Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-04-27
ROSH.

The travelling correspondent of
the Cincinnati Commercial, who
has been Swinging round the cir
Gle" with President Johnson in this
State, writes from Memphis on the
goth inst. as follows: .i.5
"There is nothing that has weakened
the Conservative cause so much in Tens
nessee as the Ku Klux. A hundred
thousand whites owe their continued dis
reimbursement in great measure to those
midnight assassins and masked be-
devils. They afford the Legislature Gs
good an excuse as they want to continue
the franchise law upon the statute.
books. If there was not Ku klux. in
existence, do not say that the Legisla-
ture would take measures to repeal the
law Immediately, but it woold hasten
that event materially.
| have been in Tennessee constantly
during the past three years, and have no
hesitancy in saying that the disfran.
chisement of 80 large body Of her citis
zens, works untold iniquity. | am also
satisfied that the Ku Klux have been in
strumental in adding to the days Of the
monstrous law which has made political
nonentities of hundred thousand of the
citizens of the State Whether it is right
or wrong that the many should suffer for
the transgressions of a few hot-heads
and fools, am not now discussing. That
they are suffering from that very cause,
4 none will deny who know anything Of
political affairs in this State. The sOon-
er the citizens who look for peace
through universal suffrage, discourage
the Ku Klux, the better" -
The existence of the Ku KIux
was seized upon and paraded
before the people of Tennessee as
an excuse for the perpetuation of
that monstrous iniquity known as
the franchise law, but if the CORE
spondent of the Commercial had
been as honest as he Processes, he
would have frankly stated that if
there had never been a Ku Klux
in the State the franchise law would
not have been modified in the
slightest particular, The members
of the Legislature knew that the
great body of the disfranchised
people had no afiliation or sympa-
thy with the Ku-Klux, yet the ma
jority voted down every measure
looking to the removal of the disa-
bilities imposed upon the people.
Even measures which could not
have been perfected under year
found no favor with the extreme
Radicals. Had this correspondent
been at all familiar with the
history of Radical legislation
in Tennessee, he would have
known and SO stated, that the Iex-
cuses offered by the Radicals for
the continuation Of the franchise
law, are the merest bosh. The
unmanly plea was set up in justif-
cation of the enactment of the Sc
cond and third franchise laws, each
one more stringent than its prede-
cessor, that the " Rebel papers ? of
Nashville had criticised the acts of
the members of the Legislature
with more than wonted freedom,
and had been very disrespectful to
the members in all their comments.
What is to be thought of a party
that would thus punish nearly q
hundred thousand people because
three or four newspapers were not
very choice in the epithets they APP
piled to the members of the Legis.
latureP A more contemplate, more
humiliating confession in justifca-
ton of wrong was never before set
up by political party. The real
cause for the continuation of the
Acknowledgement of the white men
of this State is to be found in the
fact that the Radicals got control of
the State, and they know they would
lose this control if the people were
enfranchised. This position is
borne out by the well known and |
undisputed factthat however violent |
a Rebel a man mayhave been during |
the war, if he has become a good
Radical since, he has no difficulty in
getting a certificate to vote. No |