The Fairfield herald. [volume] (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1849-1876, 1871-04-12
A Northern View.

otVll ana polltlcal rights over the
length and breadth Of tho land, re-
gardless of race or color, we had sup
posed the great work Of Southern
reconstruction completed and glo.
rious success. 1t appears, however,
from the recent Message of the Presi-
dent to Congress on Southern affairs,
that, in those reconstructed States,
from tho terrorism of "unlawful COM
binations," neither lifo nor property
is safe, and that the transportation Of
the United States mails and
the collection Of the internal
revenue therein are dangerous en-.
ployments. Hence tho detention of
Congress for the purpose of some
special legislation in behalf of law
and order. 1t appears, further, that
in response to an application from
the Governor Of South Carolina, in the
absence of the State Legislature,
tho President has deemed it neces-
cary to give warning to the Ku Klux
Klans of said State that if, after the
expiration of twenty days, they have
not "quietly disperse to their respect
tive abodes," they will be dispe rsed by
the United States Army. And now,
in difference to the Presidents appeal
and suggestions, we have q new bill,
prepared by the select committee on
the subject of tho House of Reprcsen.
tatives, which proposes to put these
aforesaid "unlawful combinations"
in the Southern States once more
under the stern discipline Of the
sabre and the bayonet.
The bill in question is entitled,
CA bill more fully to ouforoe the
provisions of tho fourteenth amend
ment to the Constitution of the Uni
ted States, and for no other purpo,
ses." The first section provides for
the prosecution in the United States
Courts of any person who shall in
any way interfere in dopriving any
citizen of his equal civil rights under
said fourteenth amendment. The
second section provides that any
ofenco--such as murder, mayhem,
robbery, perjury, arson, &o.--against
the rights, privileges and immunitics
of any citizen, by any two or more
persons banded together for the pur-
pose, shall be deemed felony liable
to heavy penalties in fine and i'm
prisonment, and that q trial in any
case commenced in one United States
judicial district and completed in
another may be acted upon and the
offender punished in either district.
In other words, all the individuals of
an unlawful conspiracy against the
rights of citizens, if composed, for
example, of men from Mississippi and
Alabama, may DO made answ cradle to
the United States Court in either
State. The third section provides
that in all cases where insurrection,
domestic violence, or unlawful COM
binations or cons piraces in any State
shall 80 far obstruot or hinder the
execution of the laws thereof as to
deprive any portion or class of the
people Of suoh State of any of their
rights. ,.privileges, &C., aud the State
authorities have been unable to REQ
dress these wrongs, or have failod or
refused to do 80, the President, in
behalf of law and order, is authoriz-
ed to interpose with the local M ilitia
or the land and naval forces of the
United States. The fifth section pro-
vides that extreme cases Of unlawful
combinations, armed and organized
and overriding the constituted civil
authorities, shall be doomed rebel.
lion against tho government of the
United States, and that in any such
disaffected district, under certain re-
striotions, the President is empower
ed TO declare martial law and to sus-
pend the habsas corpus, frat making
proclamation commanding such insur-
gents to disperse. The provisions of
this section, however, are to cease to
be in force from and after the lst
day of juno, 1872. 1r
This is the substance Of the bill.
which tho select committee Of the
House of Representatives propose as
remedy for these Southern disor-
ders. In justification Uf the aot, as
ou Appoi@Vv0 hOOopotVJS ~ 10 bdlu
that the lawless and malignant spirit
and elements Of the late rebellion
have again become rampant in most
Of tho Southern States that the lives
and property Of Northern mon therein
are at the mercy aud are frequently
sacrificed to the vengence Of the So
called Ku Klu Klans; that the
ernancipated blaoks, for no other
crine than that Of voting the repub-
loan ticket or belonging to the Union
League, are shot, changed, drowned or
scourged, and that this scourging is
sometimes applied to the negro wo.
men, with the burning Of the house Of
the, obnoxious family that numerous
school houses appropriated to the
education Of tho emsncipated blacks
have beer, burned that the teachers
in such Sobools have boon And are sub
jeot to numerous insults, and barbsri-
Aslip n kAe.I LL.tlh Il LLGs1