New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1872-10-20
The mCarpet.Baggers.,,

The So Carpet. Baggers.''
We reproduce The subjoined editorial ar
tiQle from the New York Ere,sifg Post:
If some one were to make for all the
| South su3h an examination into the constl-
| tuition of the State governments as has been
| done for Alabama, the result undoubtedly
would be some curious revelations, Never
was the force of the proverb-'tgive dog
| bad name''-more perfectly exemplifed
than in the case Of the "carpet- baggers.
They are, no doubt, a "bad lot,N vino are
responsible for q good deal Of evil; but We
do not believe, heterodox as 1t may sound,
that all the Northerners who have gone
South can properly be elassed as carpet
baggers." or that those who may be so
classed are resonsible for all the evil that
has been done at the South.
Indeed, we know OF young men'WhO have
emigrated thither for legitimate and praise
worthy purposes, and whose Identification
with the interests and the people of that
part of the country could only be to Its
great benefit. And our experience, no
doubt, is the experience of everybody else;
so that the probability is very strong that
among the Northern ernigrants to the South
since the war there is a considerable pro
portion to whom the term carpet Dagger"
as an opprObious one, does not in the least
apply.
Still more is it true that much Of the
wrong that has been perpetrated there for
the last half dozen years is not the work OF
Northern men.
The wrong may, perhaps, have been done
under the pretence of d northern or Re-
publican origin; sometimes even the pre-.
sence of military rule has been taken adj
vantage Of to CONT outTages under form
of law, which would not otherwise have
been ventured upon. But there has doubt
less been great eXaggeration as TO the share
that Northern men have had in the enor-
mites of legislation, the infietion Of in
tolerable taxes, the creation of enormous
public debts, in all the gigantic swindles
from which Southern people have been
made to suffer, and 10 which they point as
reason enough for the discordant condition
of the country and their reluctant submis-
sion to the order of reconstruction.
There can be no doubt that the ''oarpet-
Dagger" assumed to be Northern adven-
turer, has been made the scapegOat of other
sins than his own. We suppose, for in
stance, that there is no stronger case than
that of Arkansas, as it is Mr.. Greeley's IA
vOrite and uniform illustration of misrule
at the South, of baneful Northern influence
in Southern affairs, and Of the necessity Of
Cancellation and paciication on the part OF
Northern people, that we may all of us sub
pressing these poor people in Arkansas.
Now we have no doubt that there good
many bad people in that State; we have
been personally assured both by word of
mouth and by letters eloQuently and touch
ingly written, that the suferings of good
and honest people there are intolerable
and so full and trustworthy is our informa-
ton on this point that we are not compelled
to rely upon one side only-We have it from
both.
There can, then, be no mistake; every
body concurs that great wrongs are infJcC-
ed upon the people, differing only in this,
that the wrongs are of one character, as
represented by enc party, and Of exactly
the opposite character, as represented by
the other party; but as both agree in this,
that the rascality of all but themselves is
without mitigation OF Temorse, we can not
escape the conviction that both parties are,
to some degree, right. "Oh, that mine head
were waters and mine eyes were fountains
Of tears" exelaims Mr.. Greeley, in effect,
every time he turns his eyes toward bleed
ing Arkansas. Yet he knows all the time
perfectly well that the wounds OF that State
are of her own infiction; that.a vicious con-
stitution, which is capable of frightful
abuses, and which, doubtless, is very much
abused was adopted by nearly $4,000 of the
voters of that State. 1t is absurd to sup
pose that there are $4,000 voters in Arkan-
sas who are Northern emigrants-"c carpet
baggers"i they are Arkansas people, born
and bred there, and neither the North nor
the federal government are il the least
responsible fer the abuses Of power of which
they are guilty. O
The case Of Alabama is still more stlik-
ing, though, perhaps it seems so only be-
cause we are a little better informed as to
details. In the government of last year in
that State, which has been denounced as
'carpet-bag" of the most viruIent type, the
Governor, Treasurer, ACKNOWLEDGEMENT,
Superintendent OF Public instruction and
the three judges of the Supreme Court were
all natives OF the South. The twelve Judges
of the circuit courts, with one exception, all
of the sixty-fve probate judges except eight,
the sixty-fVe sheriff5 except five, and the
sixty-five tax collectors except one, were
also, all SOutherners. The House of Repre-
sentatives consisted of 100 members, and
only twelve of them were Northern men;
and of the thirty-three Senators less than
one-third was from the North. The worst
acts Of that Legislature were pushed
through by Democrats, and none OF the
evils of the State, SO far as they have their
source, either in the administration or leg
islation Of the government can be traced to
carpet baggers." To say that these vii
lainies are perpetrated in the name of the
Republican party does not in the least help
that side of the case, for the men who are
responsible for these acts would be all
Democrats if the Democratic party were in
power.