The New Orleans Democrat., 1876-07-21
MR.. LAMAR ON THE HAMBURG RIOT.

MI. LAMAR ON IHE HAMBDhU hlUIs
We have before us series OF docu-
ments In relation to the Hamburg, South
Carolina. riot, both interesting and in
structive. The documents consist, first,
of the grossly untrue account OF the
affair by the correspondent Of the
Charleston NeWs and Courier, q crooked
Democratic paper which supports for
the Governorship of South Carolina
that prince of plunderers. Chamberlain !;
second, correct report OF the affair
by Col. Butler in a letter to the New
York World; third, a villainous article
In the New York Herald of the 18th,
based on the Ne,os and C0urier's version
OF the affair, and advising the Southern
negroes to organize and fight the whites !;
fourth, an article in a similar strain in
q religious paper published in Charles
ton and fifth. the telegraphic report Of
the extraordinary speech of Mr.. Lamar,
OF Mississippi, In the House on the 18th,
denouncing the whites engaged in the
affair in the most vicious and yindictiye
terms.
Tho applause which the Associated
Press reporter tells us greeted Mr.. La
mars speech from the Republican side
OF the House, when he charged the Ham
burg men with the murder Of the ne
groes, may have rung very sweetly upon
the eloquent Mississippian' ear; but
we are disposed to think that speech and
applause have fallen with sharp dis
discordance upon the hearts Of the un-
fortunate people Of South Carolina, Lou
| isiana and Mississippi. When we read
Mr.. Lamar's disgraceful attack upon
the unfortunate citizens of Hamburg,
who in defending themselves against an
| Infatuated negro mob were forced to
strike some deadly blows, we almost
| blush for him.
When Southern leaders like Mr..
Lamar thus misrepresent Southern men
and malign them to win favor for them
selves among the bloody shirt orators
| in Congress, we cease to wonder that o
Radical paper In Charleston warns the
white people of South Carolina that
there are $4,000 black men in the State
who can bear Winchester rifles, and
that there are 10000 negro Women 1ch0
can light a,t0rch and use the knife; or that
the New York Herald charges that the
decent part Of the population Of South
Carolina have no public spirit. human
ity and Christian spirit; that they have
been guilty of an outrage worthy of the
Sioux, and advises Gov. Chamberlain to
organize negro militia to hunt and
shoot down the whites.
Mr.. Lamar could find no words too
strong in which to denounce the killing
Of the negroes at Hamburg But he
seems to have been conveniently oblivi-
GUS of the facts, first, that Gen. Butler
and other prominent citizens used every
groes, but in vain; and, secondly, that
the negroes fired the first volley upon
the whites, instantly killing Mr.. McKie
Merriwether, an estimable young man.
Why did not Mr.. Lamar state these
facts? Or, IL ignorant Of the circum-
stances. why did he spring 30 promptly
to his feet to condemn his own people
and evoke the approval Of the men who
have made it business to misrepresent
these sort Of troubles In the South to the
detriment and defamation OF our people?
The men who are responsible, pri-
marily, for these bloody riots, are the
Radical politicians, who have, for years,
outraged the whites, while they have
kept the minds of the negroes inflamed
to the highest pitch. This affair, like
the similar ones which have occurred
In Louisiana, was, in the language of
Col. Butler, "a sort Of spontaneous COM
bustion," the materials OF which
the Radical leaders had prepared.
The whites have done all that lay
in their power to prevent these affairs,
but the carpet baggers have urged them
on; and now that Mr. Lamar, who is re-
garded at the North as representative
Southern man, has given the bloody
shirt shriekers the weight Of his inhu-
ence, and the carpet-bag incendiaries
and negro murderers the comfort and
encouragement OF his sympathy, we
may reasonably anticipate an increase ol
the outbreaks.