The States and Union. [volume] (Ashland, Ohio) 1868-1872, 1871-05-17

during the war, and has taken pains
since the war, by means of his official
position, which places him in constant
correspondence with all parts of the
South, and now by his personal visit,
to continue and confirm his knowledge
oft. His opinion must be accepted
rs true and disinterested, and is all the
more valuable because his connection
with the Administration would tend
to moderate or suppress his genuine
convictions, if lie were not a maj no
bly, superior to such considerations
At this time, we say, no case is pre-
scented at the South calling for n Pres
idcntial proclamation. But if there
were such n case, then the law clearly
declares that the proclamation shall
be levelleG only at the disa1fected re-
gion. This is what the law says-"in
every such case such combinations
shall be deemed a rebellion against
the government of the United States,
and during the continuance of such
rebellion, and within the Iimits of the
district which shall be 80 under the
sway thereof, such limits to be prescribed
by proclamation" In framing this pro
vision, Congress had in mind States or
sections of States like North Carroll
ma, Georgia, and others from which
the most alarming reports of Ku- Klux
outrages has COME. There has been
no pretense, even with the most ex-
treme Congressional Radicals, that
whole States, in all their length and
breadth, and much less the entire
South, were the theatre Of unrestrained
Ku Klux raids. Their hatred of the
South and their political necessities
would be satisfied if the President
would mete and bound by proclama-
ton certain districts where the con-
sentative feeling is the strongest, and
there carry out the secret partisan in
tent OF the Ku-Klux bill. In his proc
lamation the President, flushed per-
haps with his new and almost bound
less di~ctatorial powers, spurned what
little judicious restraint the bill Con
tains, and addresses general; but ON,
inots, thfe3ts to the whole South, and,
more than that, to the, whole United
States. He says, what every n knew
before, but the expression OF which
from his pen amounts to a broad men
ace, that ''the law of Congress applies
to all parts of the United States, and
will be enforced e~very,ohere to the &c
tent of the pooer Vested in the Executive"
powers as vast as dictator ever WELD
ed. The proclamation is adroitly
worded, and contains passages that a
Quakermight have written, but.there
is a tone Of unmistakahle oxidation
in no less than three references To the
practically unlimited powers now en-
joyed by the President. and his readi-
ness to use them upon ~provocation,
which show how he ~rejOices in their
possession, and would not hesitate to
employ them. 1t will not do TO call
the proclamation simply a brutum
fwlnen,. because it is aimed at nobody
in particular, and is vague in its alarm
ing purport. The known character
and ambition of the President leave no
doubt that such a man, having the
power, will use it upon opportunity.
On the whole, we are not sorry that
the proclamation has appeared at this
time and inthis shape. That it should
be issued now. when there is no ne
cessity for it, is q confession that the
bill and its execution are matters of
political eNpediencv alone. limo proc
had been made, some OF the
Radicals themselves would have be-
gun to believe that there was no real
occasion for a Ku-KluX bill. It's
general application to all the United
States is also a confession to the same
effect for if rebellion were rampant
eny:part of the South, we may he
sure that the President would have
specified it and defined tho limits of
action. In so far as the proclama-
ton is to be interpreted as a friendly
caution and warning to the South it is
not Objectionable, and we trust that if
in sny portion of the Southern States
any vestiges Of Ku-Kluxism or other
guerrilla bodies, black or white, are
left, the local powers will crush them
without delay.-M Y. Journal Of
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