Clarksville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1865-1867, 1867-04-12
A wARNISG!

"'""S WV" '"o SSy "PP'""N"
is heard amid the darkness of night.
Nor would we be less culpable did we
fail to characterize, as they deserve.
the secret agents Of mischief now
operating in our midst. 1t is known,
we opine, to few of our readers, that
a meeting was held here on last Mon
day night, in the house of leading
Radical, the object of which was to
swear in colored recruits for the
Grand Army Of the Republic. =
This secret organization pervades the
entire South, and is manipulated by
those yankee adventures who, with
or without osteusible business, infest
every portion of our territory. That
the purposes Of this Organization
may be better understood, we give
the remak of Radical in this city,
himself a member of the "Grahd
Army" The meeting on Monday
night, he said, convinced him that
the colored population will not tole-
rate here, the presence of any black
man who would act or vote with the
Conservatives.
To understand the dangers impen-
ding over our peace, prosperity and
liberty, we must bear in mind that
there are in our very midst, white
mcn-and more of them than is sus-
pected-who are banded together by
secret oaths, and whose business it is
to entice simple negroes into their
midnight conclaves and induce them
to swear eternal hostility to the white
men of the South, and that they viii!
not tolerate the presence of any black
man who dares to act or vote with
the Conservatives. Add the oath Of
secrecy to these hideous features of
the "infernal machine" and all can
appreciate the potency, for evil, Of
such an organization--the existence
of which every good man is tempted
through charity, to deny.
Can the fatal influences of such al
organization be counteracted? w,
confess our inability to answer thu
} question. To rescue the victims, w
, must know who they are, but thu
oath of secrecy is an effectual barriei
, to the acquisition of any such knowl
edge. IF we knew what negroes be
, long to the organization, we coult
mark them as unworthy of confidence
and employment, and thus give then
practical illustration Of the fact
that the two races must pull together
or the one or the other must go un
} DER But, sheltered behind this 'in
fernal machine they are secure, 70
) the present, against detection. 1t i
true that, after the election, we cal
r learn who, and how many, are GU
c friends among the blacks but, il
: the meantime, they may have don
incalculable mischief to themselve
$ and the South. Then we can rewar
t our friends, and teach those who ar
: our enemies that they have no rigf
= to our sympathy or favor, and thu
S they must look, for both, to thos
false yankee friends who are now b.
n traying and fleeing thew.
e We often hear it said that the co
}. ored people know their own interos
v too we'll to be deceived by designin
i. Radicals. That opinion is hastil
formed. The negroes have so Ion
\, been the associates of the worst clai
d of yankees, that it is unsafe to rel
i. implicitly, upon their profession
and it is, doubtless, often the ca'
a. that those who are warmest in the
h. avowals of attachment to the white
20 are the most active mcmbers of Il
" "Grand Army of the Republic" al
is it may be part of their instruction
N thus to deceive whites and turn the
ut misplaced confidence to Radical a
ic count. 1t must be remembered, to
ii that the colored people are not suf
A. GENTLY enlightened to detect all II
,e frauds attempted upon them. "
10 can not know what lies are told the
il in their midnight meetings, and CT
O. offer no explanation. They may
II told, for instance, that if the Rad
al Gals succeed, they will re-establi:
Sc slavery, This one lie, bOlstered l
at with any amount of fabricated ey
N dence, is calculated to make a dc,
ir impression, and being made by mt
to who claim to have freed them, it
N no easy matter to remove it. Al
o. whilst the Conservatives are quiet
lie calculating their chances for success
o. the Radicals are actively conyertil