Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1866-07-12
NUMBER Z.
AFFAIRS IN THE SOUTH.

missioner of the Freedmen's Bureau in
Louisiana, says the feeling he has found pre-.
vailng in the North toward the South
among merchants and business men is al
most universally one of kindness and fra
ternal interest The willingness to aid
planters either by loans Of money, advances
in crops, or by purchase of lands, is gener-
al. Tie agricultural year began with a
readiness on the part of the North to lend
as much money as the Southern planters
needed to bring back their former prosperi.
ty. The substantial men whom he met
think it possible TO end present uncertainty,
and that united with the largest mercy to
the rebels Of the South, there ought to be
the largest justice to her loyalists.
THE FEELING OF THE PEOPLE OF THE SOUTH To-
WARD THE NORTH.
In writing upon this subject, Mr. Conway
says 1t will be easily understood, from
the spirit and temper of the business men
of the North, how much good the South
might derive from the exercise of similar
disposition. There was no impediment
thrown in the way of investing Northern
capital in Southern tillage and traffic so far
as the men capable at the North of making
such investments were concerned. They
were ready and anxious. But unfortunate
ly for the South (whose planters by every
mail, and by means of large numbers of
agents sent for the purpose, were calling
for help), her temper of hatred for the
Northern people had not abated sufficiently,
nor was there a sufficient restoration of
peace and order within her borders to justi-
fly Northern men in the belief that they
could live and safely transact business in
any section of the South. While many
good men were there to be foHnd ready to
welcome citizens of any portion of the I'm
ion among them, yet the mob element so
far preponderated, and the spirit of reck-
essness and lawlessness was so generally
manifested, that every wheel was blocked
But few (out Of large numbers) settled in
the South. presume | may safely calcu-
late that under my own influence and exer-
tions, three millions of dollars were taken
| by respectable men into various Southern
States, from the Potomac to the Rio Grande,
with a view to its being there invested in
purchases Of land, in loans or advances to
planters and in other ways. To my GER
tain knowledge, most of the holders of these
funds have returned ith the conviction
that Northern men Of unmistakable loyalty
are not safe excepting where Union bayo-
nets secure them protection
know of some instances wherein men
were threatened with murder if they did
not quit the Southern neighborhood within
a certain length of time, and others in which
parties were treated by the people with
such contempt as to fill them with disgust
and cause them to make a rapid return to
regions where they could feel that to be a
loyal American citizen, instead of attract
ing Indignation, was something to be proud
Of
There would seem to be no general re-
turn of the Southern people to loyalty or
devotion to the Federal Government The
people cyince strong hatred of Northern
men, and Of the government, even when by
so doing their farms are left to grow up in
weeds, and themselves must bear hardships
of the worst kind. | met men in Louisiana
and Alabama a short time since, who rath-
er than sell their lands to Northern men, or
work them by means of money borrowed
in the North, would see them lie waste
few have told me that before they would
hire their former slaves as free laborers,
they would starve. This spirit is not gen
cral, but the spirit Of hatred toward North
ern men is almost universal Northern
money is welcome enough but rather than
have Northern men as its managers and
investors among them, am quite settled
in the conviction that these Southerners
would rather utterly forego the funds, it
matters not what suferings such conduct
might entail upon themselves and their
region.
Emigrants from the North, instead of be-
ing welcomed, have been driven away and
most Of those who have returned will not
again attempt to invest their capital in
that direction. Some of those who went
South, and who have as yet remained, write
me that as soon as they have gathered
this years crop, they will return to the
North. They complain that the civil offices
are nearly all filled by men who are disloy-
al, and that law is administered with bias
of partiality for Southern as against North
ern men. This representation | know to be
corr ct so far as my own observation has
gone. Throughout Louisiana there is SIM
ply one rule observed in the filling of civil
offices. 1t is that none but rebels shall be
in Office, and many of the Federal appoin-
tees to offices have in a great measure as
sisted in the adoption of this principle in
stead of meeting it with united, avowed
and unfaltering opposition and condemna-
ton. What is true of Louisiana is true Of
the entire South, so far as my information
enables me to judge, and nearly four years
and-a-half spent mainly among the people
of the Gulf States might be supposed to
qualify me to form something which should
approach a correct Judgment in the case
In the third place, allow me to allude to
the subject Of
LABOR AND THE FREEDMEN.
The Southern people have, many of them,
been looking to and laboring for the exter-
mination of the black race from this coun-
try. This say knowing whereof | affirm.
Gov Wells Of Louisiana told me not long
ago that he hoped very soon to see the
blacks gradually driven from the country :;
and that he believed them doomed to dis
appear from among us, and that, too, at a
very early day. This statement Gov.
Wells has repeated to others several times.
Ex-Gov. Sharkey of Mississippi told me the
same thing a short time ago in Washington,
and has repeated the statement, under oath,
before the Committee on Reconstruction, as
has already appeared in the public journals
A conviction like this cannot serve any
good purpose 1t is mischievous in itself !;