The Lincoln County herald., 1871-11-09
The Governments Outrage.

ciple gessrslly cntertaius the most bite
hatred to that belief or principle. and
vindictivsnsss towards all differing will
him, unworthy an enlightened age. Thi'
10 not an exception in the case Of the ex
rebel Alderman, now Grants Attorney
General. he is doing sscrythine in hi,
power to forward the Governments tyr
amy in the South, and has just re.
turned from a trip to the martial Law dis
trict Of South Carolins. Hs says he ha,
ascertained that the Ku-klux does
exist there under such names as the
"lnvisible Empire of the South the
"White Brotherhood" oto., and that q
majority of the entire white men Of that
section are in its membership or under
it's control; that its objects embodied in
its oath are the defence Of the coustitu.
ton as it was, resistance to Radical inva
sion, aud the protection of widows aud
orphans, and the penalty Of treaehery
provided by said oath is death. The
sum total of the outrages committed by
these organizations he estimates at ten
murders and FIVE hundred minor otIenses.
Mr.. Alderman thinks that the most Of
these outrages ioere committed last Mdrch.
From this it would seem that there was
no reason why Grant should have issued
his tyrannical mandate, placing that sec
ton under martial law. That proclama.
ton called upon all such organizations to
dsband within Eve days; if they did not,
he would enforce the power vested in him
by the Ku klux bill. The persons form.
ing these bauds-if they did really exist,
and we doubt not that they did to lin.
tied extent-madc no acknowled dment of
their organizations. Although the sec
tion was quiet, and according to Attorney
General Akerman, no outrages bad been
committed since last March, Grant inter,
preted this silence into defiance, and at
once inauguratad an era of terror, and has
caused hundreds of citizens, the majority
doubtless inofcnsive, to be arrested and
incarceratcd in loathsome dungeons aud
prisons, refusing them bail, and intend
ing to hold them until the assembling Of
the United States court on the 9th inst
Such tyranny is inexcusabls, dissraceful
to the age in which we live; indeed it is
diabolical, and hanging is not too severe
a penalty for the political leaders who
placed such kiusly preroratives in the
hand Of the despot who sits in the White
House or rather, who is disgracsfully
hob.nobbiug over the country and neg
lecting his duties as we'll as for the one
who enforccs the power thus given.
There can be but one object in view
IN TINS nntrnging the liberties of the
South /; and that object is the ono con
ceived by Grant and his co-workers
against tho freedom of fast deca ing
Republic, when the diabolical ku kluz
bill was concocted last wintsr--the re
election Of Grant by force. They vel
knew that no other move could save him
and ever ready to 60 the length Of wick
eduess and usurpaton to attain smaller
aims, they did not hesitate at this. The
presidential election is approaching, tn,
fall state elections are over 50 that thu
Radical party in them cannot be weak
ened by the act, and Grant has inaugu
rated the force system in South Carolina
without excuse even under the Ku klu,
bill, to be followed up until the who'll
South will be one vast prison house 70
inoffensivs men who dare oppose tn
petty tyrant of Long Branch and th'
White House for President another fou
years.