The Nation's Peril Part 13

"If it has not already spoken to them in tones which have startled them to the enormity of their conduct, I trust, in the mercy of heaven, that that voice will so speak as to make them penitent, and that, trusting in the dispensations of heaven--whose justice is dispensed with mercy--when they shall be brought before the bar of their great Tribunal, so to speak, that incomprehensible Tribunal, there will be found in the fact of their penitence, or in their previous lives, some grounds upon which G.o.d may say: PARDON."

THE STATISTICS,

as to the number of those who have been the victims of outrages perpetrated by the Ku Klux Klans, are necessarily meagre.

Many of them are recorded alone in the blood of the unoffending victims; thousands of mouths that could speak the unwelcome truth, have been sealed, and are sealed to-day, through fear, and dare not make the terrible revelations; but sufficient have come to light to afford an approximate idea of the extent to which the pernicious designs of the Order have been carried.

With all the figures before us, and with a desire to keep within, rather than exceed the bounds, the awful truth must be confessed, that _not less than twenty-three thousand persons_, black and white, have been scourged, banished, or murdered by the Ku Klux Klans, since the close of the Rebellion: an average of more than two thousand in each of the States lately in insurrection.

Great care has been had in arriving at these figures. All the available sources of information have been exhausted by research, and the facts obtained have been in a manner borne out by collateral evidence, tending to confirm the accuracy of the statement.

The committee appointed by the Legislature of Tennessee (special session of 1868), to investigate the subject, reported to that body, that:

"The murders and outrages perpetrated in many counties in Middle and West Tennessee, during the past few months (1868), have been so numerous and of such an aggravated character, as to almost baffle investigation. The terror inspired by the secret organizations, known as the Ku Klux Klans is so great, that the officers of the law are powerless to execute its provisions. Your Committee believe that, during the last six months, _the murders alone_, to say nothing of other outrages, would average _one a day_, or one for every twenty-four hours."

Gen. Reynolds, as commander of the Fifth Military District--comprising the State of Texas--in his report to the Secretary of War, 1868-9, says:

"Armed organizations, generally known as Ku Klux Klans, exist in many parts of Texas but are most numerous, bold, and aggressive east of the Trinity River. The precise object of the organization in this State, seems to be to disarm, rob, and in many cases, murder Union men and negroes.

_The murder of negroes is so common as to render it impossible to keep accurate account of them._"

Gen. O. O. Howard, reporting to the Secretary of War (1868-9), says, of the State of Arkansas:

"Lawlessness, violence, and ruffianism, have prevailed to an alarming extent. Ku Klux Klans, disguised by night, have burned the dwellings and shed the blood of unoffending freemen."

In the Louisiana contested election cases (1868), the terrible extent to which these outrages were carried, was shown by most conclusive evidence.

One of the members of the Committee selected to take testimony in those cases, says:

"The testimony shows that over _two thousand persons_ were killed, wounded, and otherwise injured in that State, within a few weeks prior to the presidential election; that half of the State was overrun by violence; that midnight raids, secret murders and open riots, kept the people in constant terror until the Republicans surrendered all claims, and then the election was carried by the Democracy."

Referring to the well-authenticated ma.s.sacre by the Ku Klux, at the parish of St. Landry, in 1868, the report says:

"Here (St. Landry) occurred one of the bloodiest riots on record, in which _the Ku Klux killed and wounded over two hundred Republicans in two days_.

A pile of twenty-five bodies of the victims was found half buried in the woods. The Ku Klux captured the ma.s.ses, marked them with badges of red flannel, enrolled them in clubs, marched them to the polls, and made them vote the Democratic ticket."

It is estimated that, in North and South Carolina, not less than five thousand were scourged and killed, while more than that number were compelled to flee for their lives. In Florida and Georgia, the outrages were not so numerous, but they were marked with greater atrocity and brutality.

In further consideration of this question, the numbers and extent of the various orders of the Ku Klux Klan, may be taken as a partial guide. The testimony of Gen. N. B. Forrest is pertinent to the point. His position as GRAND CYCLOPS of the Order, lends to his testimony the probability of truth which it would not otherwise possess; and when it is considered that he gave it with the greatest reluctance, one readily arrives at the conclusion that his figures are by no means exaggerated. According to the statements made by Gen. Forrest, the Order numbered not less than _five hundred and fifty thousand men_. According to his estimate, there were _forty thousand Ku Klux in the State of Tennessee_ alone, and he believed the organization still stronger in other States.

Here, then, we have a vast array of men banded together with the secret purpose of banis.h.i.+ng from the country, or scourging and murdering all who differed from them politically. In view of the numbers and extent of this organization, and the positive evidence of the fearful work of its members, the statement that twenty-three thousand persons have suffered scourging and death at their hands, may be considered under, rather than over, the real numbers.

In North Carolina alone, eighteen hundred members of the Order stand indicted for their partic.i.p.ation in outrages upon persons and property.

In South Carolina, the number reaches over seven hundred. Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, Louisiana, Texas, and other States, swells the aggregate to more than five thousand, and the investigations upon which these indictments have been procured, disclose a condition of affairs, which, it is difficult to conceive, could exist in a civilized community;--much less in a Republic, noted among the nations of the earth for its liberality, its progression, its enlarged freedom, the security of life, liberty, property, and the equal rights of all.

THE EXISTENCE OF THE EVILS herein enumerated is placed beyond all doubt and cavil. In the light of the recorded and corroborated facts, the nation will demand to know:--

_First._ How far the present administrators of the Government have fulfilled the duties and responsibilities confided to them by the people?

_Second._ What has been done to remedy the evils that have made life in Southern communities intolerable and unsafe?

_Third._ What steps are necessary to prevent a recurrence of these evils in the future?

Happily the first two questions have been amply answered in the acts of the administration.

A careful study of the necessities of the case, the enactment of appropriate laws, applicable thereto, and their vigorous, but humane enforcement, const.i.tute a plan, the successful elaboration of which gives answer to the third question, of "how a recurrence of these evils may be prevented in the future."

To those who may have entertained the idea, that the work of restoring order and securing to _all_ the citizens equal rights, nothing can be more comprehensive than the language of the committee of investigation. In alluding to this point, the report says:--

"Looking to the modes provided by law for the redress of all grievance--the fact that Southern communities do not yield ready obedience at once, should not deter the friends of good government in both sections of the country, from hoping and working for that end.

"The strong feeling which led to rebellion and sustained brave men, however, mistaken in resisting the Government which demanded their submission to its authority; the sincerity of whose belief was attested by their enormous sacrifice of life and treasure, this feeling cannot be expected to subside at once, nor in years. It required full forty years to develop disaffection into sedition, and sedition into treason. Should we not be patient if in less than ten, we have a fair prospect of seeing so many who were armed enemies, becoming obedient citizens?"

DURING THE THREE BRIEF YEARS in which the present administration has held sway over the destinies of the nation, what has been accomplished? Upon its accession to power, the people of the South were struggling under political disabilities, and a consequent social condition that had detached them from the onward march of civilization, and was hurrying them back to anarchy and ruin. They had become morose, bigoted, violent.

The law of revenge had usurped that of order. They writhed under the results of the war and the downfall of their cherished inst.i.tutions, and they had sworn that what could not be gained by a war upon the nation at large, should be had by a local war of extermination upon the--to them--offensive portions of the races, black and white, that opposed, or would not coincide with them.

It was a delicate question; but the wisdom of the newly chosen leaders of the nation have been equal to the emergency, and, to-day, light begins to dawn in the dark places; the supremacy of the law is being established, and by a continuation of the same wise and humane policy in the future, the people of _all_ the States may abundantly hope for the restoration of peace and harmony in the South, where, but so recently, all was chaos and confusion.

In view of what has thus far been said, I call upon my countrymen, everywhere, not to be deceived as to the real issues of the hour.

ADDENDA.

A retrospective glance at the field of American politics during the past twelve years discloses several significant facts worthy of especial attention.

The most casual observer cannot fail to have been impressed with the fact that there has been a growing disposition in the minds of the people to make the welfare of the Country and not the advancement of party, the issue, in the struggle for political supremacy.

The political opinions of the ma.s.ses are based upon foundations materially different from those usually accorded them by the would-be leaders, who attempt to form opinions for, and force the same upon the people.

There is a spirit in politics that rises superior to party clap-trap and unhealthy journalism, and which determines the problem of government with far greater accuracy than any amount of machinery designed for the accomplishment of any special end.

Political organizations live or die by their _acts_ and not by their _machinery_. Without that spirit that seeks the greatest good of the greatest number, they inevitably go to decay and final dissolution. With that spirit they rise to the grandeur of well ordered governments.

Principles may be outraged and promises disregarded for a time but the end must come sooner or later, and re-action in such cases usually means annihilation.

During the past twelve years the principles and promises of the two great political parties of the United States--the Republican and the Democrat--have been more severely tried and tested than at any similar period of time since the foundation of the Republic. Upon the maintenance of certain principles and the fulfilment of certain promises, either party have based their claims to the confidence of the American people. It matters but little how seductive these principles may appear in their enunciation, or how glowing the promises for future good, one must judge of them, and the people will judge of them as they have been ill.u.s.trated in the acts of either party to whom the reins of Government have been confided.

Given that both parties announce that they have the interests of the whole people at heart, then the results that have accrued from the accession of either to power must be the standard by which their principles must be measured, and their good or bad faith established. These results give rise to momentous questions. They lead thinking men to ask, if within the Democratic ranks, slavery has not always found its ablest advocates.

If it was not the Democratic party that formed a compact and coalition with the slave holders of the South, with the understanding that if slavery could be maintained, slave holders would help to keep the Democrats in power.

Was it not through the supineness of a Democratic Administration that the rebellion was engendered and the fortifications and other property in the Southern States belonging to the Government allowed to pa.s.s unquestioned into the hands of its sworn enemies?

Was it not to the Democratic party that the South looked for a.s.sistance in deed and word to carry on a war aiming at the destruction of the Union?