The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-02-02

: in history
Who destroyed this scene of peace
| full rehabilitation? He'll has no pit dark
enough, and no damnation deep enough
! for these conspiratorS when once history
has fixed their guilt.
The task before the people of the
! South was one to tax the genius OF the
I Anglo Saxon race as never in it's his
| tory. even had every friendly aid possible
| been extended by the victorious North
| Four million negroes had suddenly been
freed, and the foundations of economic
| order destroyed Five billions of dollars
worth of property were wiped out of ex-
! istence banks closed, every dollar Of
money worthless paper, the country
! plundered by victorious armies, its cities.
| mills and homes burned and the flower
F., of it's manhood buried in nameless
| trenches, or worse still, flung upon the
| charity OF poverty-maimed wrecks. The
. task of organising this wrecked society
and marshaling into efficient citizenship
! this host of ignorant negroes, and yet to
preserve the civilization of the Anglo
| Saxon race. the priceless heritage of two
| thousand years of struggle, was one to
| appal the wisdom of ages Honestly and
earnestly the white people of the South
set about this work. and accepted the
1 Thirteenth amendment to the Constitu-
ton abolishing slavery without a pro-
! testing vote.
The President issued his proclamation
announcing the method of restoring the
| Union as ii had been handed to him from
| the martyred Lincoln, and endorsed
unanimously by Lincoln's cabinet. This
plan was simple. broad and statesman
/ like, and it's spirit breathed. Fraternity
and Union with malice toward none and
| charity toward ALL 1t declared what Lin
| coin had always taught, that the Union
was indestructible, that the rebellious
/ States had now only to repudiate seces-
sion, abolish slavery, and resume their
positions in the Union, to preserve which
so many lives had been sacrificed
The people of North Carolina accepted
this plan in good faith. They elected a
Legislature composed of the noblest men
! of the State, and chose an old Union
man. Andrew Macon, Governor. Against
Macon was pitted the man who was now
the president and organizer of a fedora
ton of secret oath-bound societies. of
which the Union League, destined to
play so tragic part in the drama about
to follow was the type. This man, Amos
/ Hcgg, was a writer of brilliant and force
( full style. Before the war a virulent
! secessionist leader, he had justified and
| upheld slavery, and had written
volume of poems dedicated to John C.
Calhoun. He had led the movement for
secession in the convention which passed
i the ordinance. But when he saw his ship
was sinking he turned his back upon the
errors" of the past, professed the most
/ loyal Union sentiments, wormed himself
I into the confidence of the Federal Gov
eminent, and actually succeeded in Sc
curing the position OF Provisional Gov
| ernor Of the Statei He loudly protested
/ his loyalty, and with fury and malice de-
manded that Vance, the great war Gov
! ernor his predecessor who as a Union
/ man had opposed secession, should now
| be hanged and with him his own former
associates in the secession convention
! whom he had misled with his brilliant
pen.
But the people had long memory
| They saw. through this hollow pretense,
grieved for their great leader, who was
now locked in prison cell in Wash
| ington, and voted for Andrew Macon.
| In the bitterness of defeat, Amos Hogg
sharpened his wits and his pen, and be-
gan his schemes of revengeful ambition
! The fires of passion burned now in the
! hearts Of hosts Of towards. North and
South, who had not met their foe in bat
| tie Their day had come. The times were
| ripe for the Apostles OF Revenge and
| their breed of statesmen.
The Preacher threw the full weight of
his character and influence to defeat
| Hogg and he succeeded in carrying the
/ county for Macon by an overwhelming
majority. At the election only the men
who had voted under the old regime were
allowed to vote. The Preacher had not
appeared on the hustings as a speaker,
but as an organizer and leader of opn-
ion he was easily the most powerful man
in the county. and one Of the most power
/ full in the state.
In the village of Hambright the church
| was the centre Of gravity of the life Of
! the people There were but two churches.
the Baptist and the Methodist. The
Episcopalians had building, but 1t was
built by the generosity of one of their
dead members. There were four Pres
byterian families in town. and they We're
working desperately to build church.
The Baptists had really taken the coun-
ty, and the MethodiSts were their only
rivals. The Baptists had fifteen flourish
ing churches in the county, the Metho-
dists six. There were no others.
The meetings at the Baptist church
in the village of Hambright were the
most important gatherings in the county.
! On Sunday mornings everybody who
could walk young and old, saint and sin
ner, went to church. and by far the
larger number to the Baptist church.
The services were of the simplest kind.
The singing of the old hymns of Zion the
reading of the Bible, the prayer the col
lection, the sermon, the benediction
The preacher never touched on politics,
no matter what the event under whose
world import his people gathered War
was declared, and fought for four ter
| CENEM To ONE