Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1871-06-17
GREELEY.
His lnveCtiyes against rpet-Baggers---
They are Worse than the Ku-KIN
A Rich and Accurately lust DelneatiOn Of
Facts and Character,

Mr.. Greeley, in his recent speech in
New York, of which we published an
abstract yesterday, said OF the carpet.
baggers: There is an influence iDju.
riOus and q great deal more detri.
metal to the fame Ond character OF
the Republican party. / alude to
what are known as the "thieving
carpet baggers." Applause. Eel
lOW-citiZehs, do not mistake me. AL
the Northern men in the South are not
thieves. The larger part of them are
honest and good men, some of whom
stay there at the peril Of their lives,
because they believe il to be their
duty. Next to the noble and true
women, who have gone down South
70 teach the black children how TO
read-nOblea~ there are not on the
earth than these. whom a stupid,
malignant, dilapidated aristOcracy
often sees fit to crowd into negro
novels TO live, not allowing them TO
enter any white society because they
are teaching negro Children-neXt to
these, who rank as the nOblest women
in the South, are the honest and
worthy Northern men, who, in the
face Of social prescription and general
1blOquy and scOrn, stand firmly by
the Republican cause.
The public is often heedlessly unjust.
Let q government have 10000 official
subOrdiuates in power, Of whom 5000
are honest and true men who do their
duty faithfully, while hardly 100 are
robbers and sWindlers, the public will
hear a great deal more about the 100
robbers than about the 5000 true men.
The 100 stand out in the public eye
they are always doing something
which exposes them to the scOrnful
gaze of the multitude-While the hon
est and true men pass along silent and
unObseryed, and nothing is said, very
little IS thought Of them. All attention
is concentrated upon the 100, who are
defaUlting and stealing, and forging,
and running away.
Well, gentlemen, the thieving car
pet baggers are mOurnful fact; they
do exist there, and 1 have seen them.
Laughter. They are fellows who
craWled down South in the track Of
our armies, generally a very safe dis
tance 10 the rear; some of them on
suffers wagons; some bearing cotton
permits; some Of them looking sharp
ly to see what may turn up; and they
remain there. They at once ingratia-
ted themselves with the blacks, sim
pie, credulOus, Ignorant men, very
glad TO welcome and 70 follow any
whites who prOfessed 70 be the cham
piOns OF their rights. Some Of these
got elected Senators, Others represen.
tatves, some sherifis, some Judges, and
50 on. And there they stand, right
Ia the public eye, stealing and 0lun-
dering, many OF them with Doth
arms around negroes, and their hands
in their rear pockets, seeing If they
cannot pick q paltTy dollar out of
them; and the public looks at them,
does not regard the honest Northern
men, but calls every ''carpet bagger"
q thief, which is not the truth by q
good deal. But these fellOWs-many
of them lOng-iaCed, and with eyes
rolled up, are greatly concerned for
the education of the blacks, and for
the salvation Of their souls. Great
laughter. 'Let Us pray" they say.
But they spell pray with an sc, " and,
thus spelled, they obey the apostolic
injunction to ''prsy without ceasing."
FellOW-citZens, the time has been
aud still is, when it was perilOus to be
known as a Republican or an AbOli-
ZIONIST in the south, but il never called
the blush Of shame t0any mans cheek
90 be so called, until these thieving
carpet baggers went there-never ! /
{ [Applause. They got into the Legis-
lature; they went to Issuing sState
bonds; they pretended to use them in
sid of railroads and other improve
ments. But the improvements were
not made, and the bonds stuck in the
issuers' pockets. Laughter. That is
the pity Of it,
"WelI," some say, "yOu have Just
such thieves at the North" Yes, we
dO-tOO many Of them! Applause. ]
But the South was already impOver-
ished-Was neutrality-suspicious. mon
ey, without thrift, almost without
food; and these fellows went there
rObbing and sWindling when there
was very little to steal, and taking
the last ten-cent shin-plaster of Of the
deSd mems eyes. They were recOg-
uize0 by the late aristOCracy nOtmere-
Iy as thieves but as enemies. Says
ByrOn's Greek minstrel,
"A tyrsut-but our masters then
Were still st least our countrymen."
Thus we record the men who annU-
ally rob Us at Albany, at Trenton snd
at Harrisburg. They 60 not carry
their plunder out of the State when
they get any. These fellows do The
South was not merely beaten in the
late contest, she was profoundly aston
ished by the result. Her people have
not fairly got over their amaZement
at their defeat; and what they see Of
Us are these thieves, who represent
the North TO their jaundiced vision,
and, representing il, they disgrace IL.
They are the greatest obstacle to the
triumph and permanent asCendaucy
OF Republican principles at the South,
and as such 1 denOunce them. Ap-
plause.
Wei, then, do you justify'the Ku-
KluX2 / am asked. Justify them
iH iChat? If they should choose to
catch a hundred or two Of these
thieves, place them tenderly across |
rails, and bear them quietly and |
peaceably across the Ohio, sho1ld Of
course condemn the act, as 1 condemn
all violence; but the tears live in a |
very small onion that would water all |
my sorrow for them. Laughter and |
applause But they do nothing like |
that; they don't 90 for the thieving /
Carpet-baggers, but they skulk around |
Wretched cabins, and drag out inof |
fensive negroes, to lash and torture |
them, merely for standing up for their |
Vights as men. For this / do eXecrate |
the Ku.Klux. say they are a dis
grace to Southern chivalry, and they |
would be drummed cut of the South |