Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1868-08-20
TENNESSEE THURSDAY EVENING" AUGUST 26 1865 NO. 10

malefactors out of the penitentiary after
trial and conviction; the inceudiary
speeches of reckless, characterless ad-
venturers from the hustings; the procla-
nations Of Brownlow, asking for laws
exemphng assassins from punishment;
and the inaammstory appeals Of dema-
gogues to idle negro loafers in the gale
ries Of the State Capitol, are licensing
these iusensate and semi-savage brutes
to the preparation Of crimes Q thousand
fold more heinous than that for which
the people Of Seymour, Indiana, swung
three train robbers TO the trees BY the
roadside Of a great highway Of travel.
We who live in the cities, secure IN
the strength Of superior numbers, and
the prevalence of gaslight, have but an
imperfect and vague idea Of the terror
which prevails in the rural districts.
Why, sirs, there is not single one OF
your countrywomen who would remain
in her house three miles beyond the cor
porate limits of your town single heur
after twilight, without male relative or
protector under the same roof. The
sense of insecurity and apprehension is
widespread and almost inconceiyable.
Approaching the terribly lawless condi :
| ton of the country, no husband, brother
or son now remains away from his home
and his wife and children, or sisters and
mother at night, or leaves his revolver or
rifle unloaded for an instant The wife,
with pallid cheek, cautions the husband,
whose business calls him from home, TO
return before nightiall, for the terrors Of
the situation" as depicted in the daily
prints, have not escaped her watchful
notice. The solicitude of wives, mothers
and sisters for their natural protectors, If
absent for ever 20 brief period, occa-
sions in them the liveliest apprehensions.
We who live in the cities know nothing
of all this, or at least have but faint
conception of how it affects our country
neighbors. laF
Among the couHtry people there is a
never ending and painful anxiety, and
a vigilance eternal. There are brave
men who know not personal fear, but
who are yet impressed with the serious
ness of their situation, and, at all times,
painfully conscious OF an unnatural and
insecure condition of society. They do
not fear the negroes, but they dread the
inauguration of the much talked of war
of races as much for its consequences to
the negroes as to them and theirs. They
fear the mischief that may at any mo-
ment be set on foot by the treacherous,
base white wretches to be found in every
neighborhood, who are capable Of any
act that could produce universal anarchy
and ruin, in order that they might plum
der while the conaagration ragged.
Is it any wonder, in such condition
of society under such an administration
of the State Government, with so corrupt
an execution of even the partisan laws
that are created-is it any wonder that
Regulators should spring up all over
the land, to protect the lives Of the de-
fenseless and to shield the virtue of the
wives and daughters of the people2 We
think not. And we repeat, that while in
nothing we have said we mean to be un-
derstood as advocating or defending the
performances of secret organic atoms, We
hold to the opinion that the Ku-Klux or
ganization has much more to justify it.
actions than the Radical oligarchy (which
is mainly responsible for it) has for thu
outrages it has committed against thu
people Of Tennessee. e.-Nash Banner.