Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1872-07-26
" CentralizatiOn," "

ONE of the charges made by Democrats
and Liberals against President Grant Is
GENERALIZATION of the Government. ms
charge is not made in good talth; II mas
no foundation in any fact of President
Grants Administration; il is cant
phrase bequeathed to the Liberals by men
who once sought to destroy the Union,
and who pray to day, If they ever pray at
all. for the time to come when they may
once more raise their hands, red with the
blood of Union soldiers and stained with
the murders of unoGending citizens,
against universal freedom and the
Government that has sustained II,
and made 1t an irreversible fact In the
Constitution That this cry OF "centrall-
zation" should be raised by men weighed
down by the shame and degradation OF
treason; that it should be made by the
Democratic party, which, in the language
of Horace Greeley, is "to-day rebel to Ihe
core" Is to be expected; but that thls
shout should go out through the land
from the New York Tribune, the chicago
Tribune, and the other selfstyled lnde-
pendent journals which follow in tnelr
wake. shows to what base uses solely
personal ambition invariably reduces its
subjects and votaries. There is but one
"pretense" even upon which to rest the
charge of "centralization" as against
President Grant. That pretense is the
Ku-Klux law. President Grant did not
make the law; he simply enforced 1t. But
every Liberal in the country, who now
denounces its enforcement as an act OF
despotism, demanded the passage OF the
law, and based the demand upon the
notorious fact that numerous most brutal
murders were being committed in va.
rious parts of the South by bands OF
masked assassins, Conspicuous among
these advocates of the Ku Klux law were
the New York and Chicago IT56unes,:
and that their demands were warranted
by facts supremely disgraceful to Amerl-
can civilization there is no doubt. Inc
Congressional Investigating COMMITTEE
upon the subject Of Southern outrages
piled up a mass of evidence touching the
scourgings, banishment and murders Oh
the infamous klans, which chills WIN
horror the heart of every man who reads
it. The Washington Chronicle says upon
this subject:
''Since the close Of the rebellion not less
than twenty-three thousand persons, black
and white, have been scourged, banlshed, or
murdered by the Ku-Klux klans OF the
South. The victims of their horrible bar
barity have been Republicans. Not single
United States Government brought perse-
cution: disloyalty, exemption. Since the
enforcement of the Ku-Klux acts by the
present Administration, peace and security
have reigned throughout those States in
tested by the Klans."
Evidence of these atrocious murders OF
men for political reasons, by klans organ
lied to antagoniZe the new principles en-
grated upon the Constitution as the fruit
! of five years of bloody civil war, was
piled almost mountain high, by Com
mittee of Congress, consisting of Demo-
Gratis as well as Republicans. This evil
dence has been placed before the Ameri-
can people, and every citizen in the land
may, if he will, know how much more
brutal, how much more savage and bitter
| ly revengeful,a "a Ku-Klux Klan is than the
worst rebel army that ever served the
| Confederacy. The atrocities of the khan
brought to light by the investigation
stand, not only uncontroverted, but en-
tirely undisputed. The minority report
of the committee, by Mr.. Stephenson, OF
Kentucky, denied no facts of the majority
report, but contented itself with simply
asserting that the cause of the Ku-Klux
outrages was the Carpet.bag governments
| of the South. This, then, was the sltua-
ton in certain States which had to be met
|
patriotic and supported the Union of the
States was safe from scourging, Danish
ment on pain of death, or midnight as
sassination. No man who did not despise
the American flag, and express wish to
see it trailed in the dust, could live IN
peace. No black man and no Republ1-
can was safe from insult and outrage and
persecution which ended in banishment
or death. These woes of a terror-stricken
people appealed not only to patriotism
but to humanity and the Republican
press of the North unitedly called upon
Congress to pass a law for the suppress
sion of the evil. This is briefly the his
tory of the necessity which brought about
the passage of the Ku-KluX law. When
it became known in the South that the
President had been empowered to bring
assassins to punishment, many of the
klans disbanded in fear of the law, and
so wholesome was its moral effect that il
only became necessary to enforce its pro
visions in parts of two States. This i:
the Capitalization policy" of President
Grant, about which so much is said from
day to day in the Liberal and Democratic
journals.
No Liberal" platform is complete
without charging President Grant will
Capitalization. No Liberal orator
omits to denounce him as a despot,
and every man who supports him as {
"satrap." All these charges have onll
one basis, namely-the Ku-Klux law, i'm
peratively demanded by the very mel
and journals that now denounce it a
"despotism," and passed by Congress a
the only means of putting stop to sys
tenn of wholesale assassination whicl
threatened to depopulate certain district
of South Carolina and Georgia, and othe
Southern States, of every loyal citizen
Capitalization ~ Whom has Genera
Grant deprived of liberty Whom ha
he oppressed What executive act o
his Administration has borne heavil,
upon the people, or any one Of them
The charges of Capitalization and o
"despotism,' as applied to Presiden
Grant, are as absurdly improper, as t.
characterize Horace Greeley as wise, dis
. Greet, and calculated to do honor to tn