The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1859-12-01
The Psdlars.

leeehes are. just ~ this t"F, i""i"s sv-
"a. n,rd road 10 travel" We hear, IN every
slreetion. Of the arrest and impfisonmens
and. occasionally, of the tarring and feather
ing OF rsa,ars -tidings which are refreshing 10
avsrv honest soul Even when they are not
.,,e,i,ionists and incendiaries, they generally
deserve to be resle ON rail on account of their
General dishonesty and impusience. For at
,ess, half a century, they have gorged them
selves upon the fat of The land in the South;
they have cheated, swiadied, lied and robbed
their way from Maine to Georgia, returning
home In the Spring TO enrich themselves with
their i,l.eotten booty, and to enliven their
whole neighhcrhood with stories Of the YER
dancy aud creduiity of their Scu,hern custom
ers, and the smar. tricks they played on those
"darned almighty fools.'' -
Peddiing Is a New England institution,
which began as soon as there was any ooay
outside Of New England 10 buy anything OF
anvhoav ins,ae The first thing the infant
,etiiar was taught was 10 look round fer
soaebody 10 sell something to- and 1t was en-
i,,nea unoa him rs the most solemn obligation
Of religion and morals to get the better in a
harv,,n There are schools of the pedlars
ss wei, as schools of the prophets in New
England and while the latter teach that the
u,,nis of the South are heather, the former
are instructed practically in the art of spoil
ing aud pluadering the heather, and bringing
back their piiiage to gladden. and glorify the
land OF the saints. At this school OF the ped
lars every possible trick by which mankind
can be deluded is explained and illustrated,
and every art Of persuasion, cajo!ery, and
humbng, is taught aud enforced. The pejlar
who should not prove an apt pupil, and who
would permit himself TO have the worst of
bargain with Dutchman or Southerner,
would never presume TO return 10 his native
land That indignation which virtuous conn
munities manifest towards yicious men would
make his native place toe hot 10 hold him; the
uaitens would look scornfully ct him, and
the little bows laugh ~ him in the streets
The greatest man iii q JOHN BROWN commit
uttv Is one who hangs up the most Southern
scaips in his wigwam, who has told the most
faIsehoods committed the greatest number of
frauds, and can produce the spoils which
illustrate his character and demonstrate his
success Such an one is reyerenced by old and
Young he has the highest pew in the meeting
house he sings the most edifyingiy through his
nose. and is regarded as exquisite model of
al, that is great in intellect and admirable in
enterprise.
The Dutch of New York were the first vic
tins of the pedlars of New England. The
Dutch were a respectable sensible and sub
stantial race, but they were honest in matters
of trade, and as eredulous as all people are
who have been accustomed to nothing bur
truth and fair dealing They had known
something If the Purtans in Holland, where
they had given them perfect religious liberty:
but the liberty to worship Cop was not sufii-
Gent without liberty to defraud His crea-
tures. They came down upon the Dutch in
New YORK like wolves on the fold. They came
like locusts-like devouring plague. Before
them was the Garden of Eden; behind them a
desert. Before them rich pastures; behind
them not a blade of grass. They were the lean
kline of PHARAOH, devsuring the fat kline
Every year the pediars visited New York, and
cleaned the Dutchmen out of everything they
had made the twelve months before. They
hung on like leeches-like lamprey eels-and
could not be shaken Off. Whenever they were
full they let go of themselves, but not till
then Giving the exhausted Dutch short
penioi 10 rccu2erate, they returned TO New
Englaud, sounding their horns cheerily
they went, like victorious warriors returning
from a field of glory. There they related their
exploits TO delighted audiences, aud no juggler
was ever more rap,urousiy applauded for
successful feat of legerdemain than they for
An auducious ard successful falsehood, or a
brilliant aud profitable piece Of fraud
At last the pediars took possession of New
York, crowded the descendants of the Dutch
70 the wall, seized upon commerce and manu-
facture, the pulpit and the bar and converted
all New York, with some exceptions, into
Puritan and Pedlar community. Having cap
tnred New York, the advanced guard of Ped
lardom, about half a century ago, began 10 lay
the South under contribution, and this has
been its richest pasture ground to the present
day. Before the introduction of railroads, as
many as forty pedlar wagons could be seen
travelling through our villages in one awful
procession, in each wagon 4 long, iank, nasal,
hungry looking Yankee with that sly and
smirking expression of countenance univer-
sally characteristic of the race They would
never cross a river upon toll bridge when it
could be forded, never stopped at taverns, but
cooked their own dinners. and always acted
upon the principle, which has now become
generally recognized in the North and South,
that the South was made to buy goods
and the North TO sell. Every year these
devouring locusts came, and even now, in
despite of the iron horse, they are all about,
peddling all sorts of notions, both in trade,
a lightning rod pedlar visited the house
OF An exemplary clergyman, in Albemarle
county, and because he declined, in the curt
and laconie style in which these interlopers
should always by met, 10 purchase his hum
bugs, he posted a piacard on the church
door Of the minister, denouncing him for con-
duet unbecoming a preacher of the Gospel
The impudence of these vagabonds is equal to
THAR cuuninu and even if they vare moi al
epies and incendiaries, they are nuisances, at
summary manner.
Since the introduction of railroads, the
redlars have been In 4 great measure sue
oeeded by drurnn,crs-the same race, and the
same thing, under another name-dressed
more deceutly. with cleaner faces, better
coats and brighter boots, but the same
greedy, grasping tribe, filling every Southern
railroad car with an Invading horde, which
seeks to lay the whole South under contribu-
ton each man taking two seats, making con-
temptuous remarks On the country which he
Is about TO lay waste, swearing At every tavern
that there is nothing south of MASON and
DIXON ut for a gentleman To eat and repeat
ing at every depot that the country is hun
dred years behind the age. The South is
flooded with their wares, merchandise, shoes
furniture, quack medicine e every thing of
wearing apparel, household furniture, and
farm aad plantation use. Never can the South
De safe. happy and independent till she shakes
on The ticks, leeches, and lamprey cells of Ped
iardom-not alone the miserable wretches who
foot and wagon it from town to town, but the
rummers-properly so called--of the great
Northern commercial army, which it costs The
South this moment more to support than