It is wrong to infer, as many have done, that because the political views maintained by the Klan corresponded to those which were avowedly held by ex-Confederate soldiers at that period, that the former was recruited from the latter in large measure, or, as the enemies of both were apt to suggest, as an entirety. Though occupying the territory in which they were domiciled, it is improbable that one-half the available force which the former boasted was derived from the latter source, and it is certain that a majority of the latter did not give their sanction nor countenance to the measures adopted by the Klan in seeking redress for alleged political wrongs. But a very large number of ex-Confederates entered its ranks, and, perhaps for prudential (not political) reasons, the administration of Klan affairs was, in a large measure, committed to this element. Its force, as has been anticipated, was recruited from the entire white population of the States which it occupied; and it certainly was not wanting in that _respect_ for which such movements are almost wholly dependent on the character of their constituency. Members of State legislatures, congressmen, and governors of States, took its vows upon them, and were not unfrequently to be found at its midnight gatherings. In all National and State elections the Klan gave its political suffrages to members of the Order, or known sympathizers. Indeed, to effect its political ends (which were the ends of its organization), there were few extremes of contumacious conduct which it did not practise towards the existing State governments. Not only did it throw the weight of its suffrages in behalf of favorites--it forbade others the exercise of this privilege. Freedmen who were deemed too ignorant to cast an intelligent ballot were visited at their homes in the small hours of the night, and by measures of intimidation, which not unfrequently included the lash, were driven to accept an oath of lengthy abstinence from the League and the polls. White men, who were obnoxious because of their too active instrumentality in League affairs, or their excessive fondness for the class of society which they encountered at its meetings, were equally unfortunate. During the quiet hours of the night ghostly placards, bearing the caption K. K. K. in large letters, and inscribed with the escutcheon of the Order (skull and cross-bones), were posted on their doors, commanding them to "skip out" (a technicality invented by the Klan), or expect the utmost vengeance of the Order. Where the rank of the offender required that some more dignified means of notification be employed, or where the individual was deemed to represent very obdurate qualities of soul, instead of the ordinary method aforesaid, an empty coffin was carted to his door, and in this horrible symbol of its anathemas was placed the order of ejectment.