CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



205 



passage of the Ku-klux law which can be the slight- 

 est justification of the President in suspending the 

 writ in the absence of war and the clash of arms, 

 spreading terror and dismay among whole masses of 

 people guiltless of crime. The public press, as well 

 us our own private information, testify to the fact 

 that there has been no more trouble or disorder in 

 South Carolina, for the last nine months, than is 

 common to any other State in the Union. 



In the absence of the facts, or statements and rep- 

 resentations, which are not facts founded in truth, 

 communicated to the President, whether truthfully 

 or falsely, prior to the issuing of his proclamation, 

 we unhesitatingly assert that, for nine months prior 

 to said proclamation, and at least three months previ- 

 ous to the passage of what is known as the Ku-klux 

 law, there was more peace and good order through- 

 out the entire borders of South Carolina than had 

 been at any time since the termination of the war. 

 Now, if this is the fact, then the action of the Presi- 

 dent was not only unwise and impolitic, but it was a 

 naked and most unjustifiable act of tyranny and op- 

 pression, at war with the spirit of free institutions, 

 and a precedent which, by repeated use, will not only 

 sap the foundations of the Government, but " can 

 almost change the stamp of Nature." 



" Upon this point I desire also to quote from 

 the correspondent of the New York Herald, a 

 paper which, at that time and since that time^ 

 has been an earnest advocate of the policy of 

 the President. Writing from Spartanburg, as 

 late as November 1, 1871, he said : " 



In this county, as in all others I have visited, I 

 cannot find any case of resistance to the State or the 

 United States authorities. Two years ago a couple 

 of revenue officers were forcibly resisted by some 

 men who were engaged in illicit whiskey distilling. 

 No one pretends, however, that they were any more 

 Ku-klux than were and are the men who distil whis- 

 key illicitly in Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Ohio, and 

 any other States North, and who resist the revenue 

 officers. This is the only case of resistance on rec- 

 ord. " I never give them a chance to resist," said a 

 Federal officer to me, "because I always send an 

 overwhelming force to arrest them." "Very well, 

 but has any resistance been offered ? " " No." 

 " Have you ever tried to make arrests without an 

 overwhelming force ? " " No : we used an ounce of 

 prevention.-" "Now, major " 



" I have no doubt this is the gentleman 

 whose report has been quoted by the majority, 

 although it is not said, Major Merrill : " 



"Now, major, are you not aware that the sheriff 

 of this county, a one-armed man, has gone to remote 

 parts of the county unattendedj arrested men, and 

 brought them to Spartanburg, without meeting with 

 opposition ? " " So I have heard ; but I do not risk 

 finding the same submission." I put it to you, read- 

 ers, whether it is fair to assume that a people will re- 

 sist until they have resisted ? I am assured by some 

 of the most eminent citizens that there has not been 

 a day during the past two years when a Federal dep- 

 uty marshal could not have arrested any citizen in 

 the county unaided by the military. 



But let me give you a further fact : many of the 

 arrests in this county were made before the Presi- 

 dent's proclamation appeared. " Why, then, major," 

 I asked, "was it necessary to suspend the writ of 

 habeas corpus? " " It was not suspended because we 

 could not make arrests," was the reply, " but for the 

 purpose of preventing any attempt on the part of the 

 State courts to get the prisoners away from us." 



" This is a wretched excuse, inasmuch as all 

 the State courts are officered by members of 

 the Republican party, and, as I have been re- 



minded by my colleague on the committee 

 (Mr. Bayard), there is not a Democratic official 

 in the State of South Carolina, neither judge, 

 nor commissioner, nor any thing else. The 

 same correspondent, writing from Union Court- 

 house, November 3, 1871, says: " 



In this letter I have not concealed the fact that 

 troubles have existed in Union County, and I have 

 not denied that the Ku-klux, or men representing 

 themselves as such, have perpetrated gross outrages. 

 But will you not be surprised to learn that these 

 troubles ended seven months ago ? I appeal to Cap- 

 tain Thompson, of the United States Army, to say 

 how many Ku-klux outrages have occurred in Union 

 County during the seven months he has been stationed 

 there. Two have been reported, minor affairs, 

 which, upon investigation, proved to be personal 

 quarrels. Curiously enough, all the Federal officers 

 admit that for months past these counties have been 

 quiet. Why, then, wait until the troubles are over 

 to begin operations ? "Because," replies a Federal 

 officer to me, "the Government must show its pow- 

 er." Is it not a wanton display of power ? While 

 the Ku-klux were committing " outrages," nobody 

 was arrested. From four to seven months after they 

 have retired to their "dens," and society has re- 

 sumed its normal condition, the Government pounces 

 down upon them. I defy the United States marshal 

 to produce a single warrant against a Ku-klux in 

 which the alleged offence was committed within 

 three months past. 



" I defy the Senator from Pennsylvania or 

 any other Senator on this floor to adduce one 

 single instance, out of all that he has enu- 

 merated, which did not occur three months 

 anterior to the arrests which were made under 

 this Ku-Klux law; and hence it is that the 

 President of the United States, on returning a 

 reply to the resolution of the House of Repre- 

 sentatives, conceals sedulously the dates of the 

 offences for which these persons were said to 

 have been arrested, although directly asked by 

 the House of Representatives to state the dates 

 of the alleged offences." 



Mr. Scott : " Does the Senator desire me to 

 give him the answer now? " 



Mr. Blair : " Certainly, the Senator may 

 answer if he wishes." 



'Mr. Scott : " As the Senator says in very 

 broad language that he will defy me to state 

 any instance, I will state that, about the latter 

 part of August or September I am not certain 

 which the very occasion of the communica- 

 tion of the President was the fact that a large 

 number of disguised men, Ku-klux, visited 

 and committed an outrage upon a man named 

 Quinn, who lived very near to the line of 

 Spartanburg County, but in Union County, and 

 that a number of persons who committed that 

 outrage upon him, or those who were supposed 

 to have committed it upon him, were arrested, 

 and bills found against them. They were 

 found by the grand-jury at the United States 

 court at Greenville, and they were acquitted 

 for want of sufficient identification. That is 

 one case which occurred. There were one or 

 two others in York County, but I will not take 

 up the time of the Senate in detailing them, 

 but I give him the specific case that I have re- 

 ferred to." 



