The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1875-09-02
The Georgia Murder Plot,

thanks to the prompt and efficient action
of Gov. Smith - who has the rare faculty
of tempering zeal with discretion = the
negro Instruction in Georgia has been
nippcd in the bud without loss life on
either side, and without rOusng that pop
ular excitement which experience has
shown to be capable of doing SO much
damage to the general peace and prosper,
ity of community But the fact that the
threatened danger has been avoided ought
not to lessen public appreciation OF its
very grave significance Late advices from
Augusta 60 far toward proving the exist
ence ola deep-laid plot, which had it
been fully consummated would have pro-
duced terrible results. Jake Norman. a
first lieutenant in a colored company, tes-
titles under oath that nineteen counties
were embraced in the instruction; that
all the white men and a portion Of the wo-
men We're to be killed, and the remainder
of the latter, with the plumber and the
lttIh NtlC W NC WV IttcNt ttllUllS lllt DNltIl-
ers. All the other witnesses thus far ex-
amned tell substantially the same story.
We presume, of course, that Mourman
and his contederates will be brought to
trial, and the whole affair subjected to
such legal investigation rs may develop
all the facts, and reveal, if possible, the
influences which started the diabulcal
business. In order to secure this desira-
BILE end, the arrest Of General" Morgan,
the leader, is Indispensable; and it seems
to us that the reward offered only 5000
is scarcely sufficient Under the peculiar
circumstances of the case, 81 900 would
not be too high Il price to pay for the cap
ture of the head devil.
Had the Georgia troubles occurred be-
lore the war, the Republican press would
have fastened to lay the blame upon that
convenient scapegoat, slavery; but rs sla-
very has long since disappeared, and As
Morgan, Norman, and their associates
are now free from any and all embarass-
ments on account Of race, color. or pre-
yious condition Of seryitude," it is evident
that We must look elsewhere for the root
OF the evil. Nor is it necessary to look
far OF long We regard these troubles As
nothing more or less than the legitimate
product Of the persistent teachings of Nor
thern Radicals ana Southern carpet bag
gers From the very day the emancipa-
ton proclamation was issued, these so
called ''lriends of the negro'-really his
worst enemieS-have labored to convince
him that the white population of the South
We're his yindctive and irreconcilable foes
that it was his interest, as we'll IS his duty,
to oppose them in all their plans of recon
struction, and in all their measures to build
up what the rellion had torn down. More
over, the negro has been taught that the
property of the whites was really his own,
that he had been cheated out of it in one
fled in recovering it by fair means or foul.
Hence every legislature in which the col
ored element predominates has literally re-
solved itself into a committee of the whole
tor stealing; hence, corruption and rob-
berry have gone hand in hand, and scouu-
drelism been the rule and honesty the eN-
ception. Consequently, in those states
where the negroes are in the minority,
and therefore deprived of the privilege OIL
tapping the public pocket, they aa'e in a
condition Of chronic dissatisfaction, and
always on the watch tor an opportunity
to get even Having been made to be-
lieve that the whites owe them u living,
and that labor is only yestige of the old
oppression, they will do As little work rs
possible, and are ever willing to follow de-
signing knaves into desperate scheme
which promises to restore to them their lost
'rights.''
This is the secret Of the Georgia inSur-
rection. The negroes there, as in South
Carolina, Mississippi and louisiana have
been completely demoralized by Northern
demagogues in and out OF Congress, and
by those unscrupulous aiyenturers who
have settled in the South for the express
purpose of utilizing for their own selfish
ends the colored vote. Only i'm Georgia
they have been unable to grasp the reins
of power, and therefore are ready for any
thing which may enable them to obtain
the coveted prize. The massacre Of st
Domingo embodies the African idea of 4
successful coup 0'ctM
1t is such exhibitions rs this which rem
der the prospect of harmonious union be-
tween the two races in the South almost
hopeless. Twenty years Will not oblter-
ate from the memory Of the white people
of Georgia the peril they have Just escap-
ed, and who can blame them for distrust-
ing hereafter the pledges Of those whose
iavorite weapons are the knits and the
torch ? And who can estimate the vast
injury inflicted upon blacks and whites by
those missionaries of discord who have
cursed the former with their false friend
ship
lnreply toa letter from the editor Of the
Maine Standard complaining that radical
campaign documents had been folded in
to his paper by postmasters, Postmaster
General Jewell LAYS down the rules of the
department lie says the act is a viola
ton OF decency and propriety, and that
any official guilty of it will be immediate
ly discharged. That's correct Mr.. Jewell
but it has been extensively done, never
theless.
Just before going to press we learn that
Morton is not to shake the bloody shirt in
this city. His meeting at hockland Tues
day was very thin and cold gathering