Mississippi leader. (Jackson, Miss.) 1892-1895, 1893-09-19
WORDS THAT BURN.
The American Republic as an
Organized Tyranny.
IL Am Not Mad, Most Noble Festus, I,ut
Speak Forth the Words of Truth
and SOberness."

THE divine right of kings is
an exploded superstition. When
Il king dcfies the divine law of JUS
ticc, we know now that he derives
his authority not from heaven but
from hell. ''Thc voice of the
people is the voice of God is
worse than supcrstition-it is
blasphemy; for all the way down
! the pathway of history we have
,, seen gross wrongs sustained by
;; "the voice of the people that
is by the majority-until the
"voicc of God" rose in anger and
the storm-clouds of war or disas-
ter swept in chastiscment over the
land. 1t was "the voice of the
people, that cried to Aaron: Give
us an idol that we may worship it
1t was .'the voice of the people
that cried, Release unto us Barab-
bas; cruelty the Christ! 1t was
"the voice of the people, that
called down death upon the brave
monk standing in the arena at
Rome forbidding in the name OF
God the gladitorial butcheries.
"The voice of the people the
majority-has shouted i'll triumph
when martyrs were stoned, when
witches were burned, when heroes
We're hung, and has Missed ga
matte - at every brave rcformer
who dared to front popular
wrong.
We believe in popular govern
ment: but when popular govern
ment sustains iniquity and defes
the laws of justice and rightness, it
becomes Il tyranny just the same
as monarchy does under the
same conditions. Persisted in,
such tyranny not only justifies
but it compels revolution. There
is no divine authority in any form
of government, popular or mon
archical, when its. purposes and
practices become satanic. ''By
their fruits ye shall know them
is a rule applying as inexorably
to the American Republic as to
the Russian Despotism.
Men of America, is it false Oh
true that the Government of these
United States has placed itself in
in the attitude of an organized
tyranny Let us see. When ;
government begins to traffic in tht
blood of its citizens, is it or is il
not tyranny! When a govern
mcnt begins to legalize and sus
tain the murder of its helpless
women and children, is it or is i
not tyranny When 240, 00t
mantraps are licensed to WRECK
two and one-half millions 0.
homes, to assassinate by SLOW
poison from forty to sixty thous
and year, is or is not such ;
government tyranny!
Government is ordained to pro
tect, not to destroy; topunish fol
murder, not to legalize it; to re
press the assassin, not to partlci
pate in his unholy spoils. A gov
ernment that so far forgets it
duty as to legalize murder by th'
wholesale and prey upon defense
less women and children, has for
feited all claims to the allegiance
and loyalty of its subjects. 1t Ii
no longer government; it is brig
andase, conspiracy, tyranny
There are to-day in this land tel
million men, women and children
who are living witnesses agains
this observation-disclosures Il
the fact that it is sustaining, for ,
price, the wrecking of homes, th'
assassination by slow or quic'
poison of men, the assaults upon
womanhood and childhood. w
say, and we say it deliberately
such government is organize'
] Tyranny and a conspiracy agains