Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1871-04-17

THE enactment Of the Ku-KlUX bill
viii be the signal for the advent Of a
regiment Of United States soldiers in
this city. Why they should come the
people may not clearly understand.
There never was a p~rofounder respect
for law; never were its DEGREES more
rigidly enforced: never were the peO-
pie more addicted to mOney-making,
and never did they think or care less
about governments. Its needless for
Us to inquire why this calamity befals
the countryi why this Efforts made
by politicians to repress industry, to
destroy property values and prevent
immigration. The first effect Of the
Ku Klux bill among peoples who do
not comprehend the partisan necessity
which begets the ruinous enactment,
A., will be the diversion Of wealth and
industry from the South. 1t will be
believed in Europe that an actual ne
cessity subsists in the South for the
presence of armed men to maintain
peace and order. It viii not occur to
Germans and Frenchmen seeking
homes in America that the President /
provides for his reelection by invest
ing himself with the absolute mill
t4ry control of States whose votes in
an unrestricted Presidential election
would surely be cast against
him. No, no; mankind viii be
lieve, until the truth forces itself
through thick meshes Of falsebOOd
that invest this Ku-klux legislation,
that the South is an intolerable hell
Of horrors, Of brutalities and murders.
Since the South contemplates no OPP
position to the enforcement of the ru-
iu0us measure, as ruinOus as it is
~viOiative Of the cOuntry's organic law,
it becomes Us to make resulting cal
antilles the lghtest possible. Very
plainly it is Grants purpose, at any
cost Of treason to the Constitution or
Of blood and treasure, TO continue in
Office. It is none Of our business,
specially and peculiarly to weep
over the cOnsummatiOn of his
purposes. He is mot the Pres
ident Of our making, and we have
Iessa stake In wealth and population
than twenty other States. We may
be primarily the great losers, but the
evil now proposed 70 be done is not
local. Every State Is enslaved, and
Tennessee or Mississippi is only a
vlcarious sufferer. The freedom Of
New York Is extinguished by the
very act which enslaves the South.
Moreover, in many Of their aspects
the evils of our political condition
cannot be aggravated, and we
have learned to bear patiently,
as Grant i conscious, wrongs
and restriction, hardly less intOlera
bic than enOrmities imposed by the
Ku Klux act. With the freedom Of
the South, that Of the North disap-
pears. The Union is an unit and the
Constitution the embodiment Of
American unity. Al wound inflicted
upon one CT its members is felt by all.
Then what course does it become US
to pursue? Plainly euoughregiments
that invade Memphis are innocent
Of an ambitious despot Their
officers are helpless tools ofthe law Of
Congress and Of Grant. Wecan haven no
animosity against these soldiers and
officers, and there can be no collision,
or even enmity between the people
and the army. As happened in for
msr years, every soldier stationed in
the South, having the instincts Of q {
freeman, o sees how partisanship !
made laws and issued DEGREES, having 2
no basis Of reason or right ia the con-
duct Of Southern white men. Let I
become the point, az it viii, Z
whence soldiers are distributed over {
the South to control the result of cleo O
tions, and however gross the political {
wrong and insult involved, there are b
practical good results OF which a sem b
sible people win not be slow 20 avail o
themselves. n