The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1910-03-08
RI1ST OF RANSOM in STATE
CAPITOL
Continued from Page flfteeI-)

like 4 I = i.Otih ii l liAc 49, 49,.
nc and SyIla. and behold thelr Tires
cmothered today but TO burst OUT L.
no-row in wilder fla mes ana deeper
streams OF blood. Look at the lhh'S
wears war of our great ahceSuS
the houses Of York ana l@tica7loi
Read the account OF the recent ~ ~
7nune" in Paris after the peace WIN
Germany. in which in three months
,inatv Thousand E'renchmen We're
slain BY their own countryHlen pc
fore the passions OF va: Woulo SUD
side. And then turn ana benolo ne
great southern ocean Wien 10
storm had ended, become, with All IT'S
mower and depths. almost as calm as
when the Sea 81 Galiiee' responded 10
the Spirit Of Peace.
.Rut. sir. if we feel proper indigna-
ton against the preparation OF crime
in the case Of individuals, what must
be our adherence and ScOrn Tor the
authors and agents of that system OF
gigantic crime which spread VIDE over
h whole Southern States and AT one
time threatened to involve in general
ruin not only political liberty, but all
the safeguards Of civilized society. IL
we feel just and stern Indignation
against the massacre at Cousilatta, OF
Coifax, or Trenton, what must be our
surprise and passion when we behoid
the State OF Louisiana. with her hall
million of people, the helpless victim
of a deliberate, systematic, organized
and accomplished conspiracy, which
has destroyed the value of her lands,
broken down the credit Of her stocks,
paraIyzed her commerce, annlhIlated
her industries, prOstituted her laws,
Frustrated every honest interest III
her limits, tralnpled on her liberties,
ana brought down her proud name
to tho dust. What crime can be
greater than the destruction Of q
St.fn tyfSathnr arcnn1 nficha1 hL the
armed soldiery of the nation in the
ca pital OF the State or pcrpetrated by
the slower processes of the poISons
OF corruption: Nor, sir, can this high
crime be mitigated by ~denuHciation,
abuse. caluInniation OF the people OF
Louisiana. The attempt by the au-
thors OF these calamities to tarnish,
TO blacken. to n1utiiate the character
OF the unhappy and distressed people
whom they nave despoiled and op
pressed proves the guilt of their
own great quell. The ancient ar
thaginians cut off the eyelids of the
noblest Roman and exposed him to
the blazing sun until he persisted be-
cause he had not betrayed his OWL
nor his country's ono but amid
their tortures the b~arbarians applaud
ed the virtue and pa triotisrn OF Regu.
iuS, and erected or the plains near
their city a trophy to his The
countrynlen of Hannibal admired the
stern integrity their cruelty could
not shake; their savage policy infiict-
ed the rack. but their sense of justice
honored the duty that survived it. IN
Louisiana We have witnessed the ra-
pacity and cruelty that could strip
anu starve its prostrate victims, &C.
companied with the infamy that
sought to destroy the character it
had yainly tried to corrupt.
In that magnificent art gallery
which one OF the noblest benefactors
and philanthrOpistS of the age has
presented to the people Of this city
10 delight their tastes and elevate
their sentiments there is a painting
that represents the Famine in
egypt Whenever I enter that beauti-
ful hall and behold on the sad can
vas the shrunken forms and wasted
faces ana appealing eyes of that
stricken people as they gaze on the
tender and pitiful figures of their
starving children and press the whiting
bodies TO heir unnourishing breasts,
my heart turns to Louisiana, and by the
agony and ruin of that once noble
State and the dark river that lays
before her the painted death and des-
pair on the Nile seems but q minia.
ture. Sir, physical suffering is much;
want, hunger. disease. pain, all try
the mind and body: but what are they
when J. proud. refined. intelligent.
Christian people behold the govern.
ment. the liberty. the virtue thef1
fathers left them, and which thew in
their souls cherish. dying out and
passing away, never to return to them
or their children-wh hen they behold
the shadows OF Mexico of Jamaica, Of
Central America, worse than the shad-
oWs of death. gradually but surely
settling over their country?
Sir when 1 have read of PALMYRA
and Baalbec and Memphis and Thebes
n the great empires and cities Of
remote ages, and have been told that
no yeStigc of their existence remains
and that the traveller looks in vain
for the sites where they stood. I have
often doubted their reality. for I
could not understand how So many
of art and time could en-
tlrely perish: but in the rapid de-
cilne and transformation of Louisiana
| see the truth of history yindjcota5
lNhHrn - lan-a