The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1874-12-17
THE NORTH AND THE CARPET.
BAGGERS.

There are some Republicans who believe
and some of the opposition who fear that the
collisions which ever and anon occur IN the
South between the white taxpayers and their
negro despoilers will have the effect OF re-
arousing popular prejudice IN the North
against the Southern whites and popular SYM
pathy with the blacks. We have no desire to
encourage any spirit OF violence that may
exist in the South On the other hand, such
influences as we may bring to bear are inva-
riably directed to the restraint OF passion ana
the depreciation Of violence. The Northern
people have given what they deem 9 fair
Opportunity to the negroes and carpet-bag-
gers to demonstrate their capacity for govern
ING the South And they have concluded
that the opportunity has been abused. The
growth Of the Northern sense OF right ana
Justice and Of the determination to see both
done toward the South has been very slow,
almost dishearteningly SO. but it has also been
yery sure. There is no longer any predispo-
.sition in the mind of the average Northern
man to Judge the action of the Southern
whites harshly, and whatever happens in that
unfortunate section hereafter. its people may
depend upon the North to pass kind and
gentle judgment upon it and them.
But another trait of the Northern people,
which they hold in common with all other
peoples, is that of invariably fortifying their
terms. their views will invariably be found
more or less seasoned with prejudice OF an
emotional rather than of a rational origin.
For several years this prejudice has been
directed against the Southern whites with
gradually relaxing intensity, and in proper
ton as it relaxed as against the Southern
people it has been transferred to
their negro and carpet-bag plum
complete. With the exception Of interested
politicians of the Republican party, Federal
fanatics like Gerrit Smith, who are without
influence, all the bitterness of which the
Northern mind is capable in time of peace
has been turned against the men-the Scots,
Bullocks, WhittemOres, Spencers. Durels,
Busteeds, Kelloggs Packards, Caseys, Clay
tons, Brookses, Dorseys, Moseses, Pattersons,
Ameses, Hayses, and their kind-who have
been devastating the South in nine-years
reign of piilage and terror. 1t Is clear
the intensity of the hatred and disgust which
they have incurred in the Northern mind.
Four years ago their supporters and apollo
.yists were in a vast majority. Now the New
York Republic and Chicago Inter- Ocean, tit
organs OF dying dynasty, and appropriate
representatives Of dead sentiment, alone
are poor enough to appear as their defenders,
while with the masses of the Northern people
the epithets Of rebel and traitor have utterly
lost their odium in the tiercer glare OF the
disapprobation which blazes upon the carpet
Dagger and thief.
These must now pour their plants into
,scornful ears and beseech aid from men
whose imfln2se it is to kick them out OF doors
and into the lender mercies OF those whom
they have SO long despoiled and outraged.
AS to the negro the feeling in the North to-
ward him is kind, in SO far as it is marked
by the absence Of that fierce resentment
which the carpet-bagger meets, but it IS
nevertheless firm in respect to the determine
ton which it involves that he must t:ke
care of himself. The North feels that
its prosperity has been seriously i'm
paired by governmental policy which has
curtailed the production OF vast and fer
tile section, and its resentment is that OF
a people who recognized in the spoliation Of
their neighbors indirect robbery OF
themselves No combination Of circumstan-
.ces on earth can ever change the sentiment OF
the North toward the carpet Dagger. That
word has become synonym OF odlum IN that
section whose significance never can be altered
nor even modified. In vain did Blaine and
Butler, and Conkling and Chandler, and Lo-
ganl and Morton, shake the bloody shirt last
fall Still more vainly will they agitate its
worn-out folds next fall and the next. And
herein lies the hope of the South. Hence we
say to the people of that section that though
it is best to be patient in cases where patience
is still virtue yet when the issue comes. as
it came in Warren county, Mississippi, be-
tween the right Of white men to live and hold
property and the design OF negro or carpet
bag felonarchy to destroy them and contiscate
their possessions, they can strike to the ex-
tent Of the needs of self-defense, and the
North will say by vast majority OF its honesty
and its intelligence Well done.-a. Louis
RenLJ;cuD