ground or q hundred or
two yards of, it was anyhow q VIC
lation of the spirit Of the rule which
looked to keeping everybody sober,
that peace might prevail, advanced
to where they were in the act Of
drinking, and ordered them to de-
sist. Then came the ret0rr aud re-
fusal on the part of the whites, fol-
lowed by the attempt to proceed
With the drinking then the act of
the darkey endesvoring to sieze the
bottle; then the knocking down of
the latter by q white man; then a
general row, with all the disastrous
results mentioned above.
Now Who wants all this to occur
from any such cause? And yet
every riot nearly-every row that
takes place, when thoroughly H.
quired into, finds its origin in SINH
lar trivial causes. The public tenn
per is fever high on account of the
approaching election. and the indis-
Greet act of some rash person, OR
persons; some senseless and ex.
travagant Boosting or vain express
sion on the part of some minimizing
representative Of the blacks or
whites. strikes fire from the flint,
and the whole magazine goes off
with q result like this: "Three
white men killed, but fourteen me-
groes bit the dust. and all the rest
were put to fight and driven from
the country for miles around!"
Now who wants three or four
white men killed for any such satia-
faction3 And who wants the ne
groes killed anyhow, leaving out
humane considerations, and regard
ing them as necessary for the gath
ering of the bountifnl crops with
which Divine Providence has
blessed our countryf
We are satisfied there are a few
points-but not half that might be
presented for the consideration of
thinking men in the foregoing. We
are called upon at q time like this
to exercise the cool reason aud for
bearance of men, rather than the
wild, reckless passion of fury and
race hatred. Why should we give
counteuance to reckless and foolish
conduct, or words, that involve
such sad consequences? Why not
reprove and discourage all such