Year: 1879

Christ Our own land is full of them to


day.


Are you satisfied? Yea, more; but


you must read further. A letter lies be
| fore me, written from whom and to


whom l dare not tell. 1t is enough that
| they are each Methodist Minister'S


presiding elder and preacher in charge


1t is dated Nov. 10th, lS7S," and, after


a few words on church matters, proceeds


thus This year finds US in the midst


of bloody political campaign. Since it


commenced thirty-s colored men have
been killed just around US here in one


month. Among them was, one OF


my local preachers You know where
! his house is, not far from the church.
| The same night - was shot down, as


[ was on my way to church. l went to
him, turned him over, had him taken
home. He was not killed. So l stayed
| with him, trying to get him to pray
About two hundred men surrounded the


no -se. Two men came in and put their


guns to his breast and killed him in his


bed. NY house was broken into by them
also. All this you see we are passing


through. The times here are so bad
cannot express it"


We have corrected the spelling, which
WIS faulty in only three or four places,
and adjusted the punctuation but every


word is there precisely as it lies before
me. Think of it, ye men of the North,
who subdued this Rebellion, at the ex


pense of scores or thousands of lives, in
Guiding that of your best beloved, the
mild hearted President; who spent thou
sands of millions of dollars, that liberty
and union might prevail. What liberty
or what union is here2 What is there
to show for all your wasted blood and
treasure Thirty-six men in one single
place shot down in thirty days, and that
only for exercising their political rights
as citizens Of the American Union. Be-
fore it can become the Union of all
America it must protect its present citi
zen in his every right, against every
attempt to suppress the same.


1t must hang, with the bloody but wise
severity of Pennsylvania, every offender
against the life of fellow citizen. Hon
or to Governor Hartranft. who has hung
forty five murderers in his administra
ton. The coal regions of Pennsylvania
has not hung one. Andrew johnson is
the only President that has stretched
murderer's neck and his were not MUIR
derers of voters, killed for voting in
national elections. Had General Grant
hung the Ku Klux who committed so
many murders, instead of imprisoning
them for month or two, and then par
doning them; or would President Hayes
use some of his we'll known frmness in
hanging these murderers, instead of
talking softly to those who direct their
aim and approve their work. we should
soon have peace and liberty. The Unit
ed States must erect the gallows where
its witnesses were hung and its six and
thirty citizens murdered in one month,
and stay this horrible carnage with her
stern but thus only benevolent hand
1t will take less number in this dozen
States than it took in Pennsylvania TO
give universal quiet and liberty. If it is
understood that the political murderer
shall hang, there will be no more polite
al murders. Until it is so understood,
they will prevail so long and SO far as
citizens attempt to exercise their political
rights.


But we are told all this is impossible
The taunt of Tweed is the taunt of the
whole South-"What are you going to do
about it p And our most radical iourn-
ais meekly reply: I'VE can do nothing
1t must cure itself" What ground have
you to expect it will cure itself? Said
The Constitution, the only daily of this
city, where more than two-thirds of the
citizens are loyal and Union men, this
very week: The question of to day is:
How shall the Negro vote? The ques-
tion of to morrow will be- Shall he vote
at all ?" Is there any ground for ex-
pecting self cure in that declaration Is
Mormonism going to cure itself2 or
Oneidaism or any other filthy abomina-
tion The United States must exercise
that last claim of sovereignty, the taking
oF h,,,, &c, xl =
has not exercised it more frequently than
she. Rhode Island has hung more mur-
derers than the American Nation. But
how can she do it? If juries will not
convict on the most abundant testimony,
even when the Chief Justice condescends
to preside, is she not powerless If she
think she is, she is. As man thinketh
in his heart, so is he. But if she does not
think she is, she is not. A change of
venue can be ordered to free and obe-
dent State; loyal men only can be al
lowed in the jury box; those sections
where her laws are disregarded can be
put under martial law the amendments
to the Constitution can be enforced by
correspondent legislation its preamble
will support the decision that these are
not Republican States. Where there's
will, there's way, legal, right. Gov
Andrew used to instruct his partner, in
sitting any case submitted to them, to
ask first: Is the case just? Second Is
there law for it2 Third If there is no
express law, what law was intended to be
interpreted in its favor? For he de-
clared all law aims at justice, and no
matter, however trivial, can be outside
its domain.


So, if we seek the way. we shall find it. |
If we find it not we must make it. For |
it is as true to-day as when Americas |
first statesman of that hour electrified |
the land by affirming it-there is law |
higher than the Constitution. That law
we all fought under until we lifted the |
Constitution to its level. So shall we
now interpret the laws we have, or make |
a way through or over the Constitution
by which every citizen whose life is at the
call of his country shall be protected in
that life, at the expense, if need be, of all |
the arms and treasure of the country.


Remember these martyrs of Louisiana,
lying in their garments still wet with
their patriotic blood, a mere handful of
the multitudes that have been murdered
there, and all over the South, because of
their attempt to discharge their duty as
American citizens mere handful to
the multitudes that would be murdered |
this very day, all over the South, should
they dare to assert this first prerogative
of an American. Remember and avenge,
not in malice, but in love, by giving soci-
ETY., through just punishments, safety
and liberty, and thus only making this
fair and vast domain prosperous, and
populous. and powerful toward God and
toward man.


ATLANTA, GA.


SOUTHERN OUTRAGES .-INTOLER-


GRANGE IN MISSISSIPPI.