Richmond planet., 1898-01-15

The Boston, Mass, PILoT OF which
Hr Patrick Donahoe is founder and
publisher, and which is the organ
of the Irish Americans in its issue of
Jan. ssh. 1898, and under the caption
of XIII This Bill' says:
"It is with q sense of shame for our
rare that we read in she Richmond,
(Va Planet. an organ of the colored
people Of that State, that Mr.. T. b
Murphy proposes introducing in the
Virginia Legislature bill for the re-
vival of the whipping post as penalty
for crimes.
We do not know snything about Mr..
Murphy further than that he is sponsor
to this barbarous idea. The PLANET
asks:
And who is Mr.. Murphy He is an
1rishman. A man who with his breth-
rem in this country has appealed for
sympathy for his down-trOddsn coun-
trymen in ireland declaring that Eng
land was ruling them with an iron-rod.
What would he say were the Queens
government to establish the Whipping
post throughout the Emersld Isle2
WOuiO 4sVS MS DiOOQ bOtls uuu MS
tongue -=g at the suggestion of such a
thing?'
CARRIES ITS OWN ANSWER
The question carries its own answer.
Nr. Murphy probably has not studied
the history OF the Negro in. America.
He cannot know that Ireland's great
Liberator. Daniel O'Connell, in his
country's direst distre So. refuse to ac-
~ -
from slave labor. He cannot know
that the greatest Irishman that ever
came to America John Boyle O'Reilly,
was the loyal. constant friend of the
oppressed Negro He cannot have
learned that W hen the Fenians in 1865
were planning their campaign against
England bodyof colored veterans Of
fered their services to the cause of
Ireland.
SHOULD BK ASHAMED TO RATHRR 1T.
He cannot know any OF these things,
or, il he has red blood in his veins, ne
would be ashamed to father a measure
primarily intended to humiliate and in
1ure the people of his State. For it is
the colOred people against whom the
bill is aimed. They are the poor of the
South and it is only the poor offenders
who are threatened with this igno-
miDious punishment.
We entreat Mr.. Murphy to reconsider
his ill-advised measure. We appeal to
the Catholics Of the South to denounce
itAsareversion It to barbarism.
A TELLIAo APPEAL.
We ask the generous Southern peo.
pie Catholic and Protestant, to sst
their seal against it's enactment. They
cannot but remember-they would be
deserving OF eternal contempt If. the
could forRet-the wonderful loyalty o
the colored men during the Civil War
the loving fsithfulness of the slave tC
whom they entrusted the life and hon
or OF children and wife while the mas
- existence OF slavery.
HR NRvER BETRAYED THE TRUST.
The slave never betrayed his trust
Never, on the other hand, did he b
tray the Union soldi seeking TO es
cape from a Southern prison.
The conduct OF the Negro slave dur
ing that war is unique in the annals o
history. He was loyal to the maste
who strove to hold him in bondage, an,
he was equally loyal to he strange
who strove TO make him free N
Southerner Of gentle blood will eve
want to see the whipping post re sivet
fer the punishment of the nanny
at whose breast he sucked or for sny
her children who are his foster broth
ers or sisters.
30 MENACE TO TEE SOUTH.
The Negro is no menace to tn
South. He is the hope OF the Soutl
He is kindly, docile and gentle. Sue
den freedom has sometimes spoile
him, as it has spoiled the children {
other oppressed races; but the whip
ping-posE has never cured any spoile
child, white or black. Our best schoO
have abolished corporal punishment
Some OF our States have abolishe
capital punishmenJ; ana though
seems at times hard to recognize th
wisdom of the latter. it is never har
TO perceive that All error on the sid
OF mercy is always safer than an errC
on the side Of cruelty.
RELIC OF BARBARIsM.
The whipping-post is q relic of bal
barism. It's only excuse-and tits th
meanest of all excuses-is that it
economical. It IL cheaper 30 whip a
offender than to board aud lodge him {
the public expense. 3fthat were goo
logic, why nos 90 lurther and kill hiI
pBtrieht, ~ our bruIsi ancestors use