The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1872-04-20
WASHINGTON.

The Presidents Message to the House.
WASHINGTON, April 19.-The President trans
United the following message to the House to-
day:
10 the House Of Representatives In answer
to the resolution of the House of Representa-
tives of January 25th, have the honor to sub
init the following, accompanied by the report
OF the Attorney General, to whom the resolu-
ton was referred. Representations having
been made to me that in certain portions Of
South Carolina a condition of lawlessness and
terror exist, L requested the then Attorney Gen.
eral (Akerman) to visit the State and after a
personal examination to report to me the facts
in relation to the subject. On the 18th of Oc-
tober last he addressed communication from
South Carolina, in which he stated that in the
counties of Spartenburg, York, Chester, Union
Lawrens, Newburg, Fairfield, Lancaster and
Chesterfield, there were combinations for the
purpose of preventing the free political action
of citizens who were friendly to the Constitu-
tion and the government of the United States,
and OF depriving the emancipated class of the
equal protection of the laws. These combina-
tons embrace at least two-thirds of tina active
white men OF those counties and have the SYM
pathy and countenance of the other third
They are connected with similar combinations
in other counties and States, and are no doubt
part of grand system of criminal assassins
peryading most of the Southern States The
members are bound to obedience and secrecy by
oaths which they are taught to regard as of a
higher obligation than the lawful oaths taken
before civil magistrates They are organized
and armed. They effect their object by person.
al violence, often extending to murder. They
terrify witnesses, control juries in the State
Courts, and sometimes the Courts of the United
states: Systematic spying is one of the means
by which prosecution of the members is de-
feated. From information given by officers of
the State and of the United States, and by
credible private citizens, am justified in af-
hrming that the instances of criminal violence
perpetrated by these combinations within the
last twelve months in the above named coun-
ties could be reckoned by thousands
l received information of a similar import
from various sources, among which were the
joint committee of Congress upon Southern
outrages, the officers of the State, the military
of the State, the military officers of the United
States on duty in South Carolina, the United
States Attorney and Marshal and other officers
of the government, repentant and abjuring
members of those unlawful organizations, per-
sons specially employed by the department OF
justice to detect crimes against the United
States, and from other credible sorces, most if
not all this information, except that / derived
from the Attorney General, came to me orally
and was to the effect that the said counties were
under the sway of powerful combinations known
as the Ku-klux-Klan, the objects of which are
by force and terror to prevent all political ac-
ton not in accord with the views of the MEM
bers; to deprive colored citizens of the right to
bear arms, of the right of free ballot, to sup
press the schools in which colored children were
taught, and to reduce the colored people to q
condition closely allied to that of slavery; that
these combinations were organized and armed
and had rendered the local law Intellectual to
protect the classes whom they desired to op-
press; that they had perpetrated many muir
ders, and hundreds Of crimes of minor de-
gree-all of which were unfinished, and that
witnesses could not safely testify in the Courts
there unless the more active members were
placed under restraint
(Signed,) U. s. GRANT.
Executive Mansion, April 10, 1872.