The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1861-06-29
South Carolina Gentlemen.

RUSSELL states, in his letter from South Caro-.
lima, that at their dinner parties the Carolinians
told him they were descended from gentlemen. To
this some wag replies that if be true it is the
greatest descent known in history The claim
set up to this sort of descent is proof of much
more vanity than truth. In point of fact, South
Carolina has many ladies and gentlemen of
whom she may we'll be proud, but it is entirely
false that they had any more gentle ancestors
than in any other Of the original colonies The
proprietors of South Carolina at its first settle
ment were mobiles, but not one of them ever came
to America. They had great difficulty in set
Ting the State, and gave great encouragement
to emigrants. The first colonies were from Eng
land; the next were Dutch-none of them, that
we can learn, geptlemen-eo nonine.-After-
wards, many poor Germans Of the lower class
came. At one time considerable number of
Huguenots came, and it is from these, possibly,
that the gentlemen by descent came. There are
still in Charleston and its neighborhood great
number of French names. In 1894 many per-
sons came from England and settled, and the
historian says "great mutitudes from Ireland"
Thus we find that the settlers of Carolina were
just what they were in Pennsylvania and most
of the old States, English, Scotch, Irish, Ger
man, Dutch and French, only different in having
few more of the French Huguenots. We find
nothing in this descent from poor and mostly IN.
educated emigrants upon which to found pat
ent to nobility by blood. On the contrary, it
must be regarded as rather remarkable example
of those personal Authorizations to which great
vanity frequently leads. In fact these South
Carolina gentlemen, while slipping their hook
and claret, seem bent on mpressing the gullible
Englishman with two ideas-their own impor
lance and their intense hatred of the Yankees-
The first was mere brag, but the second was
real But why! The Yankees have never
done anything but good to South Carolina u
They invented and sent the cotton gin there
They made the clothes they wore. They sent
them their furniture, food and arms, and fur
nished colleges and schools in which to educate
their rising gentlemen. For what should the
Yankee be hated? For exactly the same rea.
son that Haman hated Mordecai. The Yankees
have stood in the kings gate, and were govern.
ed by another code of social and religious law
The South Carolina gentleman" hates the Ru.
r,td, as he calls the Yankee; because, if the
puritan Is right in his views and conduct he is
standing reproach and rebuke to the South
Carolina gentleman. The Yankee in all grades
OF lie and condition honors labor, morals, edu.
cation and freedom. The South Carolina stpen
tieinan" does neither. He de- rades labor nv
making man slave. He degrades morals by
permitting and practicing all the vices to which
slavery necessarily leads and with which the |
masters OF slaves are familiar. He degrades |
edscatlon by leaving the large class of poor
whites ignorant and uninstructed. He degrades |
freedom by making slavery the corner stone of |
MS institutions. In one word, the code and so.
ciety OF the "Sonth Carolina gentlemen" are the
direct antipodes Of those, which the Yankee re.
veres and cultivates. But, the Yankee he
prospered and grew beyond ANYTHING
recorded in history Gin. Gazette.