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The Put Up "war Of Races."

The Put Up "war Of Races." image
Parent Issue
Day
11
Month
September
Year
1874
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

The recent visit of Attorney-General Williams to the Long Branch soat of government brought out the following letter from the President to the Secretary of War : Long Bbanch, Sept. 2, 1874. Gen. W. W. Belknap, Secretary of War: The recent atrocities in the South, particularly in Louisiana, Alabama and South Carolima, show a disregard for law, civil rights and personal protection that ought not to be tolerated iu any civilized government. It Iooks as if unless speedily checked matters must become worse until life and property there will receive no protection from the local authorites till such authorities become powerless. Under such circumstances it is the duty of the government to give all the aid for the protection of life aud civil rights legally authorized. To this end I vnsh you would consult with the Attorney-General, who is well iniormed as to the outrages already committed and localities where the greatest danger lies, and so order troops as to be available in case of necessity. All proceedings for the protection of the South will be under the law departmeut of the government, and will be directed by the Attoruey-General in accordance with the provisions of the Euforcement act. No iustructions need therefore be given the troops ordered into the Southern States except as they niay be tiansmitted from time to time on advioes from the Attorney-General, or as circumstauces may determine hereafter. (Signed) ' U. S. GRANT. After the return of tho Attorney-General to tho Washington branch of the Capital, a consultation was had with Secretary Belknap, Secretary Bristow, and Zack Ciiandlee, formerly chairman of the Committee on the Conduct of the War, but now specially interested as chairman of the Republican Cougressional Committee, accidentally in Washington for the occasion, the following order was iasued, tho telegraph says, " with the approval and indorseinent of the President, to whom its substantial points were subïnitted during the visit of the AttorneyGeneral to Long Branch :" Department of Justice, ) Washington, Sept. H, 1874. Sik :- üutrages of various descriptions, and in some cases atrocious murders have been committed in your district by bodies of armed men, sometimes in disguise, and with a view, it is believed, of overawiug and intimidating peaceful and law-abiding citizens and depriving them of the rights guarauteed to them by the Constitution and laws of the United States. Your atteution is directed to an act of Congress passed April 9th, 1866, eutitled " an act to protect all persons in the United States in their civil rights, and furnish meaos for their vindication ; and to another passed April 2üth, 1871, entitled "an act to eutorce the provisions of the fourteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States, and for other purposes; also to one pBUSsed May 6, 1870, entitled M an act to enforce the rights of citizens of the United States to vote in the several States of this Union, and for other purposes," which, with their amendments, make these deeds ot violence and blood within the jurisdiction of the general goveaiment. I consider it my duty, in view of these circumstances, to proceed with all possible energy and dispatch to detect, exposé, arrest and punish the perpetrators of these crimes, and to that end you are to spare no effort or necessary expense. Troops ot the United States will be placed at different and convenient points in your district for the purpose of giving yon all needful aid in the discharge of your official duties. You understaud, of course, that no interference whutever is hereby intended with any pohtical or party actiou not iu violation tf law, but protection to all classes of citizens, white and coloree], in the tree exercise of "the elective franchise and the enjoyment of other rights and privileges to which they are entitled under the Constitution and laws, as citizens of the United States. These instructions are issued by authority of the President, aud with the concurrence of the Secretary oí War. Very respectfully, GEOltGE H. WILLIAMS, Attorney-General. It is to be hoped that the Demócrata and Conservatives in the Statea immediately interested and threatened - Louisiana, Alabama, and South Carolina - will not givo the United Statea marshals the least pretense for calling in the aid of the troops to enforce the laws. They had better suffer and endure much at the hands of the carpet-baggers and their negro agents and tools. The design is to force an open conflict, to place the white populatiou of these negro and carpetbagger ridden Statea into a state of semihostility against the local governments, in order that the entire machinery of the military department of the Government may be used, " uuder tho provisions of the Enforceinent Act," to control the coming elections therein, and also with the hope of renewing all the old antewar issues throughout the North, - in order to influence the pending State elections. Unleas tho negro issue can be kept open it is all day with tho Republican party. And as the game is one of life and death, politically, the Southern whites should play it with a view tostultifying their oppressors at home and their abetters at Washington and in the North.

Article

Subjects
Old News
Michigan Argus