The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1872-04-06
not be enacted to protect the people and to
accomplish the necessary reforms in railroad
management
''The swamp Angels"-sociaI Disorder in

management.
'sThe swamp Angeis''-SociaI Disorder In
the Souih-An Evil Result of the War.
We this morning close our present chapter
of the ''Swamp Ange" story. 1t is long
since matter of such romantic interest has
| attracted our attention. In our early days we
| had tales of outlawry in the extreme South
west and in the Territories outlying Mexico.
| We had also our pirate romances on the
| Spanish MAN, But the popular heroes of
our sensation literature have been rather
among the Indian chiefs and pioneers. We
| have not canonzed robber like Jack Shep-
| pard or Claude Duval. Our most distinguished
horse thieves have been generally hanged
| by a vigilance committee with no one to
write verses about them or transmOgrify them
into dramas or, initiating Bulwer, enamel
them with the unhealthy fame of Paul Cliff
ford. We prefer Misunderstanding and Buffalo
Bill to all the Robin Hoods and Dick Turpins
that ever defed the laws of England. Is it
because we are better than our brethren over
the seas, who still mourn for the comely
bandits who were swung from Tyburn tree2
We do not care to say that; but the question
brings up suggestion over which our phioso-
piers should brood. Let them tell us what
makes robbers and pirates attractive to the
common mind. 1t cannot be said that the
common mind is essentially bad-that it
would, If it had its way, scuttle
ship for her treasures, or pistol way
| No ho OF
poverty being condition of mutiny against
society, the poor man naturally sympathizes
with the more daring and reckless classes who
draw the sword against mankind, and execute
upon us their revengeful will3 Have we not
escaped the sentiment from the practical
absence of poverty from our civilization, and
in its stead do we not give expression to our
naturally restless and nomadic spirit by hon.
oring the pioneer and the soldier?
There is always a reason for what we call
popular opinion" Robespierre represented
something more than his nature. Men like
Robespierre are expressions Of their time.
| The French Revolution was necessary to his
career. In another time he would probably
have been an old aud eminently respectable
| Justice in Arras. We are all of us more or less
expressions Of our generation, and our charac-
| .ers as well as the public opinion to which we
contribute are mainly influenced by events
BY wsr prosEa.l9n u business, gos9a aaEyssts
| religious excitements and revivais, the dis
! coveries of gold and diamonds, the introduce
ton of new class of opera. We saw how the
nabobs grew up in England after the exploits
of Hastings and Give, and the return of the
rich men from India with their suddenly
gained wealth, their social ostentation and
their craving for dignity and recognition. We
saw the rise of the ''shoddy" classes after our
own war, their splendor and fondness for
show and their evil influence upon customs
and manners. The amusing feature of the
Tammany regime was found in the Americus
Club and the profusion Of diamonds and trim
kets which distinguished our municipal rulers.
We might multiply instances to show the
| effect upon our society of the war and the
Tammany reign, but our subject this morning
| leads us into graver and more depressing con-
| sderations. The war which gave US ''shoddy"
has also given us in the South problems which
may well vex and tax our wisest statesmen.
| After the war and the conquest of the South
chaos was inevitable. The whole social
economy was distracted. The industry of the
| great Southern States was paralyzed. The
old systems of slavery and large landed es-
tates and the monopoly Of staple crops like
cotton and sugar, rice and tobacco, were de-
stroyed. Capital was absorbed by the
war and the interruption of CONNER
cial relations with the outside world.
Strange influences dominated. The naughty,
highly-bred, educated classes were under
! the ban of dsfranchisement, and their
pride and self-reliance broken by the de-
| feat of Lee. New men came into the
South, mainly adventurers from the North,
craving political distinction and wealth, and
with them acted the ignorant, docle negroes,
who were lifted from the slave cabins to the
ballot box These classes, hostile to the
traditions and custoLs and pride of the South,
warred and preyed upon it. And hence we
have seen strife succeeded by disorder.
This reign of disorder has one result in the
career of the Lowery gang in North Carolina.
We are apt to consider Lowery and his fol-
lowers as so many outlaws seeking immunity
in the impenetrable forests and swamps of
North Carolina. But careful reading of the
interesting narratives of the HERALD, whose
correspondent has emulated the daring
and enterprise of his comrades in Africa
and Mexico, will show, we think, a deeper rea-
son. 1t is possible in any country, and
especially country under the peculiar infu-
ences of nature which manifest themselves in
North Carolina, for dozen wicked men to fly
into the swamps and carry on predatory war
upon society. But if this were attempted,
even in North Carolina, under the ordinary
frannnil conditions of society the State nride