The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1866-1891, 1873-07-17
"THE SPIRIT OF THE SOUTH"
A FRANK EXPRESSION OF THE OPINIONS
ORA NORTHERN REpURLIcAN-THEEv EVIL
.yn nup RrMrDy

Will you permit few words on the sub
iect Of your article entitled "The Spirit oi
the South" and the series Of extracts from
Richmond newspapers? Three months pass
ed in the South during this winter and spring
entitle me to speak with some confidence Of
the situation there, and l may add that my
own observations and opinions have been
shared and confirmed by hundreds of thought
full people from the North, out Of the twenty.
Eve thousand who have visited Florida and
the South this last winter These persons
intelligent men and women from all parts OF
our country, have been largely Republican
in politics, anxious for the education and eleya-
tion ofthe colored people, and most tenacious
of what are called the results Of the war.
do not care to offer your readers any South
side views or ecopperheaf' comments, nor
even the political fault-fndings of the Democ-
racy. would have, this question under
stood at the North as it has been seen by
Republicans-and Republicans only.
It is a tedious matter to discuss the meas
ures adopted for the reconstruction OF the
South, or to apportion the blame upon ex-
President johnson ortRe South, or the failure
to adopt the wise recommendations of Cover
nor Andrews farewell address. Whatsoever
the cause Of the muddle which now exists
the result is simply horrible. In our desire
TO protect the col6red people from a'real or
supposed hostility of their former masters we
have given the suffrage to them all-most OF
them hopelessly ignorant; we have organized
them into political leagues elevated them In
; to positions of high trust, for which they
are deplorably unsuited and then banded
them over in their helplessness to the most
corrupt and incompetent. set Of shysters, call
ed carpet-baggers, from the North. OF which
it is possible to conceive. 1 have yet to learn
of single man who has gone from the
North to better his political fortunes (who Is
"on the make" as they themselves tell you,)
who has any real, earnest desire to help the
colored people or the community in which
he lives. One of these carpet-bag politicians,
in reply 10 question of mine upon invest
ments, remarked that he ''wasn't fool enough
to invest in the South when he had made
his pile he should leave the ID con-
cern."
1t is impossible for Northern people to un-
derstand the terrible corruption at the South,
which IS still kept alive by careless or de-
s!Yned use d tne pa.ftauge anu pvii,i0uf m.
fuence at Washington. We have organized
society at the South upside down. Ignorance
and crime override intelligence and deeency.
The great educational, financial, commercial,
charitable and political interests ofthe States
are entrusted to the common field hands OF
the South and unprincipled adventures
from the North Can you wonder that
these people desire to free themselves OF
this tyranny and corruption? Such state
of things is contrary to nature, Gods laws,
and all the teachings and the wisdom OF man
kind Such governments are the most
grotesque travesties; they command no
respect from black or wtite; they are
scandal and disgrace to them and to u.s. And
does it help us Of the North in any way, to
have alot Of men, the natural product OF this
condition Of things, sent into the halls OF
Congress to legisIate for US, there to become
the tools of bad men, and ready to combine
with vicious elements from the North and
West? 1t certainly is OF some consequence
to us that the twenty -four senators and eighty
or more representatives from the South
should be clean and intelligent men. We
can have them reasonably so if we desire !;
but not by sustaining the present state OF
things.
1t may seem singular that the colored man
should CO. as he invariably does, to the native
whites for advice in the care of his family,
his money, and all bis temporal concerns,
except in his politics He wont vote with
the white man because like the Indian, he
worships the great father, at Washington,
and p,inds the orders Of his political league.
Gradually and surely these oppressed people
are finding out, amidst their weary search
for true friends, that the politicians who
have settled among them ''on the make" are
not the wisest and best of guides. There is
no hostility-at least the writer has never
seen any-between the former masters and
their former slaves The blacks go to these
men for advice; they even, in many In
stances, support their old masters or mis-
tresses who have been stripped of their all
by the war | know that the leading gentle
men of Charleston, old and young, are study
ing the problems of race and aAvernment
with an earnest desire for the welfare of its
blacks. They feel that their own prosperity,
for veal or woe, is indissolubly bound up
with that of the cJlored race and that race
must be educated and trained to citizenship.
The general satisfaction with the colored pO-
lice of Charleston, and the favorable com-
ments from old residents, are a proof that
the whites are willing aud anxious to have
the colored people do whatever they can do
well. To make judges, adjutant and major
generals, State aud congressional Legislators
of them in their present ignorance, and IN
league with bad whites from the North, Is
simply reducing society and government to