New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-03-31
SOHTHERN SENTIlMENT,.

| posed all efforts TO DrlnB inc perpetrators VI
them to Justice Southern journals have taken
offence at this assertion have complained that
it is full of @rancorous hatred toward the
South. and that 1t is Bipartisan slush" which
ought TO be held i'm reserve till the next PreSi-
dental campaign. Yet the assertion was the
simple truth plainly stated. We Go not suppose
that anybody at all familiar with the sentl-
ment of the South, exhibited i'll the trials OF
election cases, will presume to deny this. mat
there has been ballot-b box stuflng in every cleo
ton in many Southern States for several years
| past even the Democrats no longer deny III
has been confessed to by Wade Hampton and
| the Bourbon organ OF South Carolina ana by
| General Chalmers and the abest Democratic
organ in Mississippi time and again. If the
boxes were stuffed, somebody did the stulhng,
but in what Southern States have any men
been convicted for that olcnceR One verdict
of guilty" was secured in South Carolina. but
| the Jury who brought it in were so 1ulldozed
| that they reiracted it Immediately.
There have been recent attempts to bring
ballot-box suffers and intimidators to justice
in both South Carolina and Louisiana, and pub
| lie sentiment in those States has defeated
them In South Carolina there was merely a
preliminary examination before the United
States Commissioner, and this resulted in the
binding over of two men for trial. The ami
| mus of the public was shown 10y the eXtrdurdi-
! nary report of the examination published IN me
| Charleston NcuS and CJUicr the chef Demo
cratic organ The Government officers were
charged with infamous tactics, with
coaching their Witnesses and with in
structing them to swear to false testimony. Ono
account opens in this way The atmosphere
:" of the courtroom to-day was infinitely purcr
! than before the neg:o witnesses having been
"cxcludcd, aud ON this account there was Il
larser attendance of white people, All the
negro witnesses arc set down ~ liars, and
clumsy efforts are made to ridlculc them by
ascribing different degrees of blackucss TO
them. Thus one ia Described rs black an
other rs copper colorcd y another us cc'ec-
colored 60" another rs "brCnzc'; another as
e very black; another rs young and cop
perry e" ; another ~ " very ebony another as
having Il brown face and blue tie w.; another
As ,ailron-coorcd and still another ms
black and buily." The whole spirit oi the
reports was one of contempt for the witnesses
for the Government and of bitter hatred for
the Government counsel. The arrest OF the
accused rcrsnns was always spoken Of a III ont
r,gc upon free citizens. and one would Judge
from reading the accounts That the innocent
citizens Of the state were the victims oil base
conspiracy. II pubcscni.mcnt in South Caro-
lima does not sustain this view. why do tie
ncwspapcrSof the state take it 30 unanimously
If the newspapers misreprc-cnt the people, how
happens it that the people do not protest
against them :
The Louisiana case is far worse than this.
! About week ago sixty men were brought to
! Trial i'm the Federal Court in New Orleans for
ballot-bov stuilin,. They were all Democrats
and were accused Icy Democrats. The evidence
against them WAS overwhelming yet tonvic-
! tiou could not be SECURED Two patches OF
them were acquitted by jury in the face of in
controvcrtiblr evidence, simply hccanse public
sentiment would not sustain Il conviction. The
crimes were committed in November Last, and
| were so fragrant that even the bourbon organ
! Of the city. The UmCS- Democrat, was moved to
protest against them. IL SAID on November
| y: @Itisnot possible that such deeds can be
"perpetratcd with imRRaty it must be that
| " the men who committed These OutIlgcs can be
found and confronted with the people and the
law they have Wrongcd and IT, rs has been
said the State law cannot reach the chief
criminals, then there is a Federal statute that
- can be invoked" The Federal statute was
invol,cd. when this same Bourbon organ turned
about and declared that the "0rder for these
"noIitical prosecutions cmanateS from Il Re
"publican caucus or cOtcrie,' and they are de-
signed not to punish crime but to aid tie Re
publItan party Public sentiment was too
| strong for the organ To withstand, and all
| through the trial tho papers influence was ex-
erted to defeat justice. SO hopeless was the
outlook that after two patches OF defendants
! had been acquitted the prosecution moved the
| indefinite p0stpOncment of the remaining cases.
Now we respectfully ask, in view Of these
| roct6. if we were guilty of partisan ranc0r"
in saving that public sentiment in the South
sustained fraud upon the ballot bOxl Hap
pily there is ono newspaper in New Orleans
which has the courage to defy public senti-
ment. The PicGyIHC, an independent Demo-
cratic paper says the prosecutions were in no
SENSE Republican, and that if the party is not
| "summarily purged of the sc0undrcls who have
prevented its purpose and dsgraced its record,
lit is doomed soon to be abandoned by every
representative of virtue and intelligence now
"withn its ranks" We wish we could
believe that The PicdyUne voiced the SEN
| timcnt of large proportion of the people of
Louisiana, but tho action of the jury shows
most clearly in which direction the popular
current runs. 1t may be that in time the
Southern people will SEQ the blind folly of
their course, and discover that the principles of
right and wrong arc not reversed in politics
simply because II negro has entered into the
| problem but that point has not been reached
yet.
| WHEAT-THE YIELD And CONSTIPATION.
What Is TO be done with the surplus wheat Z
| According to every Communication there still re.