Again when President Lincoln in 1863 issued his edict to the Commanding
Generals in their respective territory to proclaim all the negroes free,
as a war measure, as he claimed, he attempted on a large scale what John
Brown failed to make a success of on a small scale, namely to create a
servile insurrection, and thus exposing the helpless and defenceless to
the rapacity of semi-savage hordes. But it failed, as all other attempts
in that line have failed, thus again proving the good relationship
existing between the masters and their servants. Compare the situation
now with that of the ante-bellum days. When a white emissary from the
North hired a horse and buggy from the proprietor of the hotel in
Sandersville, Washington County, Georgia, and left with the same for
parts unknown, he was finally located in Florida and captured and
brought back and put in jail. The lock of the jail was so rusted for the
want of use that it took the assistance of a locksmith to open the door
to let him in. How is it now? A commodious building has had to be
erected to accommodate the masses who trample under foot the laws of
their country; the jails and chaingangs are full to overflowing, with
the perpetrators of crimes. Those are the results of the so called
reconstructionists. Lynching was an unknown quantity in those days;
there was no necessity for it. The laws of the country were
administered, justly and loyally. Courts met at regular periods and
often adjourned the same day for the want of patronage. Some say we are
progressing. That is true, but in the wrong direction. Retrogressing is
the proper word to apply, especially in morality.