Knoxville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1875, 1871-04-26
THE DECREE IRREv,JCABLE.

The danger and Insecurity of life and
property in certain sections of the South,
has made it necessary for Congress to place
upon the statutes of the nation, very
rigorous and far-reaching law. Its pass
age only shows how completely and unan-
imously the Republican party is COM
mitted to carry out to the strlctest construc-
ton what it conceives to be the results of
the war. For six long years the turbu-
lent and disorganizing spirits i'll the south
have by various devices sought to obtain
through political trickery, fraud and in
limitation what they protested to surren-
der at Appomattox and Raleigh. First,
through the New Orleans and Memphis
massacres, then through the treachery of
JohHson's administration, then again
through the New York Convention,
and Blair and Seymour campaigns
and last but not by any means
least, through the devilish kuklux organ
ization, the democracy has sought to frus-
trste the complete triumph of the friends
of the government, and to practically Sc
cure the objects for which they waged four
wears of war. That they are not to secure
these objects is the firm, unwavering deter
mination of the Union people OF the coun-
try. Whenever they attempt lt-when-
ever they make war upon the finality of
reconstruction, or upon the validity of the
Constitutional Amendments, or upon the
equal rights of all men before the law,
they strike adamantine rock-the firm,
undivided, Interchangeable purpose of the
loyal people of the land to stand by the
covenant sealed by Grant on the glorious
field of AppomattoN. We saw this i'll
the great popular swell of patriotism
that carried Grant in the White House
we saw it in the recent triumph OF right
and justice in Connecticut and throughout
the North, and we see it to-day in the firm
action of Congress The Democracy of the
South, through an infamous organization
that carries out its hellish designs when
brave men sleep, or when they are too few
to resist, has taken the dagger and torch
in hand, and in certain sections has driven
loyal citizens, white and black from their
homes and deprived them of the protection
of their local governments by intimidating
or conspiring with their law officers. 1t
thus seeks to nullify the fiat of the people,
that everywhere in this broad land call
men are equal in the sight of the law"
In taking this defiant and lawless attitude
their organization has defied the power of
the Government and provoked its strong
arm. If these men now find it descending
upon their heads with greater force
and more vigorously than suits them, they
need not wonder. The people are deter
mined that their will shall be respected,
anu ii men CinnOI DC prOlecleu Ill person
and property in South Carolina or Ken
lucky or sections of Tennessee, under or
binary legislation, Congress intends to give
them just such statutes as they need. The
responsibility is upon the men who have
encouraged this lawlessness, either by de-
nying it or by apologizing for it.
AS proof of the spirit and purpose of all
good men to carry out the great purposes
we refer to, we cite with pleasurethe speech
of Senator SchurZ, of Missouri, on the ku-
kluX bill, who in this matter has spoken
out manly and fearlessly. After referring
to his relations to the Republican party,
his enfranchising policy in Missouri, his
opposition to st. Domingo as proof that
what lie said was not through subserviency,
but rs an Independent thinker he said
But, as a man of liberal impulses and indie
pendent convictions. l stand here to declare that
the very first and the fundamental article of our
creed is the firm maintenance of those results of
the war which concern the equal rights of man.
We recognize no other basis of settlement, of
peace as just and compatible with republican
government, rs practically possible, and as en-
during Upon that ground we stand in good
faith and with unhinching determination, and
that ground we mean to maintain against all at
tacks, covert or open, from whatever quarter
they may come. And l have no hesitation in
saying that those who work for the overthrow of
the guarantees of equal rights embodied in
the constitutional amcndH ents constitute them
selves the enemies not only Of peace and good
will among the people of the country, but they
bring on new dangers to the institutions of local
self-goyernmcnt by provoking centralizing
measures a. a means of protecting innocent men
against wrong and outrage