The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-05-02

udLc. WnaL atrOclOuS crimes recently
has he committed in a nearby county,
How the state and the whole country
has stood aghast in speeches. horror
at their unparalleled enormity!"
He then passes to the "u~nspeakable''
crime, that which beyond all others
touches every spring in the nature of
the white race, and arouses into action
| every fibre Of his manhood, and kindles
into a consuming flame every passion
of his being. Said DIR. Landrum:
Grimes of the kind which may not
be named, if allowed to continue, will
| depopulate our rural sections; life in
isolated homes, menaced by dangers
worse than death, will be unbearable;
immigration into our part OF the coun-
try will cease; agriculture will be par
alyZed; capital will forsake us; race
conflicts will multiply; anarchy will
usurp the place of order and pandemo-
mum will break forth with all its fury
He never spoke truer Of mundane
affairs. There are thousands Of homes
in every southern state that are nee
essarily unprotected. Scores Of fami-
lies in North Carolina have moved into
the towns to find safety they hope and
protection from the black murderers
and ~assaulters of undefended homes
and the wives within and the dear chill
dren with them. The unmitigated dew
ilishness and brutal attacks must end
or soon or late there will be a race war
| +ha+ will uyoo iilyn n farca fro in q
prairie leaving desolation and ruin
behind. Surely all of the better class
of the negroes are profoundly con-
cerned here.
DR.. Landrum's concluding remarks
were humane, sympathetic, lofty, of the
genuine Christian kind. There is so
much that is excellent, timely, judici-
Gus, wise and Christ-like in tone and
sentiment We scarcely know what little
to take where there is so much that is
desirable. He said, and read and con-
slider and, if you are a sincere disciple
of the Lord and Master, the Prince of
Peace, pray over it:
THE brother in black is helping US.
He was never really, during or since
| the war, our enemy; the race as a
whole, or the contrary, has been loyal
to the white man.
Good citizenship, patriotism, de-
mands that we bear our burden. If the
, white men wishes the negro to be law
abiding, let him set his brother in
black a good example. Are there no
white fends in Georgia? Really as
view the state of things calling for
remedy in this my native and we'll be-
t loved commonwealth the great ques-
ton with us is not the liquor question
nor the illiteracy question nor the
money question nor any economic Ques-
ton, but that which is fundamental to
! all these. l mean the good govern
ment question. Civil government is an
ordinance of God. 1t must be upheld.
l pray God, therefore, that lynchings
may cease. They do not prevent the
abominable crime for which they are
, exercised" ,
The loyalty might be we'll ques-
toned, but we pass on:
"Lynchings in organized society are
against the laws of both God and man.
There is no crime that will justify
them in a civilized country; no ade-
quate Xcus to %eXtenuate them. They
are evil and only evil. Legal purish-
ment is sufficient. So long as the white
man allows illegal punishment he is
demOralizing both himself and the i'm
itative negro who takes advantage of
his example to violate the law according
to his own inclinations. Humanity de-
mands that we bear Our burden. The
negro is not a black angel, as some
silly philanthropists would have us be-
lieve; nor is he a black devil issuing
out of the pit and deserving only to be
pitchforked back into it as speedily as
possible. The negro, as you and I have
known him intimately, is simply a
man, a black man, with intellect, affec-
tons, and. will, like those Of any other
human being. * + We that are So
cially strong are strong enough to pre-
serve ourselves from all possible danger
of so-called social equality. The negro
understands that perfectly we'll. We
that are strong in s%elf-control, strong
in patience, strong in hope, strong in
perseverance must bear the infirmities
of the negro, who is too often weak in
these essentials of stalwart manhood.
We who are re~ligiously strong must
bear the infirmities of the religiously
weak and be the link between the negro
and the O~mnipotence of the ever pres
ent God.
There are good negroes-scores,
hundreds, thousands, millions of them.
1t is possible, l believe, to unite them
with all good white men in promoting
peace, order and good government.
/ Let us not ALLEVIATE discourage and dis
hearten the majority who are not to
blame by classifying them with the
| brutes and devils whom they condemn
as we'll as we."
This is wise speech, timely speech,
l earnest, impressive speech from the
reverend clergy'-the men of rank
: and force and piety. When the negro
5 race is genuinely Christianized there
!, will be no rapes and murders. When