National Republican., 1876-12-12
RIFLE CLUB LAW AND ORDER.

RIFLE CLUB LAW AND ORDER.
The kind of law and order that would
reign in South Carolina if Wade Hampton
was Governor is amply illustrated by the
accounts of the lynching of dozen ne
groes at LowndesviIle few days since
without any show of trial Such barbara
ties only go to show that the reign of the
rifle club element is now supreme, and
that it is 8 'treign of terror" They ex-
coed in horror the Turkish atrocities in
Bulgaria by the difference between our
civilization and that of the Bashi Bazouks.
IF the butcheries of the latter in Bulgaria
warranted the interference of all the Great
Powers of Europe, how much the more
would the same Powers be justified in en-
tering protest against the Government of
the United States for allowing the con-
tinued massacre of its Christian citizens in
the Southern States without interference
for the arrest and punishment of the per-
petrators7 If General Wade Hampton
possesses the influence he processes to be
sble to exercise over the rifle clubs of
South Carolina, he and his associates can
put 3 stop to these wholesale murders.
That they do not do so, shows either that
they do not possess the power they so con-
fdertly boast, or that the atrocities are
committed with their connivsnce at least,
if not by their direction. The lynching of
these negroes without trial by mob of
whites shows the correctness OF the
Presidents judgment in refusing to with
draw the regular troops from that
State. He justly observed that it was only
the presence of the troops there which
prevented a wholesale slaughter in Colum-
bia 1t is time that the people and Con-
gress should look this matter of prevailing
iawlessness at the South squarely in the
face, and decide between 9 reign of terror
there and governments which are repub-
lican in form" If those States are now in
the enjoyment of republican form of gov
eminent, it must be clear to the minds of
all that they are only form. The execu-
tion of law is mere sham, mockery.
There is no pretense even, 30 far as we
can learn, of the arrest and trial of white
men for breach of the peace" for muir
der, lynching, whipping, assault and bat
terry, rape and assassination when these
crimes are committed upon negroes and
their families who refuse to vote the Demo
cratic ticket. The rifle clubs will not per-
NIT the arrest and trial of their members
on such charges. Or, if they do, the whole
club will attend the trial in body, fully
armed, and remain there as q standing
menace to court and jury that the verdict
must be one Of acquittal or justification.
We beg to say to the Democratic party,
North and South, that it cannot afford to
stand the sponsor of such mocksries, al
though they may be committed in the
names of Liberty and Reform" We say
still further to Southern Democrats that, in
our opinion, they are now sowing the
wind to an extent that will soon result In
q large harvest of whlrlwInds if the hand
of the assassin is not speedily stayed in
their midst. 1t is said that even a worm
will at last turn upon its torturer. And it
is beyond all reason to suppose that the
initiative negro will not ere long, should
these expressions and crimes against them
be continued, begin course of retaliation
upon the whites t. hat is fearful to contem-
plate.
Since writing the foregoing Charleston
telegram has been received which imputes
the charge of conspiracy for retaliation to
the victims of these lynchers. If this
should prove true, and it needs confrma-
ton, that fact only goes to show the cor
Tectness of our impressions that such action
must in the very nature of the case result
from the course which the rife clubs have
been pursuing for several years past under
various names and disguises. 1t Is the
legitimate frait Of the Ku-Kluxing, the
White Line and rife club riding and
whippings, the bull doing and the shot
gun policy of the whites. God grant that
the latter may now open their eyes and
stay their barbarous and murderous hands
before it is too late! We, in common with
all Christendom, shrink IN horror from the
contemplation of war of races in this
country. And all the more because there
is not the slightest necessity or excuse in
reason, right or justice for any such war.
All the freedman asks is the free enjoy
ment Of those rights and privileges of citi-
zenship which are guaranteed to him by
the Constitution. Can the Democracy of
the South or North afford to deny him
these in the name of reform and liberty?
Can it sfford to hazard with him war of
races, which in the South would be tanta-
mount to one of determination, aud sacri-
fee by the same act his labor, rather than
deal Justly by hlm2 The plain question
to which the Democratic party must soon
give categorical answer to the people ef
the country is, whether it will or will not
scrupulously recognize and obey IN letter
and spirit the thirteenth, fourteenth and
fifteenth amendments to the Constitution
of the United States2 Promises, made in
resolutions only to be broken in practice,
will no longer avail. Hereafter, actions
must speak. The people will hold the
leaders to a rigid accountability. If an
affirmative answer is intended, it must be
shown by cessation of lynchings, bull
dozings and assassinations, and the accord
ance to the negroes of their legal and con-
stitutional rights and privileges. Intimi-
dations, threats and menaces for political
effect must also cease. The alternative,
we cannot and will not now attempt to
depict. We prefer to leave this to the
fervid imagination of the reader.
COATS THAT HAVE CHANGED.