The Kuklux ceased their operations, so that after the middle of May, 1871, there was nowhere any complaint of them. The great cause of trouble-the negro militia-no longer existing, the task of restoring peace and order was not difficult.

Later on the Federal Government used its power-principally the power of the bayonet-to "suppress" a "conspiracy" which no longer existed and to protect rights which were nowise threatened. The measures taken, though enforced under the forms of law, were little less subversive of the rights and liberties of the citizen than were the very worst acts ascribed to the Kuklux.

ACTION OF CONGRESS AND THE PRESIDENT.

On May 30, 1870, the President approved an act of Congress entitled "An act to enforce the right of citizens of the United States to vote in the several States of this Union, and for other purposes." This statute, generally styled the Enforcement Act, contained numerous provisions. The portions employed by the Federal Government in the day of its hostility to the white people of the Southern States to harry and oppress those people and to perpetuate negro rule in this section were as follows:

Section 1. That all citizens of the United States who are or shall be otherwise qualified by law to vote at any election by the people in any State, territory, district, county, city, parish, township, school district, municipality, or other territorial subdivision shall be entitled and allowed to vote at all such elections, without distinction of race, color, or previous condition of servitude; any constitution, law, custom, usage, or regulation of any State or territory, or by or under its authority, to the contrary notwithstanding.

Sec. 4. That if any person by force, bribery, threats, intimidation, or other unlawful means, shall hinder, delay, prevent, or obstruct, or shall combine or confederate with others to hinder, delay, prevent or obstruct, any citizen from doing any act required to be done to qualify him to vote or from voting at any election as aforesaid, such person shall for every such offense be guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall, on conviction thereof, be fined not less than $500, or be imprisoned not less than one month and not more than one year, or both, at the discretion of the court.

Sec. 6. That if two or more persons shall band or conspire together, or go in disguise upon the public highway, or upon the premises of another with intent to violate any provision of this act, or to injure, oppress, threaten or intimidate any citizen with intent to prevent or hinder his free exercise and enjoyment of any right or

privilege granted or secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or because of his having exercised the same, such persons shall be held guilty of felony, and, on conviction thereof, shall be fined or imprisoned, or both, at the discretion of the courtthe fine not to exceed $5,000, and the imprisonment not to exceed ten years and shall, moreover, be thereafter ineligible to and disabled from holding any office or place of honor, profit or trust created by the laws of the United States.

Sec. 7. That if in the act of violating any provision in the preceding sections, any other felony, crime or misdemeanor shall be committed, the offender, on conviction of such violation of said sections, shall be punished for the same with such punishments as are attached to the said felonies, crimes and misdemeanors by the laws of the State in which the offense may be committed.

On March 23, 1871, President Grant sent to Congress a message in which he said:

A condition of affairs now exists in some of the States of the Union, rendering life and property insecure, and the carrying of the mails and the collection of the revenue dangerous. The proof that such a condition exists is now before the Senate. That the power to correct these evils is beyond the control of State authorities I do not doubt. That the power of the Executive of the United States, acting within the limit of existing laws, is sufficient for present emergencies, is not clear.

On March 24, 1871, the President issued his proclamation setting forth that "combinations of armed men, unathorized by law, are now disturbing the peace and safety of the citizens of the State of South Carolina, and committing acts of violence in said State of a character and to an extent which render the power of the State and its officers unequal to the task of protecting life and property and securing public order therein"; that the Legislature of this State was not in session, and that "the executive of said State had made application to the President for such part of the military force of the United States as may be necessary and adequate to protect said State and the citizens thereof against the domestic violence hereinbefore mentioned." Thereupon the President did "command the persons composing the unlawful combinations aforesaid to disperse and retire peaceably to their respective abodes within twenty days from this date."

The President had recommended legislation to "secure life, liberty, property and the enforcement of the law in all parts of the United States." In pursuance of this suggestion Congress passed an act

(approved April 20, 1871) entitled "An act to enforce the provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, and for other purposes." Of this measure-popularly known as the "Kuklux Act"-a brief statement is necessary in order to a sufficient understanding of the course of events which followed.

The Kuklux Act imposed penalties upon "any two or more persons in any State or territory" who should "conspire or go in disguise on the highway or on the premises of another for the purpose of depriving, either directly or indirectly, any person or class of persons of the equal protection of the laws, or of equal privileges or immunities under the laws, or for the purpose of preventing or hindering the constituted authorities of any State or territory from giving or securing to all persons within such State or territory the equal protection of the laws." It declared unlawful any "combination" or "conspiracy" against the rights declared in the Fourteenth Amendment, and it contained the following provisions:

Sec. 4. That whenever in any State, or part of a State, the unlawful combinations named in this act shall be organized and armed, and so numerous and powerful as to be able by violence to either overthrow or set at defiance the constituted authorities of such State, and of the United States within such State, or when the constituted authorities are in complicity with or shall connive at the unlawful purposes of such powerful and armed combinations; and whenever, by reason of either or all of the causes aforesaid, the conviction of such offenders and the preservation of the public safety shall become in such district impracticable, in every such case such combinations shall be deemed a rebellion against the Government of the United States, and during the continuance of such rebellion, and within the limits of the district which shall be so under the sway thereof, such limits to be prescribed by proclamation, it shall be lawful for the President of the United States, when, in his judgment, the public safety shall require it, to suspend the priviliges of the writ of habeas corpus, to the end that such rebellion may be overthrown. Provided, further, That the President shall first have made proclamation, as now provided by law, commanding such insurgents to disperse; and provided, also, That the provisions of this section shall not be in force after the end of the next regular session of Congress.

Sec. 5. That no person shall be a grand or petit juror in any court of the United States upon any inquiry, hearing or trial of any suit, proceeding or prosecution based upon or arising under the provisions of this act, who shall, in the judgment of the court, be in complicity with any such combination or conspiracy; and every such juror shall, before entering upon any such inquiry, hearing or trial, take and subscribe an oath in open court that he has never directly

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or indirectly counseled, advised or voluntarily aided any such combination or conspiracy; and each and every person who shall take this oath and shall therein swear falsely, shall be guilty of perjury, and shall be subject to the pains and penalties declared against that crime.

INVESTIGATIONS AND REPORTS.

Before the passage of the Kuklux Act Congress adopted a concurrent resolution appointing a joint select committee of seven senators and fourteen representatives "to inquire into the condition of the late insurrectionary States, so far as regards the execution of the laws and the safety of the lives and property of the citizens of the United States." This committee, consisting of thirteen Republicans and eight Democrats, organized on April 20, 1871-the very day of the approval of the Kuklux Act. The examination of witnesses, assigned to a sub-committee of eight, commenced in Washington on June 2 and continued until June 29, when a sub-committee of three visited South Carolina. That sub-committee consisted of Senator John Scott (Rep.) of Pennsylvania, chairman; Mr. Job E. Stevenson (Rep.) of Ohio, and Mr. Philadelph Van Trump (Dem.) of Ohio. The sub-committee sat in this State from July 10 to July 29examining witnesses in Columbia, Union, Spartanburg and Yorkville.

The scope of this examination was apparently measured only by the desire of the committee to get all possible information, of whatever purport, upon the matters assigned for their inquiry-the Republican members seeking to establish the charges made by the President in his message, and the minority member educing testimony to explain conditions by reference to the conduct of the State Government in its various branches, including, of course, a presentation of the enrollment, the character and the misconduct of the negro militia.

Shortly after the return of the sub-committee to Washington the chairman addressed to President Grant a letter purporting to set forth conditions as disclosed by the testimony taken as to South Carolina, and urging prompt action by the executive. Thereupon the Attorney-General of the United States (Mr. Anios T. Ackerman, of Georgia) visited Yorkville for a conference with the military commander at that place. The Attorney-General confirmed the statements of Senator Scott and joined in the suggestion that the Presi

dent should exercise to the utmost the executive power in the premises.

In the meantime at the September term of the Court of General Sessions the grand jury, under the instructions of Judge William M. Thomas, undertook an investigation of conditions in York County, with especial reference to the charges made in the letter of Senator Scott. The commandant at Yorkville (Maj. Lewis Merrill) was invited to appear before the grand jury and there was given him full opportunity to disclose the information which, as afterwards appeared, he then had, touching alleged outrages by the Kuklux in York County. That information withheld, the grand jury proceeded as best they could to examine and make presentment. They did present two men for riot, in firing their pistols and otherwise disturbing the peace on September 9. They further presented two citizens of York for participating in the Kuklux raid on the county treasurer's office. They declined to make presentment on the killing of Capt. Jim Williams and on the killing of Tom Roundtree-this for lack of sufficient evidence and referred those cases to the law officers of the county.

The condition of the counties formerly the scene of Kuklux operations was at this time one of profound peace, there being better feeling and far less friction between the races than there had been at any time since the inauguration of the negro government in South Carolina. There had been no complaint of any act by the Kuklux since the middle of May. There was neither sign nor semblance of resistance to any law or to any process of any court. As to the conditions then prevailing in the counties indicated, the correspondent of the New York Herald, writing from Spartanburg November 1, 1871, after careful investigation, stated the following conclusions:

1. That for four months past no Kuklux outrages have been committed in Spartanburg County-which the Federal officials admit. 2. That the Kuklux organization was originally formed for the self-protection of its members, and not for any political purpose. 3. That men of infamous character entered the Kuklux organization and perpetrated a series of gross outrages upon individuals. 4. That in many instances white and black Republicans borrowed the disguises of the Kuklux and outraged their neighbors, knowing that the blame would not be laid upon them.

5. That if the State government had not been, as it still is, in the hands of corrupt and infamous political adventurers, and had the