The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1866-1891, 1872-08-15
Grants Southern Policy.

The following is an extract from a speech
of Mr.. Duncan Stewart at an immense Gree.
Icy and Brown ratification meeting in De-
trOit recently. Mr.. Stewart is member Of
the Board of Trade of Detroit. q prominent
and wealthy merchant and Republican of
lifelong standing and extended political in
fucnce:
A great many have asked me the same
question that has been asked General Blair,
"Why can't you support Mr. Greeley Pr
Well there is a by-way that has led me in
that direction for the past two years. Twill
tell you where the turning point WAS. Two
years ago, feeling a little unwell, l thought I
would 60 down South, and 1 went down there
full of prejudice. There never was q North.
crn mar vent South with such n prejudice
against the Southern people as I had. / had
Thought they were Just what the Northern
press has represented thcm-a band Of ruff
ians, every man staggering with his pockets
full of bowic-knives and pistols. And when
[ got out Of the cars at. Norfolk [ began
right off to look around for the bowic-knives
and pistols. But did not sec one. Laugh
ter. | sat in the scat with gentleman
and had some conversation with him there,
and he turned ont to be an old trooper in
Wade Hampton's cavalry, and he damned
all Yankees, all Jews and all everything else.
Well | thought that was going it pretty
strong, but he was exceedingly civil. From
Norfolk to Raleigh found everyone civil
and polite. I heard no blasphenIy, saw no
drunken men, saw no pistols, saw no bowie
knives. When VIC arrived at the station at
Raleigh gentleman there was very much
chagrincd because there was no omnibus to
take US to the hotel. He said he was ex-
ceedingly sorry that this neglect had taken
place. He never had known it to take place
before: as we were strangers there he would
take us to the hotel himself, and this gen.
tlcuan, a man ofseventy-fve years of age, 1
should judge, walked through the streets
fully one and one-quarter miles, until he
brought US to the hotel, and I thought after
that, that the Southern people were not so,
bad after all, even if they had been rebell-
ious. This was on Saturday night.
CARpET-BAG LEGISLATURE.
On Monday morning went to sec what
sort of a Legislature they had at Raleigh. l
can tell you something about these men and
something about their actions I staid there
for week or so to see how they conducted
themselves. And here was the first thing
that made me think whether we were right
or whether we were wrong at the North. On
Monday they were discussing bill to give
aoine lh,G09, 900 or $4,000, 900 to some
.--.-s...i----.l-rI
est villains that ever lived, South or North
l asked them how they expected to sell these
bonds, seeing there had been no provisions
made for paying the interest on the old State
debt. They said they cared nothing at all
about that, they were bound to have the
money. SwepsOn went to New York with
them and sold them for G5 cents on the dol
lar, and from that down to twenty-five and
then poeketcd the rsonoy and went to Wash
inston, and Gen. Grant gave him an Office
to rcwal ID him for his dishonesty. The leg
islaturc was composed of scallawags and car
petbasaers, the great majority of them,--
[ Laughter and applaass.] My indignation
was arokscd and if l had been a native of
the Sta e and had had any influence or power
there, ltell you that none Of those mcn
would hhYe seen tho next Monday morning.
Some twenty-five Or thirty Of them were ren
cgade ministers that had taken to politics
and takqn to whiskey, and you may know
what kiId,of man a minister is who takes
II. politiPs and takes to liquor and then takes
to stealing, and then takes to outrageous blas,
phemy. They were tho sort of men who
the majority of that legislature,
and on lyaryonc oftheir faces was written,
villain, rogue, scoundrel, swindler-every1
man of hem.
l welt through the South and I saw a
great nihy things of that sort. Go down to}
Louisia ala and you will find the Presidents
brothq.in:law in power, and lot of his
frien1, aud they are robbing the people
right ,ndleft. They had managed to issue
s5;OObO00 in bonds of the city of New Or
leans, ,and the city of New Orleans had not
met them, and has not met one single dollar
Of thin. That is the way the people of the
South are treated. One of the laws passed
whildI was down there, showing what ex-
trcules those characters will 60 to, and how
they're, bound to tranlplc the people Of the
SoutA yander foot, was that no cattle should
be killed within the corporate limits of the
city IF New Orleans. They had to be killed
over at Algcirs, which is situated as Winnsor
is to Detroit, and they passed law giving
one Of Cusey's friends the right to kill these
cattle, md no one else was allowed to kill
cattle to provide beef for the New Orleans
market, and no one was allowed to sell meat
unlcr a heavy penalty in the city Of New
Orleans unless it came from these butchers
The result Was that for these cattle, worth
but three ents pound on foot i'll Algiers,
taken aeross to New Orleans, you could not
buy a'sIeak for less than 25c per pound
Now Mr.. Presidents do yousupposc that men
guilty q such infamous things as Il es, could
have liHd in Detroit? l tell you no. They
could not have lived in one of these North
crn Statb'. [Applausc.
GRANTS INFAMOUS TREATMENT OF TuE.
They got up great ado about these bon6
that were issued by tho carpetbag legislature
at Doloi9h Then in order To draw the pub-