The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1866-1891, 1871-09-28
.,.-.Despotism Revealed:

OF all the many counts IN the lndict-
ment which will be brought against the
party, now in power. none moro tyrranic-
al and far-reaching IN its despotic char
acter than the }aw known as the " Ku
Klux Bl'' can be found. No more
Dangerous foe. to constitutional liberty,
ne, greater power of usurpation, was
ever conceived than this law. No palmer.
moi, more open stride towards monarchy
has been made than this foul blot upon
the statute books of the United States
1t has been alleged by people of the
North, with more or less of truth, that,
weeof the South-the so-called rebels
have shown; and still do show, by our: our
actions, Che hatred We bear to the Ma;
tional Government and its officers, and
the impossibility of a complete reconcil-
iation between the two sections of the
country. But it seems never to have
occurred to their minds that any people
calling and feeling themselves free, or
who possess some remnants of freedom,
would, by the great law of Nature, re-
sist oppression and cry out against at
tacks upon the small portion of that lib
erty, which, though guaranteed by the
Constitution made by our common fore
fathers, have been illegally torn from us
by. the relentless cruelty, of party
made mad and riotous by conquest, ra-
pine and spoil Ever since the close Of.
the war the conduct of the party in
power has been marked by the deepest,
black-dyed hatred, urged on by spirit
Of revenge and almost savage cruelty,
aed, JET. they expect! !>us, against whom
aHithis hate has beeniurged, over whom
alfthess, walls Of wrath have been pour
ed, upon whom all these 4liberty-destroy-t
ing blows have fallen, to meekly knee
and kiss, the hand that snites Us, the
feet If; those who kick US, to worship the.
demons who have spoiled us Of. our free5l
dom, after sweeping ava away y everything
else. .
Yet they;turn to us in real Of feigned
surprise, and claim that me are the pro-
duecrs, and. not the reeeipers, of alEthis,
with what of truth 1--WE well know. ny +''.'
This course continuing. the last and
most fatal blow at our liberties was
stricken the !. aiiah<l;;a.sss''.. -
7"s7g 7saEa ostahcd the passage Of the
Ku-Klux bill: !, .:..l!s, ,t .....s, s,,.sra -
See how it has fallen. already upon us,
than. whom more quiet people never
livedI Two young men, of high re-
spectability, have, at the instance of a
man who led a RIOT on the 4th Of July
last who urged he burning of the town
and the lynching of an officer of the law
on that occasion, been arrested and are
sonsht to be tried under the provisions
ofathe Ku K1ux bill, when there is not
shado,o Of a point where,pon to hang a
pr6teeaingof that nature! Even the
persoas arrested for riot on the occa-
sion just alluded to cannot be tried
under that bill, though that: was an Of
fence against the law and public peace,
immeasurably greater than in the case
we are speaking of. And the reason for
it is plain and evident. 1t. is because
thsrc was in ne. ther case any infringe
ment or attempt to infringe upon the;
political rights of others. The utter alb
surdity, the palpable malice Of the pres
entprosecution, the falsity of the state
ments which must have been made and
sworn to in order to bring it about, de-
monstrated more clearly than any other
argument the extent Of this monstrous
usurpation, and discloses the fact that
We are at the mercy of every man who
has, malice enough in his heart to color
sufficiently his statement Of the offence
committed against him. True We may
tlispreverthe charge, and be acquitted
by ajury of our peers, but only at great
expense, Inconvenience and trouble. We
may be dragged to dungeons, treated
Ike brutes and subjected to unjust pun
ishinents, before We can yindicatc our
true position. All this would not. have
been but for the, passage of the Ku Klux
law. Let every man who has within
him even a lingering spark Of that love
of freedom and Justice which character