Sugar planter. [volume] (West Baton Rouge [i.e. Port Allen, West Baton Rouge Parish, La.]) 1856-1925, 1867-09-14
from the Nashville BBnner.
Fl LOYAL LEAGUE.

ged-The oaths, signs and passwords re
peazed-A telling erpos@.
Mr.. EDITOR Many of your readers
will doubtless remember my last letter oil
June 9th, which was largely circulated
by the press of this and other cities OF
the State. If there is one sentence there
in not in accordance with law and the
true principles Of liberty and human
rights, l don't know what constitutes
those safeguards Of man, and have been
raised a fool" For writing and pub.
fishing that letter | was at once "expell-
ed from "Loyal League, No. l." where
l had been sworn to do unto DEATH" all
in my power to keep ever burning on
the altar of the American heart, the sa
cred flame Of Liberty" Let the world
sit in judgement on my life of sixty-five
years, and particularly on the part of it
embraced in the past seven years. | court
its investigation and will abide cheer
fully by its award, Indifferent alike to
hattery or abuse. I shall do my duty
even though asses bray, and dogs snap
and howl.
Expelled from the Loyal League =
Now, gentlemen, permit me to introduce
you into that sanctum sanctorum of po-
litical humbugs. l promised this III
do it.
At the first door you give two light
taps and whisper through a hole therein,
Loyal Men," The door opens. You
move on to a second door and give two
taps. A loop-hole is opened. You whis-
per, Must Rule" and are then marched
around a darkened room and welcomed
by the " Good Chairman" in the follow
ing words: "The good and true are al
ways welcome" etc.
You have now marched around the
room and are placed before an altar on
which is spread an American flag. Here
also lies open a Bible and a book with
the old, original, unaltered Constitution
of the United States, gift of our fathers,
as it was, is and ever should be-unchan.
ged.
There, too, lie crossed two common
swords, such as are worn by army sur
geons. Between the points a mysterious
bronze chalice stands filled with m
thing, the smell of which reminds you of
old Robertson county.
Oh your right, at a small altar, stands
lank, lean Forty Acres p behind you,
at another desk or altar, stands a once
Provost Marshal. Around this long, dark,
dirty room, the Loyal Leaguers, some
black and some white, and among them
some Of our most worthy citizens. There
are also a few whose "coppers" stick
out through the white wash given by this
Loyal League.
The gas is now darkened, and Forty
Acres" with eyes upturned like a " duck
in a thunder his lean hands open
ed out towards Heaven, mumbles out a
prayer This done, the jolly, good ma
tured, kind looking Miller, not "of Mans
field" though quite as portly, steps for
ward with book and watch in hand, and
fires the mysterious looking cup. which
darts up q Pickering blue fame, such. as
is represented as burning in the Eternal
Hades." With your right hand on the
book, and the left in the air, you now take
the "oath of allegiance" known to all.
and are most particularly required to
defend the Constitution of the United
States" (unaltered) on which your hand
rests, and the constitution of the State
Of Tennessee. What is the latter consti-
tuition? Who can tell
You are also sworn to keep the secrets
OF the League, " to vote for loyal men,
etc. In that long, dark, dirty room, on
the right side Of which stood about one
hundred old rusty muskets, in such pres
ence, before the Pickering blue flame,
which made darkness visible with nasal
twang of Forty Acres" voice in. pray.
er still sounding in my ears, ! was made
a Loyal Lacquer. Surrounded with such
p%araphernalia Of humbug, we were sworn
also, as before said, to do even unto death
all in our power to make liberty eternal,
to vote for none but loyal men," etc.
We were initiated into signs and pass
words, etc. Let one suffice but if you
wish you can have them all. To pass
yourself as a Lacquer, when questioned,
give the four LIS, as follows Right hand
raised to Heaven, thumb and third finger
touching their ends over the palm, and
pronounce "Liberty." Bring the hand
down on a line with the shoulder, pro-
nounce "Lincoln." Dropping the hand
open at your side, pronounce, Loyal
With your hand and fingers downward
in the chest, the thumb thrust into the
vest or waistband, across the body, and