The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1877-07-05


ligible, 1t is necessary to remind the rea-
der Of certain points in our political his
tory which have within the last twenty
years divided the two parties, and defn-
ed their antagonism.
The powers of the Federal government
the rights of the States, and the liberties
of the people, these constitute the essen
tial parts Of the system to which our fa-
theirs set the seal of their wisdom and
virtue. This trinity Of political forces,
so harmoniously adjusted that each gave
strength to the others, did indeed seem
to make government as nearly perfect
as possible. Each was vital part, the
"Rte of the nation" depended upon the
preservation Of one as much as the other
the government (using the word in its
true American sense) would as certainly
be destroyed by the overthrow Of popu-
lar liberty, or the subjugation of the
States, as by successful resistance to
Federal authority.
Congress, by vote nearly unanimous
in both Houses, assured the country
that the war had not any revolutionary
purpose whatever, but should be conduct
ed solely to enforce the laws, and main
tain the supremacy ofthe Federal Con-
stitution, with all the rights of the States
unimpaired.
All these pledges were most perfdi-
ously broken. The ultra-abolitionis,s,
at the close of the war, had Q two-thirds
majority in Congress, and could do as
they pleased. They refused to Keep
faith. They insisted that the govern
ment was revolutionized; that State
rights had ceased to be; that personal
liberty in the Southern States had been
eXtinguished.
For time the Southern people lived
at the mercy of the military officers sent
to keep the yoke tight upon their
necks. Most Of these being gentlemen
ofhonor and humanity, did the work Of
oppression reluctantly. Gen. Hancock,
startled the authorities at Washington
by published letter in favor of civil lib
erty. 1t became plain this Sabre sway
would not last nor be perfectly eftectual
The divine right of negroes to govern
white men was then asserted, and his
ascendancy secured, by the Fifteenth
Amendment, in hopes his ballot would
be more effectual than the sword.
What the CarpetBNgger is.
The people would not have been Who'll
ly crushed, either by the soldier or the
negro, if both had not been used to fasten
upon them the domination of another
class of person whose rulewas altogether
uncomfortable. These we call Carpet-bag-
gers, not because the word is descriptive
or euphonious, but because they have no
other name whereby they are known
among the children of men. They were
unprinCipled adventurers, who sought
their fortunes in the South by plundering
the disarmed and defenseless people
some ofthem were the dregs of the Fed
eral army-the meanest of the camp fol-
lowers; many were fugitives from North
ern Justice the best of them were those
who went down after the peace, ready for
any deed of shame that was safe and pro-
fitable. These, combining with a few
teacherous "scalawags" and some leading
negroes to serve as decoys for the rest,
and backed by the power of the general
Government, became the strongest body
of thieves that ever pillaged people.
Their moral grade was far lower, and yet
they were much more powerful than the
robber bands that infested Germany af-
ter the close of the Thirty Years war.
They swarmed over all the States from
the Potomac to the Gulf, and settled in
hordes, not with intent to remain there,
but merely to feed on the substance of a
PROSTATE and defenseless people. They
took whatever came within their reach,
intruded themselves into all private cor
porations, assumed the functions of all
offices, including the courts Of justice,
and, in many places, they even "run the
churcht g." By force and f. aud. they either
controlled all elections or else prevented
elections from being held. They returned
sixty ofthemselves to one Congress, and
ten or twelve of the most ignorant and
venal among them were at the same time
thrust into the Senate. This false repre-
sentation of people by strangers and
enemies who had not even bona fde
residence among them was the bitterest
of all mockeries. There was no show of
truth or honor about it. The pretended
representative was always.ready to vote
for any measure that would oppress and
enslave his so.called constituents; his
hostility was unconcealed, and he lost no
opportunity to do them injury.
His Descent Upon Louisiana.
The agricultural and commercial wealth
of Louisiana made her strong tempta-
ton to the carpet baggers. Those vul-
lures snuffed the prey from afar; and, as
soon as the war was over, they swooped
down upon her in focks that darkened
the air. The State was delivered into
their hNnds by the military authorities
but the officer imposed some restrains up
on their lawless cupidity. They hailed
with delight the advent of negro suffrage
because to them it was merely legalized
method of stufing the ballot box, and
they stuffed it, Thenceforth, and down
to veryrecent period, they gorged them
selves without let or hindranCe.
The depredations they committed were
frightful. They appropriated, on one
pretense and another, whatever they
could lay their hands on, and then pledg-
ed to themselves the credit of the State
lOT uuCOuubou IulAilOu5 AuOI6s 4u6 " lU-
lie securities ran down to halfprice, and
still they put their fraudulent bonds on
the market and sold them for what they
would fetch. The owners ofthe best real
estate in town or country were utterly
impoverished, because the burdens upon
it were heavier than the rents would dis
charge. During the last ten years the
city of New Orleans paid, in the form of
direct taxes, more than the estimate value
of all the property within her limits, and
still has debt Of equal amount unpaid.
1t is not likely that other parts Of the
State suffered less. The extent of their
spoliations can hardly be calculated, but
the testimony ofthe carpet baggers them
selves against one another, Che reports
of ofcommittees sent by Congress to inves-
tigate the subject, and other information
from sources entirely authentic, make it
safe to say that general confagration,
sweeping over all the State from one end
to the other, and destroying every build