Anonymous

“ Thus far, however, thanks be to God! the American people have not been deceived by the theories or the assertions of those who would tear down the fabric of our wholesome Republican Government. And far distant be the day when such attempts to overturn that government may succeed. “There is a right way for us and for our children, and the hand of God is upon all them for good, that seek him; but his wrath is against all them that forsake him.”... And it is written, that “he who shunneth iniquity and oppression, and followeth after righteousness, alone findeth life, righteousness and honor.” ”

“ Negro-worshipers, Carpet-baggers, Scallawags, or spies in the land. I swear to forever oppose the social and political elevation of the negro to an equality with the whites, and that I will come at every hour of the moon to execute the trust confided to me by the Commander and the brethren. I furthermore swear that, in case of our being interrupted in the establishment of the principles for which we are contending, that I will regard no oath that will convict one of the members of this Order, but under all circumstances will stand by the Order in blood and death. ”

“ Has it not been for years the record of the Democratic party that it has conspired against humanity and justice, aided to rivet the fetters of the slave, sown the seeds of demoralization in politics, and by its cringing subserviency to the slaveocracy of the South aimed a blow at the National life? ”

“ I have listened with unmixed horror to some of the testimony which has been brought before you. The outrages proved are shocking to humanity; they admit of neither excuse or justification; they violate every obligation which law and nature impose upon them; they show that the parties engaged were brutes, insensible to the obligations of humanity and religion. The day will come, however, if it has not already arrived, when they will deeply lament it. Even if justice shall not overtake them, there is one tribunal from which there is no escape. ”

“ You solemnly swear, in the presence of Almighty God and these witnesses, that you will never reveal the secrets that are about to be imparted to you, and that you will be true to the principles of this brotherhood and its members; that you are not now a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, the Red String Order, the Union League, Heroes of America, or any other organization whose aim and intention is to destroy the rights of the South, or to elevate the negro to a political equality with yourself ”

“ Traveling from place to place and directing the general movement, were men who had held positions as generals in the armies of the rebellion. Disappointed political tricksters aiming to elevate to power a party whom they claimed had been in sympathy with the rebel cause North and South; and determined to do this though the land of their birth should go to ruin. Anarchy and confusion usurp the places of law and order, and the blood of the outraged ones reach up to heaven in cries for vengence. ”

“ Will it be impressed upon the minds of the public of this enlighted nation, North or South, through any sophistry, argument or theorising, that all these living witnesses and victims are liars, and perjurors? Have not these events occurred? And if so, what is the cause of the wrong doing? It happens, unfortunately, for the “Union Democracy,” who flout at these accounts of the doings of the Klans, that none but Radicals or negroes are assailed. And also that never has a Radical been found associating with these Ku Klux midnight marauders and, butchers, in an attack upon one of their victims! ”

“ Time, which gives the just solution to the most intricate of social and political problems, has informed the nation that it had not long to remain in doubt. The results thus far attained, show the elaboration of a plan, conceived in wisdom, founded upon reason and righteousness, and prosecuted with an even regard for the rights of all, that has commended itself to civilization everywhere. ”

“ I had seen enough to convince me that nothing but the severest chastisement, administered by the hands of the Lord through the instrumentality of his chosen people, could bring our misguided brethren of the South to a just and proper sense of their duty to God and their fellow-men. They had long “eaten of the bread of wickedness; and drank the wine of violence,” and they had utterly forgotten that “righteousness exalteth a nation; but sin is a reproach to any people.” ”

“ Through the unwearied efforts of the Republican party Universal Suffrage has become a law of the Nation, freedom of speech and freedom of opinion everywhere vindicated throughout the land, and the right to exercise the elective franchise as their consciences might dictate, guaranteed to all. ”

“ Then the North reasoned and counselled with the South; endeavored to show them the great wrongs done to the bondman, and that the nation could not prosper under the terrible curse of slavery.
Now the strong arm of the Government is put forth to compel a respect for the rights accorded to all under the law; a situation which, it appears, nothing but the determined front presented by the Administration will lead the people of the South finally to accept.
The efforts of the wicked leaders to misguide the masses are persistent. ”

“ Does there exist “no organization among these men” for evil? And have these terrible doings no “political significance” as is asserted in the minority Report of the Congressional Committee upon the Ku Klux Klan outrages? In the face of this accumulated, overwhelming, damning evidence—will any one believe that the Honorable gentlemen (who have put forth this paper in opposition to the majority Report of that Committee) , are not themselves convinced that all this is true; and that not one half of the shocking story of the infamy of this wretched Klan has been told? ”

“ Many such as he, now live and suffer in the deluded and misguided land of his birth, and like him, have for years carried their lives in their hands, for opinion’s sake. In the good Providence of an all-seeing God—who has indeed imbued the present heads of the nation with the wisdom necessary to appreciate the situation, and devise the appropriate remedy—light begins to appear in the dark places, verifying the saying that, “sooner or later, insulted virtue avenges itself on states as well as on private individuals.” ”

“ The preceding stories of wrongs and outrages committed by the Ku Klux Klan, and those that follow, serve in a degree to show the extent to which persecutions for opinion’s sake were carried. It was the intention of the leaders to intimidate the masses, that further opposition to the principles promulgated by the Ku Klux Klan, or Southern Democracy, should cease altogether. They were wiley enough to see, however, that silence, while it may often give assent, can rarely be construed as an endorsement of that which is utterly repugnant to the human heart. ”

“ The most casual observer cannot fail to have been impressed with the fact that there has been a growing disposition in the minds of the people to make the welfare of the Country and not the advancement of party, the issue, in the struggle for political supremacy.
The political opinions of the masses are based upon foundations materially different from those usually accorded them by the would-be leaders, who attempt to form opinions for, and force the same upon the people. ”

“ It is not contended here that all the Democrats of the South are Ku Klux, but it has been most conclusively shown that all the Ku Klux are Democrats, and that they are sworn to oppose the spread of Republican principles. They are determined to rule, and to rule with a rod of iron. They have settled in their minds that “no government but the white man’s shall live in this country, and that they will forever oppose the political elevation of the negro to an equality with the whites.” ”

“ This was the fiendish resolve to castrate every negro who was guilty of radical proclivities, and who voted the radical ticket, a design worthy alone of the men who originated it.
In that county, and at that particular time, there were many colored men known as Republicans; and an opportunity was speedily afforded the Klan, to carry out this terrible species of cruelty; a greater crime against nature than all the others since it looked to the entire destruction of the species. ”

“ The ordinary safe-guards to the social well being of the community were to be swept away whenever they became inimical to the designs and objects of the unholy alliance thus formed. Men were to be banded together and bound by oaths that ignored all others and made these supreme. Where the life or liberty of one of the brotherhood was in jeopardy, he was to be saved at all hazards. Perjury and subornation of perjury were to over-ride courts of justice and render abortive, any attempt to bring these lawless bands to punishment through their instrumentality. ”

“ Who shall describe the music that will compare, in Halliday’s bosom, to the pattering feet of his darlings, as they rushed to meet his strong and loving embraces, and shouted, “Papa, papa!” amid their fast falling tears.
Halliday’s wounds, though not fatal, were still serious enough to alarm his wife, and as early in the morning as she dared, she sent one of the negroes for a doctor; but it appeared that every doctor in the vicinity was busy with patients who had been “taken suddenly ill during the night.” ”

“ Against all such crimes, as well as against incompetency and corruption in office, the power of an intelligent public sentiment and of the courts of justice should be invoked and united; and appealing for patience and forbearance in the North, while time and these powers are doing their work, let us also appeal to the good sense of Southern men, if they sincerely desire to accomplish political reforms through a change in the negro vote. ”