Ensal
had looked on with profound admiration as the young Rev. Mr. Marshall,
by precept and by example, boldly led the way for an enlarged scope for
the white clergy of the South.

Had the pulpit in question done its full duty in preaching against the
institution of Slavery, it might have been eradicated by peaceful means,
and the Civil War averted, was Ensal's firm conviction, and he further
felt that the future well-being of the South and the happy adjustment of
the relations of the races was largely dependent upon the extent to
which the white preachers taught the brotherhood of man and invoked the
application of the Golden Rule to all pending problems.

In all this work the Rev. Percy G. Marshall was a pioneer spirit, and by
degrees the white pulpit of the South was growing more and more
aggressive and emphatic. And now it was the irony of fate that this
young minister should be slain by a member of the race for which he had
imperilled his own standing among the whites.

In addition to his grief over the tragic death of the Rev. Mr. Marshall,
there was another phase of the Gus Martin affair that gave Ensal deep
concern. Gus was the child of the new philosophy that was taking hold of
the race, which was as follows:

Faith in the general government was at a low ebb. Concerted action of a
warlike nature on the part of the race was regarded as being out of the
question, if for no other reason than that the Negro leaders were
practically a unit in pronouncing such a course one of stupendous folly
under the existing unequal conditions. Word was therefore being passed
down the line that every man was to act for himself, that each
individual was himself to resent the injustices and indignities
perpetrated upon him, and that each man whose life was threatened in a
lawless way could help the cause of the race by killing as many as
possible of the lawless band, it being contended that the adding of the
element of danger to mob life would make many less inclined to
lawlessness.

Ensal saw where such a course would lead the race. Negroes were
ordinarily approached in the name of the law and in that name disarmed.
When the law had thus rendered them helpless, the mob would form and be
presented with the object of its wrath bound hand and foot.

Resistance, then, to be effective would have to be offered to the
officers of the law. The utter pitiableness of the lone Negro being sent
by this philosophy to fight the organized