Year: 1866




real or imaginary wrong, to invoke military
protection and military interference so lust
ly odious to free people, and foster preiu-
dice and i'll feeling between blacks and
whites. 1t is an attempt to overthrow the
civil authority of the State, and substitute
In its place the irresponsible and despotie
power of military courts. We had hoped
the time was past for such proceedings. We
understood the order from Gen. Grant iusti-
flying military interference in certain cases
was confined to breaches of the peace and
criminal Outrages on freedmen that were
unpunished, and not intended to embrace
jurisdiction in civil cases But Gen. Wood
goes further, and, if he carries out his order
will undertake to adjudcate civil cases and
enforce his judgments by the bayonet


No community can be so perfect but there
will be cheats and rOgues who defraud white
and black. The poor white man may be
swindled with impunity, but the negro will
be protected with the strong arm of the
military!


Such interference viii do more harm than
good. if he has the right to compel the
planter to carry out his contract, he should
also compel the freedman to fulfill his This
course is impracticable, and if it was, as
Gems. Steadman and Fullerton properly re-
marked it would be slavery in another form
When slavery was sanctioned, an idle run
away negro was worthless and could not he
made to labor, and now when they are free
their services are worthless unless performed
voluntarily. Gen Wood need have no fears
on the labor question. If such men as he is
will let it alone it will regulate itself accord
ing to the well recognized principles of de
mand and supply, that prevail the world
over. The man who defrauds his Iaborers.
black or white, once, will scarcely have an
opportunity to repeat the swindle. Those
who are known to pay, viii have no difficulty
in obtaining labor. Doubtless in many in
stances reported to Gen. Wood the freedmen
are to blame. He has their ex parte state
ment of the facts, which in all such cases is
highly colored and frequently consists of mis-
representations. The statements of parties
to a case, whether white or black, should be
received with caution. The well settled
rules Ofcivil jurisprudence that have always
prevailed in free governments can settle
such matters better than military officers
| So far rs we know our courts have in all in
stances done Justice to the freedmen.


But the other day in n neighboring town
a negro shot and killed respectable citizen
The matter was investigated by the civil
authority and the negro discharged, not even
recognized to await the action of the grand
jury. Justice and even interest requires
that the State should protect the negro in
person and property and it will be done
without military intervention. The course
of Gen. Wood as an officer and his intercourse
with the people has heretofore given great
satisfaction. But the attempt to execute
/ General Orders, No 81, and override the civ
| il authority of the State cannot fail to rem
der him odions


/ The New York Herald, in article on the
! Philadelphia Convention, says:


The sooner the Radicals accept the fact
1 that another great uprising of the people
/ has commenced, the better it will be for
them. A revolution at the coming election
is certain. Its success may now be consid-
| cred a fixed fact With a disOrganzing fac





to embittering the people of one section
against the other, doing all within their
power to keep the country disOrdered, in
citing riots, planning the massacre of the
blacks, whom they hypocritically pretend
to worship, legalizing Jacobin clubs all over
! the South, plundering the treasury to eX-
pend on party jobs and schemes, increasing
our taxes and tariffs and refusing to adjust
our currency and relieve the masses
from the burden of high prices, we
| have sufficient material to furnish an
issue formidable enough to crush out any
party, we care not how powerful Especi-
ally will this be sufficient when the people
come forward as they now are doing, to as
sert their determination to have restored
| country, a perfect Union, and an undivided
nation. The radicals have prevented the
| South from expressing its opinion on the
| new condition of affairs in formal and
official way. But this mass meeting at Phlla-
delphia has given them an opportunity to be
heard by the whole nation. They come for
| ward now and renounce Ia toto the right OF
secession and declare in favor of the payment
of the national debt


The issue is clearly defined 1t is radical
| rule with riots and bloodshed, prohigacy
| and corruption, a distracted country and
anarchy, OF revolution at the ballot box
followed by u united country, peace, har-
mony and unparalleled prosperity. Between
these two conditions the people will have to
choose at the approaching elections. I'm
less we mistake the signs of the times, unless
we enormously interpret the events now
| transpiring, there can be no doubt but that
the decision at the polls from the Atlantic to
the Pacific and from the lakes to the gulf
will be overwhelmingly in favor of a united
country, and that peace which our soldiers
fought for and thought they had gained
| when the war is over will be re-established


RIoToUs.-Judge Baldwin's planta-
ton was visited last Saturday night by
q squad of armed negroes, many OF
them lately in the federal service, who
commenced a violent assault, with
fire arms, upon the negroes of the
place, and from the neighborhood,
who had assembled for merry making
and the dance.


Many shots were fired, and one or
two persons were slightly injured. 1t
was an outrage not only upon the
peace and quiet of Judge Baldwin S
place and the people whom he has en-
ployed, but upon the law, and the
neighborhood, and the offenders ought
to be visited with the most rigorous
| requirements of the law. Lawlessness
/ Il in