Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1879-08-22
OBEDIENCE TO AAWs

- - - R
We have already announced that
Gen. Stewart L. Woodford, of New
York, will accompany Mrs Chisolml
to Mississippi, whittier she goes to
appear as witness against the as
sassins of her husband and chill
dren. They viii leave for KemPeEl
county-on the oath. inst.=-Gen.z
Woodford was in Mississippi two
years ago, where he went to deliver
an address, by invitation of the
students Of the State University.
In that address he said: kgsr
This need of faithful obedience to
law and impartial enforcement of law
is not confined to any State Or cont
munity. If were asked to pOintsOut
the greatest present danger to our pop.
nlar institutions, should say at once
that it lies In our habitual disregard Of
our personal duty 20 obey and enforce
law. We are too frequently In the
habit of asking: Isthis law wise" or
right?' instead of asking: What is
the law? If it be law, obey it as law
while it remains on the statute book.
and then. having INDICATED the
majesty of the law, changeit or repeal
it as legal OPPORTUNITY is given. But
no thoughtful man can read the daily
press without being painfully con.
sciOus of the 1awless spirit that Isl
abroad in the land. The record is full
of crimes of brutality and deeds of
violence that sicken our souls and dis
grace our civilization. They are COM
mon in 10 one section. They are con-
fined to no one State. They are alike
in kind bat varying as 10 moving
cause, according TO the prejudice and.
ignorance of the locality. In Cali
fornia it is an outbreak of the Chris
tian mob against the heather Chinese.
In New England it is the physical
effort of q mass of striking oper-
atives to deny to each laborer his right
to solve for himself the question Of his
own wages. In Pennsylvania it takes
the terrible form of oath-bound socie-
ties among the poor, ignorant miners.
In the North these violent outbreaks
mostly spring from questions of labor
and wages. In the South they seem
mostly to have grown from questions
of personal quarrel or Of race and pol.
itics, But underneath them all lies
the one fact, disregard of the majesty
disposition to use force instead Of rea-
son; to substitute the passion OF the
few for the law, that embodies the win
of the many. Just in proportion as
any community either approves or as
sents to the disregard of law ia such
disregard dangerous Where the law
is violated and no attempt Is made to
punish the violation, or even ascertain
the violator, great and permanent
wrong is dOne-a wrong to the public
conscience and to the public welfare.
II anywhere and atany time we shall
fail, by teaching or example, to obey
US shall rest the burden and, the great
tTayed. 9
Abiding to the sentiments here
uttered, and to his proposed visit
there now with Mrs. Chisolm, the
New York Evening Post says:
ut is in this broad spirit, then, that
General Woodford goes to the South
1t is to aid in. the Vindication of the
law by assisting and encouraging Mrs
Chisolm, the necessary instrument o.
the law, and if be and, his lonely
charge arereeeiyed kindly and treated
Justly, and If the law is INDICATED In
Kemper county, then the lwell-knowr
eloquence of Mr.. Woodford will un.
doubleday be potent in proclaiming
whenever opportunity Is given tnal
the spirit of law and justice is still
men who wave the bloody shirt
will be dumb in the presence Of
his testimony. We believe, moreover
that Mr.. Woodford goes in obedience
to an instinct which finds an echo in
the breast of every man who has .
wife or mother and who stops to thin
what it is that calls this wife and
mother to Kemper county. For tits
her sacred duty to go, and she mnst, &C
alone unless some kind stranger II
prompted to offer his kindly care.
mo wonder that General Wood.
ford offered his services. No wonder
that this sllyer-haired, and broken.
hearted woman gratefully accepted
them. 1t Is alike natural aud honora.
BILE to them both, andcan not be rob.
bed OF its humanity and dignity by
pOliticaldemagogues. Their sad Jour.
ney should be, and we believe will be-
regarded with sorrow and respect by
all law abiding and eIvilized men al
the South as we'll ss at the North"
Had the people Of Mississippi
profted by the suggestions made
the State would not now be the
hot-bed of political persecution, and
the scene of murders for opinions
sake. The advice given, is good fo'
all sections.-Ob Obedience to the Law
is the foundation cof all peace an
prosperity. No community tina
allows1men to take the, laws int
their own hands, whether it come
in the shape Of Iynching for Grim
without the benefit of trial. Or muir
der for partisan saecesslin'elsctions
can be prosperous. lsoo a's7o