anity. They rode by night, were disguised with masks, were armed
as freebooters. They whipped, maimed, or murdered the victims of their
wrath. White men who were co-operating with the colored population
politically were visited with punishments of excessive cruelty. It was
difficult to arrest the authors of these flagrant wrongs. Aside from
their disguises, they were protected against inculpating testimony by
the fear inspired in the minds of those who might be witnesses; and
they were protected even by that portion of the white race who were
not willing to join in their excesses. It was well said of the leading
members of the clans, that "murder with them was an occupation, and
perjury was a pastime." The white man who should give testimony
against them did so at the risk of seeing his house burned, of being
himself beaten with many stripes; and if the offender had been at all
efficient in his hostility, he was, after torture, in many instances,
doomed to death.

Congress did its utmost to strengthen the hands of the President in a
contest with these desperate elements. By the Act of April 20, 1871,
"to enforce the provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment to the
Constitution of the United States" (commonly known as the Ku-Klux Act,
or the Enforcement Act), the President was empowered to go to the
extreme of suspending the writ of _habeas corpus_ where peace and order
could not otherwise be restored. Before acting under the provisions
of that vigorous statute, General Grant gave warning to the Southern
people by proclamation of May 3, 1871, that they might themselves, by
good behavior, prevent the necessity of its enforcement. "Sensible,"
said the President, "of the responsibility imposed upon the Executive
by the Act of Congress to which public attention is now called, and
reluctant to call into exercise any of the extraordinary powers
thereby conferred upon me, except in case of imperative necessity, I
do, nevertheless, deem it my duty to make known that I will not
hesitate to exhaust the powers thus vested in the Executive, whenever
and wherever it shall become necessary to do so, for the purpose of
securing to all citizens of the United States the peaceful enjoyment
of the rights guaranteed to them by the Constitution and laws." The
extreme power of suspending the writ of _habeas corpus_ now placed in
the President's hands was limited in time, and would necessarily end,
if not renewed, at the close of the n