The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1877-09-14
FRIDAY MORNING, SEPT. IA.

so deciding no existing decision of the Su-
preme Court OF that State was disregarded.
1t seems appropriate to correct some of
Judge Blacks statements concerning the
carpet-baggers who emigrated TO the South
soon after the war, who, as described by him,
"were the meanest of camp followers, fugi-
tives from Northern Justice, the best of whom
were ready for any deed of shame that was
safe ard profitable" And then picture is
drawn of their doings with a yiyidness and
malignity only surpassed by its untruth,
1t is well known that when the war ended
the South was greatly impoverished, -desti-
tute OF capital, unable for want of that and
labor to cultivate the lands, which had be-
come wasted and almost worthless. North
ern capital was needed and earnestly asked
Tor, and much was taken South and employed
there ,-some by its owners and some as loans.
Those who went there werel in the main i'm
bued with Northern principles, and with
Northern habits of thrift, industry and econ
omy, and these were in striking contrast
with the customary idleness and contempt
for labor which distinguished the whites of
Southern birth. Nevertheless, great num-
bers OF worthy, industrious men-many of
moderate means and some of considerable
wealth went from the North to the South
ern States, with their wives and children, in
majority went to settle, to work, and to live
honestly. They purchased and leased planta-
tions, they opened stores, they built mills,
they bought and worked mines, they engaged
in teaching and entered upon all branches of
protective industry. Statistics carefully gath
cred show that in South Carolina alone, be-
tween January 1866, and January 1869, not
less than two thousand able-bodied men from
the Northern States, with their families, set
flnd oarruiDe with than opd
ing in active business pursuits over thirteen
millions OF dollars; and in addition to this,
not less than one thousand more settled there
from the North, and were engaged in teach
ing, or in the practice of professions not re-
quiring capital. And it is a fair ard probable
estimate, that, from 1856 to 1868 there settled
from the North, in the States OF Virginia,
North and South Carolina. Georgia, Florida,
Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Ten
nessee, and Arkansas not less than sixty
thousand men, mostly with families, carry
ing and investing in active industries there
not less than the a SUN G5qa 0f one hun
This great body of settlers were free men,
accustomed to the ways of free society. They
went South, not as politicians, but as citizens.
Civil government was, however, necessity
and when the era of reconstruction came, and
the native whites withheld their aid from the
mass OF colored voters, as they sullenly and
for long time did in every State, the North
ern settlers had no alternative but to take an
active part in political affairs. Upon them,
then fell the hate and vengeance of the white
Democrats, and the name of carpet-baggers
was applied to them. All the milder forms
of coercion were exhausted upon them-so.
cial ostracism in all its forms. Then came
active persecution, warnings to leave the
State, accompanied with demonstrations cal
culated to destroy the peace and sense of Sc
curity of the families OF Republican settlers:
shooting at night around and into their
houses; and these failing, assassination and
murder and when at length Northern men,
by means like these were driven from the
South they wv, were cable able to carry but little prop
But it is said the city of New Orleans has
been plundered by the carpet-baggers, and its
property so taxed as to be worthless. A few
facts will dispose of this misstatement. With
the exception of part of the year 1870, and
and from the time of the election in that
year until November, 1872, that city has
been for generation or more, and still is.
under native white Democratic rule of mayor
and aldermen and council. In 1870 Cover
nor Flanders estimable man as we are
assured, and Republican-was appointed
mayor by Governor Yarmouth, to hold office
as such in conjunction with a counc-part
white and part colored-until the election in
November of that year, when they were by
election continued in office until November.
1872. and then were superseded by Demo,
cratic mayor and council, which have ever
since been continued. No Republican Legis-
lature of Louisiana ever imposed debt or
charge upon the city except for its due pro-
portion of State taxation, nor did such Leg
islature ever authorize the city to increase its
debt for any purpose. 1t now owes about
fmonfu-throa oilIinp Toll oil 80 L.-
crued under Democratic rule, except an an.
parent increase of less than four million dol
lars due to the funding under the admins
tratioH of Mayor Flanders, of floating debt
incurred by his Democratic predecessors,
These facts, being matters of record, Judge
Black could easily have ascertained, had bis
purpose been to write what history could
adopt without shame. 1t was not, however.
and hence he states that the burdens imposed
by the carpet-baggers upon this devoted CITY
within the last ten years had been such that
its debt was more than the estimated value of
all the property within its limits. Its total
bonded and floating debt at the close of the
Republican administration in January last
was less than twenty-four millions of dollars.
and the estimated taxable value of its prop
erty upwards of one hundred and twenty
four millions "a discrepancy between truth
and falsehood of more than one hundred
Are the causes which led to the creation of
the Returning Board those stated by Judge
Black or are they to be found in the wicked at.
tempts OF the party to which he belongs to at
tain its ascendency by violence, intimidation.
outrage and murder, and the utter extinction
of those privileges of citizenship intended to
be secured by the Fifteenth Constitutional
Amendment? Was that Amendment as he
states, an assertion of the divine right of the
IN rrnu fho MI, ita,
to relieve the colored race from that subiec
tion to the whites which the divine law con-
dennis? What ever may be the authority for
the Amendment, every honest and law abid-
ing citizen is bound to aid in its enforcement,
A nation which fails to put forth all it's
strength to protect its citizens, white or black
from foreign aggression and outrage, stands
degraded before the world. When thous-
and of them are shot down within its own
borders for attempting to exercise the right
to vote, what shall we say of the government
which fails to vindicate its laws thus violated
The State OF Louisiana attempted by the leg
lslation in question to make it improbable
for a political party to practise outrage or in
tlmldatlon. 1t in part succeeded; and vet
grave crimes were committed in that State
dnring the last Presidential election that il
might be carried for the Democratic candi-
dates. That this was so is conclusion
ioiCcu upou US ny rev general but impress
sive facts, independent of the the conclusive
proofs taken by the Returning Board and bV
the congressional Committees. The regis
thred colored vote of Louisiana on the day of
the election in November last was, as before
stated 1880 to 92,996 white. In forty of
the fifty-seyen parishes of the Estate where
no serious intimidation prevailed, including
that of Orleans, which was Largely
Democratic, the majority Of Republican votes
actually cast was 6,097. The remaining sew
enteen parishes contained 20,323 registered
colored voters and 1928 white-the former.
like those in the forty parishes, being almost
exclusively Republican. Judge Black saws
the majority of votes actually polled by the
Democratic party within the State is admitted
to have been 1859. Assuming this to have
been so, the Democrats must have succeeded.
with 1928 white voters, in getting MAORI
ty, over 20,323 colored, 10, 1856. Does he be.
leVe this to have been possible, in face of the
Republican majority OF e,097 in FORTY par
ishes What, in his opinion, led to such a
remarkable conversion tc the Democratic
faith OF the negroes in seventeen parishes
Was it WEAKNESS and discomfort of Garnet. bao
rule, or was it the result secured by that vio,
lence and crime so successfully employed in
1868? But this is not all. Five of those sew.
enteen parishes were especially selectad e.,