The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1883-12-12
Murder as a Political Agency.

Since the publication of Senator Ma
homes address exposing the murder
Gus tactics y which the Virgin Bour-
bons won their recent triumph, horri-
ble visions of ensanguined shirts are
continually troubling the minds of our
Democratic contemporar es- why"
they in uire, 'Should such dread ul
objects 'be exposed the public gaze?
Why not pass by on the other SIDE, and
pretend not to see the evidence of
barbarity and intol rance? The spec
ta-ls is ca. ated to awaken senti-
ments of anti at1y toward cur South
ern brethren. who are compelled to
choose between political defeat at the
polls and the Tas acre in cold blood
OF persons who will not vote the Demo-
cratic ticket or ay at home. Think
of the gTievous alternative to which
they are re6ucrd. of seeing themselves
! de Gated in the elections or nobly
slaughtering ther opponents. Extend
to them your sympathy rather than
your blame. Reect upon the anguish
that mu t wiring their chi alric souls
when they contemplate the certain
ty of being excluded from Office and
power. and deprived of the emolu-
ments appertaining tn sreto, unless they
1 iudu ge in little butchery by way of
dim nishing the obstacles which con-
| fr Jnt III m in pu suit of these desirable
things. Be content with beholding the
grand results flowing from the Bourbon
syssen of conducting -politi al cam
! paigns, and remain silent Don't stir
| up bad elings. Perhaps the thing
isn't as bad as witnesses report it to be.
At most only few lives are sacrificed,
comparat vely. Two or three dozen
murders in State just before election
day. ordinarily suffice. and what are
they to make a fuss about, anyhow?
Let us have peace. We have heard
enough of the bloody shirt. and don't
want to be bothered about it any more.
If you keep on waving it we will sw al
that nothing o. the sort exists, no mat
ter how conclusive the testimony of
outrage may be-" And so the con-
science of the Nation is to be stified, if
possible. But, s.rs, the damned spot
VIII not out. People will talk and act.
too, as far as thty are able to do so, and
plant the seal of their condemnat on
no only upon the immediate Grim nails
but also upon tn ir apologists.
If Democracy can not maintain itself
/ without murder to serve as a hand
maiden, in the South, or anywhere else,
it is right that the fact be known to all
men, in order that they may pass judg-
ment upon it. Representative Barbour,
of Virgin a, is reported to be in New
York denouncing Senator Mahone's ar
raignment of the Bourbons as an out
rage. The Democratic State Commit
tee of Virginia has met in Richmond
and passed resolutions protesting
against the revelation of Bourbon
tactics. Barbour says Senator Mahone's
statement is an imitation of others that
have preceded it from other States; but
there is only so much similarity as nee
essarily inheres in tales of crime and
bloodshed g owing ont of partisan ami
mostly and greed. The fact that in
famies of the same sort have been prac-
tical before In the South does not ex-
cuse or palliate in any degree the culpa-
bility of the Virginia Bou ms. The
mississippi plan" of carrying elections
is nothing new, of C urse, but the
appalling wickedness of its intro
duction in Virginia is net dimin-
ished by pleading precedents. Muir
der dates back to the days of
Cain and Abel, but it is not to be ex-
cused on that account. There is no
moral statute of limitation properly ap-
plicable TO deeds of blood-guilt tiness. 1t
will not do to assume that the deeds
committed at Danville and other places
in Virginia are lessenS in blameworth-
iness because Senator Malone and his
friends have made an outcry about
them. They were known in something
of their blackness before the election,
and their purpose was at once suspect
ed. Since then suspicion has been
turned into such degree of certainty
by corroborating circumstances as to
justify the verd ct for which the Sena-
tor asks. And it is well that the atten-
tion of good citizens everywhere should
be directed to the means by which Bour-
bon Democracy maintains solid South
and hopes to secure control of the Ma
tional Government finally, with the aid
of Northern sympathizers and friends.
Sneers concerning the exhibition of
bloody shirts VIII hardly result in sup
pressing independent comment upon
the recent Bourbon atroc ties in Vir-
ginia. Troy (N ~ Times.