New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-01-02
A TORD TO REPUBLICAN SENATORS.

TORD TO REPUBLICAN, SENA TORS.
It is obviously difficult to know with GER
tainty the course Senators are likely to take. or
have taken, in secret session upon executive
nominations. So that in naming tho Rcpubli-
| can Senators, who arc regarded by many as
| doubtful on the subject of Mr.. Lamars con-
| firmation. we have no intention of vouching in
| any case for the report. At the same time, the
subject seems to us Of sufficient popular interest
| to Justify the mention of the names. Those
whose intentions are not fully known arc said
to be Messrs. Eyarts, Sawyer. Cameron, Sabin
and Mitchell.
Now we want to say few plain words to
these gentlemen. They are members OF the
majority in the only remaining Republican
stronghold. Are they prepared to say by their
votes that the principles of the party to which
they have repeatedly given their adhesion
arc nero buncombe? Are they Republicans Of
one kind in the party convention. and of an
other kind in tho Senate? One of the princi-
pies which the party has always affirmed, and
always will affirm, is that the suppression Of
the negro vote at the South is crime against
| tho. Nation. Now Mr.. Lamar owes all tho
| prominence he has had for ten years to this
| crime. to which he is knowing accessory
| both before and after the fact. if not one Of
| the principals. Mr. Lamar was made United
| States Senator by the midnight whipping Of
negroes, by assassinations both Of whites and
| blacks, by astounding frauds upon the ballot
|, box. If it had not been for these crimes
| against the franchise. against the person, and
against life itself. he would never have been in
position to be thought of for Secretary of the
Interior. If he goes upon the Supreme Court
| bench, it will be because men were dashed and
butchered. and bellot-boxes were stuffed to
make Mississippi Democratic State.
No ono dares to say that Mr.. Lamar did not
know of these outragcs. Why, the whole
country knew of them, and arc we to believe
that the leader of the Democratic party in that
State the beneficiary Of them, was the only in
tciiigent citizen in the United States who did
not understand the situation? MIR. Lamars
friends, being evidently little alarmed at the
| impression these facts were making on the
public mind, have lately put out column or
| two of matter to show that he did not make
| "white lne'' speeches. Various persons give
their testimony on this point in his favor, and
| special alusion is made to a speech at Aber-
| deem Now at the risk of repetition We pro-
| pose to reprint a passage We have already
quoted from "Thc Vicksbug Herald" the
leading Democratic paper of Mississippi, be-
cause it happens to refer to this very speech
| at Aberdeen. 1t says:
AT Aberdeen last Saturday Colonel Lamar mado All
| eloquent speech. better Democratic speech We do
not care to listen to and in manly and ringing tones
he declared that tho contest involved the supremacy
Of the uncOnquered and unconquerablc Saxon race
We were glad to Lear this bold and manly avowa and
1t was greeted with deafening plaudits. We have
never seen terribly In earnest, and tho
Democratic white line speech made TO them by Colonel
Lamar aroused them to a white heat.
A "whte-line speech arousing Mississippi
| Democrats to "a white heat" meant political
murders. If Messrs. Evarts, Sawyer, Cameron,
Sabin. Mitchell and Riddebergcr have any
doubt about this. let them read the following
editorial declaration in the same issue of this
paper:
If the killing of anybody Is necessary, We repeat
what have heretofore saidLet the poor
and let the white scoundels who have fired his heart
with evil passions be the only sufferers.
eff the killing Of anybody is necessary. we
repeat what we have heretofore said - "kll-
| ing" was not an infrequcnt topic of discussion,
then, in the newspapers; but because MIR.
| Lamar never openly advocated it, he is TO bo
held entirely innocent Of all knowledge Of it.
| Would Mr.. Evarts care to argue this point be-
fore mass-meeting of NewYOrk Republic
cans? How does Senator Sawyer think Wis
consin Republicans would feel about il ? Would
any of these gentlemen like to 60 home to their
Republican constituents and say that they had
given tho lie to all the platforms Of their party
by voting 10 put Southern bulldozer on the
Supreme bench. bulldozer of the worst type.
for he stood by and saw, without word of pro-
test, others commit the crimes of which he
reaped the benefit. We shall refuse to believe
| 1t untH these gentlemen. or some Of them. con-
vince us by their votes.
| Democratic newspapers are endeavOring to
create the impression that The TRIBUNE is
drawing the party line upon nominations to the
Supreme Court. This ID false as all our
readers know. THE TRIBUNE would have
urged the confirmation of an unobjcctionablc
Democrat. but 1t cannot commend the selection
of a man who owes all that he is to bulldoxers,
and who is. besides, so poor lawyer that he
never made living at the bar. We have
urged Republican Senators to maintain Repub-
Iican principles by voting against man who
represents the wickedest crimes ever known In
American politics, and who is not qualified for
the place. 1t would be strange il the party
that put the Civil Service law on the statute
books. requiring competency in Government
clerks. should be, in part, to blame for placing
On the Supreme Court bench man whose legal
record consists chiefly in "an occasional lecture
to callow youths" We cannot believe Rcpub-
lcan Senators will SO stultify themselves.