The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1872-01-04

UdiCB OA COtbOu anu just COIA
to feed his horse fer half q year . that :,
laborers were infiamed by aincendiary
speeches, and were also encouraged TO;
break their contracts; that colored
men were armed in larger and larger I
numbers, until at length they UNDER X
took to raid certain parts of the State ,ss
that the public debt was increasing,i ,
until at length il has been increased 4
by S8,50OO00 in a single year that
there has been no money to repair the =,
public roads, or ever to pay the meri-
tOrious teachers of the public schools, o.
although enermousl taxes had sbeenIm
collected, and the publici officials were; ,
revelling in ill-gotten riches; in fact.
Iithat the good people Of this State hadH
found themselves weH nigh engulfedF o.
in whirling, bottomless vortex of q
hruin. The sufferers insist that, under ~
these circumstances, q yigilanee COM n
mittee, and suchthe Kp- Klux profess
es to be, has been the usual American !,
resort, and that sympathy with them .
| was not wholly unnatural 81 6ad sos1,
THE KLAN NOT JUsTIFIED.z-' Oh 3ai
| Notwithstanding these powerful
pleas must confess that for my part
| / am opposed to the Ku-KIux sofgan-i o.
izations, and that for various reasons, y
| In the first place, / do not believe that =
| a secret, oath-bound society of ahyti
/ kind corresponds to the spirit Of our,b
! American institutions. We have freer nj
dom of speech and freedom of the M
| press. In this country "a just cause 4
can appear without disguise, and can
make its direct appeal to public, ,opin-
/ ion. In the longIrnn that is enough II
| In particular do not believe in vigil -
ance9 committees of any sort. They
may at times do, good by the inflietien q
| of summary Justice. But they may !
do even more evil. for they eucour9i i1
age the redress Of wrongs by violeheen'
| and not by law; they, give scope 9tosy
reckless men, who are apt TO pervefe 70
! them to their own partisan and re-z I
vengeful uses; and they tend to- deraa,
press the moral tone of the ,communi-D :
lity in which their stern work is adene, {
1 But when / strive to apply my princi-e d
pies to the case before me Ipam at agui
loss what to conclude The Ku-Klnx is
of the northern counties punished Il
crimes which were subversiYe of So
ciety and which, sbnt5 for their under
taking theIofRces would have remainediT
npunished-would have passed, 80 ,ls
| to speak, 7" Scott free.v Their victims
ought to have been punished but, II ~
think, in fson1ei theF Way.q And dihowaS
1.-the case stands thus Their prosecuris
| tor is Governor Scott-7a man notorious Il I
for his infidelity to his word, to his -
official oaths, and to the financial and =
other public trusts committed to- bis =, =
clarge-a man now 4threatened with =
impeachment on these accounts by a (
Radical Legislature-a man who may z
not uhjustly be called the first crimi-l
nal in South Carolina. The informersi
against them are the very dregs of the I
leommanities in which they live, audqs
have been already rewarded for their Z
testimony by release from imprison-
menus the President naively admits Z
in his message The eaptives are. b
many of them, incapable of commil,ve q
ting the crimes laid to.Stheir, charge.ef
Some of them are boys, some decrep- :,
| it old men, and not a few are among
! the most virtuous, law-abiding and se
God-fearing citizens WE have im the ID
lwhole country. Some of them, have D,
been arrested without any charge. some
while ministering to poverty and sick
ness, many while worshipfhg God in
the sanctuary on the Sabbath day. iTheH
circumstances are unutterablyI dis-l
tressing and humiliating. The, caseis +
without precedent. am confound-
ed when see vice grasping the fasces
aud virtue wearing the ehain.i II do
not see hoWany Christian, whoknoWsI'
the facts, can be true to his people or 2
his country, or his God, when; he, en-
courages these so-cafled prosecutions. Z
Charleston, Dec. a. 1871. e. T.5W. ~