A furious discussion is now raging in the United States
as to the character, proceedings, and rights of the Ku-Klux Klan. It is alleged that a secret society under this barbarous name is ob- °Is tabling control of several of the Southern States, notably of the two Carolinas ; that it shoots negroes, intimidates juries, compels Northerners to leave, and enforces all its orders by outrageous violence. Its members, supported by bodies of the disbanded troops of the South, have become so powerful that they overawe the Legislatures, and therefore terminate the Republican Govern- ment guaranteed by the Constitution. On the other side, it is alleged that the Klan is an ordinary Vigilance Committee, with which the State Governments are perfectly competent to deal. The President has apparently taken the gloomier view, for in a proclamation, dated 24th March, he announces that the State of South Carolina is unequal to the task of protecting life and pro- perty, and that he shall consequently, after the legal notice of twenty days has expired, march troops thither to restore order and security.
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