The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1868-10-06
What i. n Carpet-Rngger, I,


In a recent speech, delivered in tn
city of New York, Major General Sick
les said:
We see throughout the South deter
mination to wage a war of extermlna
ton against what are called carpet
baggers. Who are these carpet-baggers
They are Northern people, who, in th'
exercise of an undoubted constitutions
right, have settled in Southern States
since the war. They are discharged
oldiers, mechanics, merchants, school
masters, railroad employees, and thou
sands and tens of thousands of people
who, to better their condition, have ex
ercised the right of emigration to those
States.
The Salem (Alabama) Times, in taking
issue with the "Major General" as to tht
truth of his assertion, says:
We call to the stand fifty thousand
I" discharged soldiers. mechanics: mer
chants, schoolmasters, railroad EN-.
ployes," planters, doctors, lawyers, min
ers, and iron men, all from the North
who have settled in the South since the
close of the war, and have been court
eously and cordially received and en-,
couraged and assisted in every possible
way by our people-Democrats, Con
servatives, Radicals and men of no par
ty affiliations. There is scarcely q
county in the South in which two oil
three of these men may not be found
and wherever one of these men is found
,xyho hoe hnra m 80 hnftlr his
condition" in any honest way, and tc
share the fortunes of this people-we
have a witness who will contradict Cen
eral Sickles.
1t was scarcely necessary to interpose
this refutatien of General Sickles' tt
rade. The people of the North under
stand these things very well-at least
that portion of them who are not blind
ed by prejudice and passion. But it was
chiefly to give, in this connection, the
response of the Times to the query
What is a csrpet-bagger 7" that we
have noticed the matter at all. II
graphically sketches the genus in this
wise:
A carpet Dagger is rarely found in the
society of white men. He is most at
home where negroes most do congre-
gate. He eats and drinks with negroes
Sometimes he sleeps with them. Until
reconstruction changed his mode oil
life, he relied upon no honest pursuit
calling, or profession. In the eyes OF
the law he was vagrant, for he had nc
visible means of support. He taxed the
negroes in one way or another for bread
and meat and wearing apparel and a
little loose change. The ignorance and
credulity of the poor negro were his
main stay. With the execution of the
reconstruction laws he loomed into i'm
portance. The vagrant and sharper OF
the day before became a political
leader. He registered voters; he
conducted elections; he was u
member of the Convention; he
framed the Constitution; he is men,
Der of the Legislature or probate
Judge, or a clerk of court, or sheriff
of county, or Lieutenant Governor, or
a member of Congress, or United States
Senator. His pockets are full. He is
ruler in the land. And now, having
been lifted up by negro votes, and
finding the negro is becoming tired OF
his hypocricy and deception and will
not trust him aay longer, he is in favor
of depriving the people Of the choice
of their officers; and in order to secure
the interference of the United States to
retain him in the place he has fraudu-
lently obtained, he uses his position to
give weight and credit to the most afro
cious falsehoods about the sentiments,
feelings, and conduct of the people.
This is au imperfect sketch of car
pet-bagger. There are thousands in the
South who fill the bill. They are the
only class of the population we can
spare. We should rejoice with exceed
ing great joy to be rid of them. But
we will not "exterminate" them, Major
General Sickles. We have no thought
of it, and nobody is determined to do
any such thing. They will only stay
here until the laws are fully enforced
and the courts fairly at work. The
most of them have made themselves
liable to the penalties of the law. They
will soon emigrate. We wait with pa
tience the day of our deliverance.