New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1879-08-22
"a LAlL1RS SrGGENTITE SILENCE.


people Is surest OF success in the end.
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MR.. LAlf4RS SUGGESTIVE SILENCE.
Senator Lamar has been asked by a CORE
spondent of The NelD- York Herald for an eX-
preston of opinion in regard to the assassina-
ton of Captain Dixon, but he refuses to ex-
press his views on the ground that it is now
time of political excitement, and he fears that
his language may be miscOnstrued. Now IL Is
possible that Mr.. Lamar makes more COM
plete disclosure of himself, his views and his
sub-conscious sympathies in this brief excuse
for keeping silence than he would have done II
he had made a volublc use Of language
to conceal his ideas. He adds, it is true, that
this will prove to be simply the result OF a
street brawl, and not a political murder But
all the world knows better, and Mr.. Lamar
evidently did not believe what he said. For
why should any man hesitate about pro-
nouncing an opinion on street brawlsf And
why should Mr.. Lamar excuse himself dis
tinctly on the ground that this Is time OF
political excitement, If the murder had no
connection with politics His very use Of the
phrase "political murder" is significant.
We know of no such crime in. this latitude.
IF q New-York paper should chance to an
nounce in it's headlines some morning that
political murder had been committed here
about. the enlightened reader would consider
it a violent figure of speech, and interpret it
to mean that some promising movement"
had met with back-set, or that some favor
ite son had been Out-vOted. But Mr.. La-iaT's
language is an admission that the killing OF
citizens who are so ventg, esome rs TO oppose
the regular Democratic ticket is of such fire.
quent occurrence in Mississippi that the
necessities of ordinary speech require the
adoption of specific name for the crime.
Mr.. Lamar, then, taking him at his word,
knows that prominent citizen Of his State
has been shot in the back because he assumed
to oppose the action of a Democratic
Convention. He knows, too, that many
better men than DixOn-Incn who were
never decorated for mcritorious shot
gun service by the Yazoo Democracy
have been murdered for their political opinions
by Mississippi Democrats. And yet he has
nothing to say as to "the manner in which
| this contest has been carried on" That is,
he has nothing to say when a political contest
in his State is carried on by intimidation and
murder. OF course he "abhOrs murder." But
/ how much does he abhor il In what practical
way has his adherence made itself felt as a
restraining force in Mississippi society," Has
he ever, in any Of his public appearances or il
! the public press made himself conspicuous in
/ dcpouncing political murder and the organized
/ assassins who have made it a common crime2
| Has he ever opposed the shotgun policy ?
| Has lac ever made one effort to briug single
murgere to Justice? On the contrary, has he
moi always been swift TO frame excuses for
these violent methods in politics Have not his
vrathful denunciations been steadily leyelled
at the victims of this oppression, while his en-
enlargement and sympathy have been law
ished upon the shedders Of innocent blood
The fact is that the silence Of Mr. Lamar
and men like him is, under the circumstances
criminal silence. 1t is and has been an ap-
proval of murder. 1t is an advertisement TO
I Democratic ruiianism that it can shoot with
| IMMUNITY. When a cOwardly mob kills CHS
DIN and bis child, the mob is guilty. But
when Mississippi society refuses to hang
these mulderers, Mississippi society assumes
the guilt as its own. When leading cit
liens of Yazoo County approve Of driving
Dixon from the canvass with murderOus
weapons. then leading citizens are accessories
before the fact of the murder which is sure
to follow. 1t is not BaIksdale alone who is
guilty of the blood of Dixon, but the society
which breeds Barksdae and his kind. And
when men like Mr.. Lamar, who stand high in
public station and public confidence, refrain
from using their powers and position to create
a public sentiment in which political muir
ders will be impossible, the country viii
not hold them guiltless of tie barbarities
perpetrated in the name Of Democracy. One
thing is certain: Mississippi will never be re-
deemed to civilization 50 long as her Senators
give Official recognition to murder as cam
paign necessity, by refusing to have any opinion
about 1t during a I" time of political excite
"ment ,; or so long as her Senator's views on the
improperly of filling the back Of a political
opponent with buckshot are so deicately
balanced that they are in danger of being
Jared out Of adjustment and perhaps " mis-
construed" if given boldly to the world
in the columns Of a newspaper.
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CRUISE or THE HJdSCfR.