Orangeburg times. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1872-1875, 1874-04-09

49, - " VI 0ul PColI
the wal, nc, legislative ,actgof the Seush
/, has been rightly construed; no motive,
ever correctly lynnderstood; and no policy
ever correctly enterposed. But every act
and almost every word has been distorted,
and twisted, and forced into shape ito
lIsuit the will Of her ,traducers. ,,ajid;
! From 1865 to the present day we, have
Ihlleeaqgrd. hlleqgrd it, and have seen it in the public
prints Of the North, that the Northeln
men, who come among lis, are remoxe
lessly ostracised from society and branded
as carpet-bagger, or political advent
turers;; and TINT the Southern man, via,
diares. to change his political opinions. IS
denounced " l!eY as a Scalawag, or. renegade
and prosecuted by the community. !rllcse
never was q fouler sla6dera ,perpetratea
upon a people: Let the honest. ant. ia
lufstt dluufstrious man come among us from, what
quarter. he may:-F7from north, east, south
OF west We. want him., and if satisfied he
is gentleman, will welcome him to our
hearth circles and home hospitaiities,
But we wish the North to know, and tho
world to know that the carpet Dagger is
is peculiar species of man with distinp;
tive characteristics that mark his identity,
and we have no excuse to, give for the
lneftablc contempt and scorn in which lie
is held at.tho South, and especially in
South Carolina. With regard to the very
few leading Southern men, who have
abandoned the old principles 10" the new
which We believe to be unconstitutional
and ruinous to our interests, ali have to
say. is, that, i'll almost every case, tfa
change of sentiment has been accom-
panied by circumstances that left. no
doubt on the public mind of dishonest
and .Ycnal motives. Thctman. who sens
'himsclf oan expect nothing but condem-
nation at the hands the South Whlest
an honest change of sentiment, based
upon convictions of right, is rs much
respected here MS elsewhere; tho barterin:s
of principle fof7 money is :as 1hueS :.
pissed ut the South'as elsewhere It has
been asserted, and that assertion repeated
by every fanatic at the North, that we
hop. yet to renew the conflict and wrcal
savage vengeance on our opprcSsors.
Such belief could not 70. one moment
be entertained by single honest. man
who would visit the country and sec our
utter physical prostration, and witness
our almost inordinate anxiety for per-
mancnt peace ana restoration ofan equ nj
government. 1t can only exist in the
mind whose aim it is to create prejudiccs,
to excite strife and to pcrpctuatc cnmity
between the sections NE
The restoration of the institution of
slavery has been charged to the South.
This imputation in the face of our own
Legislative acts to abolish it and to confer
civil rights upon the negro, is too base to
be answered. 1t is the offspring of an
Imagination bent upon the perpetual
cstrangement Of the races inhabiting our
country, and finds lodgings only among
dishonest adyehturers, and pail scalawags
who circulate it during election seasons
that they may ride into Office upon lis
back. ss-'s.- q, q q sssss--4s 1890
These, md other malicious misrepre-
sentations by the nollern press and the
persistent misunderstanding and conse-
quent oppression on the part of the
government, vii fiil page in tie history
of the Caucasion race that will consign
their authors to an Immortality ef infamy.
For before GodI solemnly believefit and
in the presence Of this audience assert
it, that the alienation existing between
the North and the South, the prciudccs
between the white man and the negro, the
broken fortunes, the pros:itutcd govern
ment, and the almost universal ruin of
this fair Southern land, nre due directly
and indirectly to the misrepresentation
of the northern press, and to the oppressive
reconstruction policy, inaugurated and
pursued by the general government to-
ward the South. They are not the lcgiti
mate results Of the war,nor,at this distant
day, its indirect effects.