Wilmington journal., 1872-07-26
KU-kLUX TYRANNY.

KU-KLUX TYRANNY. o.
The ku-klux legislation was a scheme to
bind the negro vote to the Radical admin
istration and weaken the voice of the
Southern white people by oppression and
intimidation. eE - ,-es- -if7
The process has been fea. fully ruthless
and distressing. The laws rendered every
white man amenable to arrest for threat
ening black voter TO influence his vote in
any way, or for discharging him from en-
plOyment on account Of the vote given by
him. Furthermore, the maltreatment OF
negro or q white man on account OF his
political opinions (and every such act was
assumed to he politically was made a crime,
to which were assessed excessive penalties.
Indeed, all the penalties for kU-kluX often
ceS are excessive, and there are fines IN
addition to imprisonment in every case,
showing the ever uppetmOst idea OF plum
dering the property Of the accused. The
certainty Of conviction was secured by
giving to the complainant a reward equal
to the fine imposed by the government.
The first step was to drag the accused
many miles-Sometimes one to two hun
dred-from their homes, and immure them
in prison for months before their trial
The Southern prisons were filed with them.
The march OF these poor wretches, who
looked forward with despair to their con-
victiOn through subOrdinatiOn of perjury
and arbitrary rulings OF corrupt Jud 5es,
was sad enough. Their families accom-
panied them in many iustauces-Wives and
helpless little ones following their husbands
and fathers, with wan and wOe-stricken
cOuntenances and weary feet, to bid them,
possibly, last adieu at the prison doors.
After trial, which has been almost in
variably mockery of justice, the accused
have been, in large proportion, convicted
and sent from five hundred to a thousand
miles from home to be shut up i'll the Fed
eral p.iSOnS of the North, there possibly to
die ard almost certainly to be forgotten.
Their terms Of Imprisonment are long, ana
when they are ended which way can the
discharged persons look for consolation
and peace. They left families, often de-
pendent, who We're robbed Of the means of
subsistence to pay fines and to pay tie
alleged penalty for in jury done to perured
villains. Those families must i'll few
years be scattered ike the brood NAoSe
guardian has been killed 10y the hawk.
All this, too, in "a time of profound peace
and i'll violation Of the State and Federal
Constitutions.
There is no true liberty while such laws
and such practices prevail. AS well talk
Of partial compromise OF Virtue as par
/
That has been fOl trited for the personal
benefit of the party i'll power, ana cannot
be considered rs existing SO long the
local authority of the Stale Government is
trOdden under foot, and 50 long rs our fui
loW-citZcns Of other States are subject to
! such prosecutions and wrongs as the last
| five yrar3 have witnessed.
! Communities can feel 10 safety as long
| as the tigers and lyelaS Of the Govern
utnt are Let loose upon them. They lap
| the blood only of the whites. No negro is
| prosecuted for political offences. We all
| know that negroes are kept under q reign
! of tetiOr*-that theO dare not vote against
! the DEGREES of the leagues, and that in Il
| ntmber OF cases negroes have been sab
! iactcd to the most brutal violence for sepa-
! rating from their colorcd feIl0W-men on
. pOliticalqucstions. DR.. Bayue was beaten
t nearly To Death for opposing l'latt for Con
! grcss. Neither l!GS Ifatt nor havr any of
| his followers been punished for cracking
! the Doctors bullet head. There is not
| black man III any Federal prison for po-
! litical offences, and yet no people have en-
| plOyed threat and intimida1ion To control
| votes SO much as the negroes.
| But the devil always leaves 4 bar Down.
! The Eu-kluN measure, cOntriYed for party
! purposes, has done to Grant more injury
! than can be repaired by the brutal use of
| ii. 1t was great m,sta&<c. It was thought
| that Try it the negro would lie ret }: ne, and
made an efficient paTtisan; aud the white
man would be driven from the polls. II
has failed. 1t has fired the white man with
all irrepressible opposition to the Admins
tration, whilst the negro is growing daily
more and more inditf rent to the party
which is ever fruitful in promises but SO
entirely delinquent in real acts beneficial
to him. Tic is fast drifting away from that
party which so greatly oyerosliIaated his
usefuln' SIS, while the whites, whom it was
sought to crush, are more determined than
ever to resist the mon who have insulted
them and thrown down tie walls of
the Constitution established for their pro-
lection.
The man who says these sentiments are
only aIO9Ised III tie South is a fool, and
greatly wrongs the public Judgment of the
| North. Is sympathy OF race de2d2 Is hu-
man nature ia the North utterly peryert-
ed? No, they are both III existence, and
growing more active every day, and the
ku-lluX prosecutions are making the Fed
eral Administration stink il the nostrils of
al tie ,2aton.
Grant wiz be Overwhelmingly defeated.
How any Southern l1ar can vote for him
We do not understand. Any cna who
does so should hear the moans OF the
Ku-hlUX convicts-his fellOw-citiZens-
through the gratings of their dungeons
when lie goes to the polls to indorse their
cCnHiet:0n and approve their Imprisonment
in the 4ar- distant Northern bastiles, while
their poor families gre scattered TO the
winds, dependent upon tic charity Of the
world.
*Rev. Solia Martin (colored), OF louisiana
writes to the New York Tribune
..Ihe colored man in the South was initiated
into the mysteries of suffrage by white men
who magnitied the sacredness of the political
oath administered, and intensified superstitious
fears as to the penalties which would overtake
the eoIOrei 1lan who tried to escape from ESQ
teric bondage; Though leagues are no longer
ia existence, the col9TeI man still shivers with
fear az the ghosts they have Iefs 1,e41 md them
In every parish of this State there il so4qe 0tie
white man who distributes ballots Tor all elec-
tions, and the majority of colored people will
take no other ticket tilall the one sent by this
authorized distributor. The haiiiRg signs,
watch words, passwords, and grips of tie pass
have been translated into size, color, and de-
vice, eS to these tickets"
q DfsSracefuI Scene at metropolitan