Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1879-08-26
lvicksburg, Miss. Herald
TERRY, HNDS COUNTY, Miss,
- rO-n

The man who fails to raise his Voice
AGAINST mob violence Is little less guilty
than he who takes sides with the mob.
That is lust the point on which Southern
Conservatives and Democrats are accused
az the North. It's in vain that we charge
admitted outrages on the turbulent ele-
ment" The ready answer Is, You do
not interpoSe with becoming energy 70
repress such element. If "Silence Will
not do" as in the Nazoo case, YOU and l
and every other conservative citizen Will
have 10 admit that the answer Is well
made. You and l, and those Yho think
and act with us. readily admit that We
have no right 20 interfere IN the purely
local affairs of NazoO county, and we DO
not propose 70 do 50. But II lazoo pro
poses 20 get UP a confagration 20 burn up
her own vermin she must have Proper
regard for the safety of her neighbors.
The man Dixon, may, for aught l know.
be a very bad man. He Is 50 accused
ao,-. The chronicles may not have been
correctly transmitted. But 1t seems 20
me that have heard Of this same man
in lS65-6-7, and along there. He APP
pcared from the accounts to De a very
rood man then. and as the leopard does
no, change his spots. nor the Ethiopian
his skin, I am al a loss 70 understand why
the same man has become such terribly
bad fellow in 1879. Is 1t no, the old
story Of the Just p Judge who did not
comprehend the case fully till he found
out whose OK it was that had been gorcd ;
If IL was only a Nazoo case / should say
to YOU and to al outsiders, Hands of. "
But It assumes vastly larger proportions
Viewed in It's proper light, II concerns the
whole state, the whole Sou,h.-in fact
the whole United States. L concerns.
and deeply concerns, the freedom of cleo
tons everywhere. Il Is a proposition 70
allow a mob 20 say. I'VE tolerate no op-
position: we propose 10 carry the election
ANYHOW. and we VIII take no risk; oppo-
sition Is dangerous, and we VIII not toll
crate IL; no ticket shall stand opposed 20
our VIII: vote as we tell YOU or no, vote
at all" strip the proposition of yerbiagc
and disreputablc disguise and that is
what il means.
Have madcapS and do-uothincS stopped
90 inquire what Is 20 be the end OF an
this: If one party may drive another
from the field in Nazoo by force Of arms,
NAV not the same party, with equal Jus
tee. be driven from the field IN some
other election, and thus elections become
matters Of physical force and ballots De
dispensed with Sustain the Nazoo move
mcnt cmphatically, or what Is worse 81
lcutly,-bccauSe that lacks the elemcn,
of courage which always inspires a de-
gree of respect even In a bad cause
and YOU insure a Republican triumph In
the pending gubernatorial contest in Ohio.
and almost q certain triumph for tina,
party in the Presidential contest in 1850.
Is the defeat Of an independent cam
didatc for sheriff in Nazo0 worth more %
Us than the election OF Ewing as Cover
nor Of Ohio, Is IL worth more than the
election of q Democratic President m
1850, Is 1t no, better 20 allow Dixon 90
BE- sheriff Of Nazoo than % swell ;hc
boon" for Grant as the Radical candi-
date for President next wear; And vet
calmly considered, that is the issue which
our indiScrcet friends in Nazoo seem will
ing 90 force upon us. Can It be.
that any considerable portion Of the pco-
pie Of this country are willing 20 subSti-
tute force and violence for the peaceful
methods of our fathers in the choice oil
officers; hope not. | think not But,
II am mistaken, LEI me say 20 all such.
correct your error, and do It quickly III
there Is any one point on which the great
American public has made up is mind II
Is that the ballot shall be sacred, and the
ballo,-box free from corruption or intim-
idation. In this lies the only security
for our free institutions. That Is the
public judgment and II viii have % be
respected.
IndiScreet Democrats, in their mad
efforts 70 keep the Republicans out of
power, are, in fact, paving the way TO
let them in. Do they not know that
conservative, law-loving, peaceful citizens
cannot, and VIII not, follow them in their
headlong career: Ought We not all 70
show a decent regard for consistency. 20
say nothing of political honesty; What
has Congress been doing during all the
long and dismal DAYS of is late protract-
ed session: What have our members
been doing; Discussing the question as
20 whether elections should be carried at
the point of the bayonet Now what
have we: Not elections carried. but fields
swept Of candidates by shot-guns before
the election. In our eagerncSS 20 expose
the wicked designs of the Radicals we
got up cartoons of balot-bOxeS pierced
by Federal bayonctS. Can we now COM
plain if the other side gets up cartoons
showing ballot-boxes riddled with shot
guns, and independent candidates fleeing
for dear life before a Democratic mob;
Small as the IazOo affair may seem in
itself, II has in i, the elements Of a vast
revolution. What the people Of that
county NAV do for themselves and with
in themselves. does not touch the heart
Of the question. Il they had taken
Dixon out and hanged him. simply as "a
bad man, history in It's progress would
scarcely have paused long enough 70
make a note of 1t. The vital. underly-