Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1868-07-18
si.uatinn i'm Tennessee.

Under the dominion of Brownlow
Loyal Leagues have been organized asd
armed all over the State. 1t has been
called "Brownlows hell, because Brown
low has shown the evident intention,
and done all that be could, as the Execu.
tive of the State, to make it one. The
Loyal Leagues are known to be armed,
and under the control of unprincipled
and violent white leaders, the spawn OF
the North, some of them RELEASED from
penitentiaries, and the best of question
able record at the places of their former
residence. Thefts have sbolnded all
over the State, and ever since the sur
render, to such an extent that it has been
with the utmost difficulty and pre-
cautions only that the common neces-
saries of life sufficient for subsistence
could be raised snd protected by the
whites. The highways have syarmed
with idlers and Migrants; and robberies,
murders, and outrages even worse have
been frequent, while proof has been diff
cult, convictions rare, punishment too
uncertain to amount to any efficient pre-
vention Of crimes, and this, when once
inflicted after the yegdicts Of juries, re-
mitted even in cases Of the utmost
atrocity, by the Governor, who edits at
Knoxville and governs at Nashville.
The condition of things has been such as
was absolutely uncomfortable with pa
tieuce by any people. No quiet citizen
has felt that the government Of the State
was any sufficient protection to him.
And matters grow no better.
Under circumstances such as these.
that there should be some symptoms OF
uneasiness, that men should begin to
think of selfdefense, and TO organize
for that purpose, is to be expected. And
now, because there have been some in
stances Of attempts to put thieves and
outlaws in fear, and here and there indi'
cations of organizations being formed
for that purpose haVe appeared, the
tiger Governor proposes to enroll and
arm a negro militia force to hunt down
peaceable citizens. who have not armed,
and will not arm exceptin Unsuitable and
necessary self defense In short Brown
low has turned outlaw. Abdicating the
civil government and the sworn duty OF
preserving the rights of all and the
peace of the State, be now proposes to
raise and arm forces Of bis creatures
head mob of outlaws, and on pretense
of searching for rebels and Ku-Kluz
carry devastation, pillage, fire and sword
to every peaceful village. county and
city of the State
The Knoxville paper Of which he il
senior editor, and which he has uniformly
Endorsed, in allusion to the supposed Ku.
Klux organization, (which, if it exists al
all, he knows is intended for no purpose
but to aid in preserving the peace of so
cieiy, and to protect the rights of citizens
which the authorities are bound but fai
to protect says:
The only remedy for these evils. as i
seems to US, is an extra session Of thu
Legislature and the organization Of q
militia force which will restore peace Of
ertermiHate the outlaws.
His Nashville organ, the Press and
Times, says:
A well organized and well armed com
pany Of negroes, familiar with the peo
| pie aud the country aad all its ceda
tickets, hollows and by-paths, can hgh
the scoundrels with their own weapons
They can hunt them to their dens an'
burn their houses over their heads. AM
We earnestly hope that this machiner1
may speedily be set in motion, no matte
whom il may crush 10 its progress
His Memphis. and other organs ar
now inviting and urging an organization
Of the same force. The Nashville Ban
ner, in a well considered aud judiciou
article Of great leng;h and sirnifoaucs
quotes a. follows from a speech Of
BroEnlov adventurer and leader g
| Nashville. recently delivered 10 The ne
groes there, as follows:
There was peace in Nashville, but :