The weekly North-Carolina standard., 1868-04-08
From the Knoxville Tenn } Wing.

Societies Denounced and Defended.
Governor Brownlow's M a nj fe st 0
Against the ssKu.klux Klan.''
That there is in Tennessee such an organ
ization as the one above named no doubt
can be entertained. It is true the Conser-
vative press and party attempt to ridicule
the idea. and to denounce and stigmatize as
weak and over credulous those who believe
in the existence of the Ku-klux Klan yet
does such ridicule disapprove their exis-
tence2 Does it disarm them of murderous
intent and wicked purpose2 Can the rebel
and Conservative press whistle high-handed
murder and terrorism down the wind? Will
derision and sneers give us back to life the
pale victims of their fendish wickedness
Yes, the Ku-klux Klans exist. They are
known to be formidable in Middle and West
Tennessee. Their murderous, bushwhack-
ing conduct in the Counties of Dyer, Lin
coin and Rutherford are now matters of
history. Their organizations have not ap-
peared in force in many points in East Ten.
nesseee, but they are evidently organizing.
As they burrow in darkness and skulk be-
hind mysterious names and forms, they may
think to escape detection, and even to elude
suspicion. Yet they are observed, and their
movements more know than they themselves
imagine. Who make up these organization2
They are rebels and Cpnservatlves-
who fought in the ranks of the rebel armies
during the war, and those who then sympa-
thized with them but who through sheer
cowardice, gave the battlefield wide berth.
Those Conservatives fully sympathize with
"the lost cause now. They work for it.
vote forit when they can, plan for it, and
now, at last, go into Ku-klux Klans to help
by lawless violence, riot aud murder, what
can no longer be kept alive by fair legitimate
methods. What are their objects? Pre-
cisely the objects that have animated the
whole rebel crew, from jeff Davis down to
the veriest pimp that huzzahed for the re-
bellion all along during the war. They hate
loyalty, and the men who uphold and en-
body it. Loyalty in black or white is so
odious to them, and especially in black men,
that they cannot refrain from venting their
hell inspired malignity upon them. They
seek to compass their objects by intimida-
ting colored men, and by wreaking ven
geance upon white radicals. Their objects
are the overthrow of loyalty, which they
loathe and hate, by any and every means,
whether right or wrong, lawful or unlawful,
honorable or desplcable, true or false, and
more generally by the latter than the former.
Union men. leaguers, beware of them; spot
them. nearly every county you have
strength sufficient to make yourselves ter
rible to these midnight assassins and lawless
desperadoes. and to visit swift and signal
punishment on those fiends in human form
who may break the peace of the country
and mob and terrify honest, innocent citi-
zens, and If in any case you lack the num-
bers or the means to do this there are more
than million swords ready to be unsheathed
to avenge your fall Or to facilitate your vic
tory. Especially in East Tennessee are YOU
numerous and strong enough to hold
the situation. Our counsel once for
all is, that whenever these vile mis-
creants make their appearance among us,
mounted, booted, and spurred, and however
disguised, let the uhits and colored Radicals
meet them promptly and in the spirit Of their
oaon laoless mission, and disperse them, and If
need require this in dispersing them, ertermi-
nate them. At all events, and at whatever
cost, let these lnhuman scoundrels learn that
in East Tennessee, at least, they will not he
allowed to carry forward this cowardly.
miserable, sneaking kind of warfare. We
| speak earnestly because the occasion de-
| mands it. But we are calm we were never
more so. Desperate cases require desperate
| remedies. If the Ku Klux Klan attempt to
run riot over our law, order and the public
/ safety by these midnight raids, in disguise
| and darkness, then let force be met and pun
ished By superior force. Pull off their vizers
and expose their faces and their foul crimes
at once to the light of the sun and to the
gaze of merited scorn of an indignant, out
ragged public.
To prevent any misunderstanding as to
the authorship of this article, we append
our name. THE SENIOR EDITOR.