LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
[Letters of the length of one of our leading paragraph* are often more read, and therefore more effective, than those which fill treble the space.]
LYNCHING IN THE SOUTHERN STATES.
CTO ,THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR.'
SIR,—As a British subject resident here for over thirty years I naturally read the "home" papers with great interest (none is so welcome as my weekly Spectator) and pass them on to my friends. Thinking it may be of interest, I am sending you a note written to me in reference to your recent review of, and leading article on, Mr, Stephen Graham's book, together with a pamphlet on lynching. The writer of the letter and pamphlet is now eighty-four or eighty-five years old, fought' with distinction in the Confederate Army, attained eminence at the Bar after the Civil War, and although a Democrat is a personal friend of ex-President Taft, who, when about to fill a vacancy in the Supreme Court of the United States, requested and acted on his recommendation. Major Jos. B. Cumming is probably the most eminent living citizen of Georgia, and I am glad to say that his views on the negro question and lynch- ing are shared• and endorsed by all the best people- of these The following is an extract from, Major Cumming's pamphlet :— " First and foremost in working out the problem must be the cessation of lynching. Can anything be said in its defence? Yes—just one thing: It teaches a lesson of deepest humility. It reveals to us, as if by a searchlight, how near human nature is to brute nature, how weak is the barrier between the two, how, the barrier once broken down, human nature descends swiftly beyond the brute to ultimate depths of fiendishness. It gives a horrible warning that we are moving about, living our lives, on a thin and sagging crust of civilization, liable to crumble at any unusual strain and plunge us into unplumbed depths of degradation. No language is- strong enough ade- quately to describe this hideous thing, If anyone is disposed to think otherwise, let him refresh his recollection of any of the frequent newspaper accounts of lynchings—not only the killing of the victim, but the fiendish joy of the slayers in the hanging, the burning of the living body, and the riddling.' of the dead carcass, the proud capture, for a memento, of a frag- ment of the fatal rope, or other souvenir of the devil's dance. The possibility that a lynching may roll up the curtain, and reveal, as a warning, the awful picture of the nearness of our Georgia civilization to brutism, the danger and facility of the descent, the unsteadiness of the equilibrium, and thus shock men away from the crime, the disgrace,. the imminent peril of the loss of our civilization—that is -the one thing that can be put in the opposite scale against the unmitigated crime, the horror and degradation of lynching. Certainly it has no value as the deterrent of the crime, for which- it is must often invoked. The orderly, deliberate process of the law, culminat- ing M a solemn judgment and, dreadful execution, would be more impressive. Besides the brutalization of the parties participating in lynchings, there is always fearful danger of mistake. Will any man, who, on any ground, defends lynching —if, peradventure, there exists any such perverted human being—will any defender of the hideous thing doubt that mistakes have been frequently made—mistakes as to fact of guilt and as to the identity of the person? Let the- lyncher apply this test to his actions: How will he feel about them in his dying hour!' Will ha take satisfaction in the memory of themP Or rather will not hie thought be-t Would God I had never had part therein! Will the mercy of God stretch so far as to grant me forgiveness for the cruelty and fiendish- ness with which I broke His law, the law of my country and the law of Humanity?' We all want harmony, good feeling, friendship between the races. We can never have it in genuine quality while, lynching of negroes by white men pre, veils. While negroee generally appreciate the heinousness of the crime, which most frequently—but by no means solely— provokes lynching, they naturally feel bitterness at the appli- cation to them of methods of savagery not applied to whites, especially in the case of the- lynching of a negro for some act (to which a white person is the other party)—some act, which is, in the law, a mere misdemeanour—if that—to be punished— if at all—by the orderly, humane process of the law. If we are to have the harmony, the co-operation, the good feeling, the friendliness—all of which are in their nature attainable— and which are essential to contentment and prosperity, a necessary step is to put down lynching. Let the voice of the Press, the pulpit, the public meeting, speak out and cease not against its futility, its savagery, its lawlessness, its insolence to the constituted authorities, its destruction of civilization and its loathsome degradation of its perpetrators. If these .appeals against it fail, let the civil authorities honestly and courageously do their duty. If there is still failure, then the stern use of the military arm. One inescapable fact is that we. White and black, have got to inhabit this beautiful country, this land of magnificent advantages and unlimited potentiali- ties together. Even the less numerous race is too numerous to emigrate if it desired to do so, and if emigration were desirable, it is not feasible, and, if feasible and accomplished, the result would be to arrest and paralyze the development of the country during the indefinite, but prolonged, process of filling the gap. We have got to live together. And the task before DB is so to order conditions that we may live together in harmony and friendliness. This devoutly-to-be-wished-for consummation is attainable. The teachings of Christ, the Golden Rule, and the `second' commandment, ` like unto the first and greatest,' thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself,' could, of course, accomplish it. If we cannot rise to such divine workings, qualities merely human are sufficient. Justice, Honesty, Charity, Patience, Generosity, are sufficient. Let us all, white and black, black and white, practise these, invoking God's blessing on our efforts."
We publish this extract with no small satisfaction. It gives us an opportunity to say once more that we have never doubted that lynching was sternly condemned by the best opinion in the South. Major Cumming's pamphlet is among the very best and wisest things ever written about the crime of lynching.—En. Spectator.]
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