The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1875-03-17
THE gARPETBAG cURsE.;

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THE GARPEEBAGGER'S CURSE /
Major Delansy'si Lecturesin New York
I5fs on the Relations of tho Races s:
j at the South ...-,,''>
From tie Ne,O York JYoslq, March Chi
Despite the windy snow, storm
which prevailed last evening, there
was very fair attendance TO hear
Major Martin R. Delany, q Conserya-
tive negro from South Carolina,
speak upon affairs in the South at
Irving Hall. In the,audience were o
number of ladies and many colored
people. The platform was occupied
by the committee, among whom were
Mr.. William Cullen Bryant and Mr..
! Peter Cooper. Mr.. Bryant was ap-
pointed chairman, and welcomed to
the position with hearty applause.
He said it was his Office and, he would
add, his privilege TO introduce to the
audience one who had fought in the
war Of opinion and in the war of
Iphysical force for his colored breth-
rem. In the ar of opinion he WELD
ed his pen with Frederick Douglass
in the war of physical force he drew
his sword under Grant, leading his
company for four years through the
war. He was here to speak of the
.relations that now exist between the
two races at the South, in which
there have been so many opinions
That some had gone wild over them.
Maj. Delany was q Virginian, but had
lived in Charleston for the last ten
years. Maj. Delany then came for
ward and acknowledged the honor of
an invitation from certain gentlemen
of distinction to speak in public here
and present to the people of the
North the relations of races at the
South.; His subject he announced as
The Present Political Issues Of the
South"
THE LECTURE.
The speaker said that few in the
North know anything of the relations
of the people of the South. Repre-
sentations regarding tho condition
Of affairs have been for. years made
to and believed by the people of the
North, but they have been made by
interested politicians. Only ono who
lives in the South is capable of know
ing the true position Of affairs. 1t
might be objected that the speaker
was working in the interest OF some
party not in sympathy with the gov
ernment, and that he was not a true
friend to the cause of the blacks.
He then referred to the establishment
Of the Northern Star in Central Now
York, by Fred. Douglass and himself,
and to his connection with John
Browns movements, as proof of his
friendship to his own people. In sta
ting the condition of affairs, Major
DeIany said that when the war closed
the colorcd people were the best So
cial element any country ever saw.
If at this time the negroes had been
properly directed they would have
become o political force that the coun-
try might have taken pride in. He
next spoke of the entirely now rela-
tions existing between late master
and slsye at this time--a relation so
now that neither party know its own
position. The blacks, asa race, knew
nothing of politics or the affairs Of a
free life, and so they had to look up
to the whites, who naturally advised
them so as to secure their own selfish
Interests. -. :.
THE CARpET-BAaGER's INFLUENCE
But the men who at last undertook
at this time to lead the blacks Of the
South in their new political life were
men who had no interest in the color.
ed people of the South, and no inter.
est in the white people of the South.
These men passed themselves off upon
the innocent colored people as repre-
sentatives of the government, and
they taught the blacks that it was
their right and duty to distrust and
keep down, as much as possible, tho
whites. These men stood between
1.-THE whites and the blacks, keeping
them apart, bnt with their arms to
the elbows in the black mans pocket,
and to the armpit in the pocket of
the white man, stealing from each.
The whites conducted the legislation,
of which the blacks were wholly ig-
norant, and thus these carpet-bag-
gers were continually robbing the
colored people. These facts, the
speaker said, had never reached the
North because they had been report
ed by politicians who told not the
truth. In regard TO tho colored
mans knowledge of tho parties, Mr.
Delaney said that he was taught by
these men that TO be "a Republican
was to have license to do anything
which would give him an advantage
over his opponent. The Major said
that during q period of seven years
and until within year, he did not re-
member a single political meeting
where the colored people did not at:
tend armed as o military band and
were so taught to do by the whites.
SAMPLE LEGISLATORS.
Of the privileges gained by the
blacks, he said that shiftless, good
for-notbing ones, who wcrc unable to
get any position whatever North,
went South to become legislators and
lawmakers at tho hands Of these
] same men. These peddling politl-
clans taught the blacks that Democ-
ranv moant slavery. and Republican.