Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1871-02-24
WHO ARE THE MASKED MARAUDERs :

Before a member of Congress can take
his seat he must take an oath to support
the Constitution of the United States.
He sits there as Senator or Representa-
tive. as either a representative OF the
sovereignty of the State from which he
comes, or as a representative of a part
of the people of it. He is also a repre-
sentative of either the sovereignty OF all
the States or the representative of the
neople of all the States. His duties are
plain. He must do nothing to violate
either the rights Of the States AS govern
ments or the rights of the people. The
General Government has its constltu-
ton. and he must sustain that. The
States have constitutions, not inconsis-
tent, but in harmony with it. he
must sustain them. Our system was
so admirably constructed by its founders
that there was not jar nor discord in
the working of its machinery. The Fed
eral Government was created by the
States. 1t is impossible that it can have
any other origin. 1t is nothing but the
authority of the States delegated to their
own representatives for specified. pur-
poses. And so the States act through
what is named a Federal Government.
The States have authorized it to do GER
tain things which, as States, it is not ex-
pedient for them to do. 1t seems, there
fore, that the highest duty of member
of Congress is to protect the rights of the
States. He must also protect the legiti-
mate authority of the Federal Govern
ment. He must maintain harmony be-
tween them. He must be impartial, as
he is the agent of both. He is traitor
to both if he fail to be impartial.
If these propositions be true, and we
challenge their refutation, there has
been a mountain of perjury and an
ocean Of treason in this country since
1863 The very Constitution which
members of Congress have sworn to
sustain has been not only violated as
it was, but amended without the consent
of the requisite number Of States. The
men who owe their positions to the
States have assumed TO curtail them of
certain rights deemed by our fathers in
dispensable to the equilibrium of our
system of government. Were not some
of the Southern States coerced into rat
flying some of the amendments? And
were not their ratification secured by
means of this coercion? And who were
they who did this wrong, andfrom whence
did their authority Gomez Who gave
them authority to limit the power that
created them2 Acting under an oath to
support the Constitution, they have VIC
lated its most vital principles. Under
the mask of that oath they have COM
mitted treason to the States and to the |
people. They are the real masked ma
rauders; they are the real disturbers of
the peace of the country, the assassins,
the Ku-Klux, the scourgers of States,
the violators of the sacred obligations of
Constitutions and the enemies of free
Let them stand in history
as men who, under the mask Of freedom
and justice, have reduced the people to
slavery, to outrage, to insult, to bank
ruptcy. They are the real masked ma
rauders, and should be dragged to justice
wherever the people can have free access
to the ballot-box If these masked ma
rauders are permitted to proceed with
their programme, there will not long be
ballot-box.