Nebraska advertiser., 1879-01-09
The.Flag Of HamptOn's Friends.

Chicago Inter Ocean.
When it was announced that Wade
Hampton had been elected United
States Senator the Confederate veter-
ans of Georgia town ran up the reb-
ell flag over their hall, and INDUCED
in other marked expressions of delight
over the honor bestowed upon their
old leader. These men acted in the
name of their society, The Confeder-
ate Survivors, and as comrades of
Wade Hampton, exrebel cavalryman.
AS ex-Confederates rejoicing over the
triumph of an ex-Confederate, they
flaunted the rebel flag in the faces of
patriotic men, as they did when, un-
der the command of Hampton, they
met the Union forces on the field OF
battle. There was an excuse for wav-
ing the rebel flag then. The act sig-
nified that those who gathered under
the flag were rebels, and the flag it.
self embIemed their disposition and
determination to destroy the govern
ment. Understanding this, Union
people treated all menswho waved a
rebel flag as enemies. and it only re-
quired the display of the flag of the
enemy to bring on a conflict.
Now those old, comrades of Wade
Hampton pretend to be friends of the
government, and boast of the 'gener-
Gus impulses. patriotic aims, and ex-
alted aspirations of the newly elected
South Carolina Senator. They are
represented in Congress by men WAC
have taken an oath of fidelity to the
United States, and they themselves,
when they left the army at the time
of the surrender, we're doubtless under
parole to act in no way as enemies of
the common country. There is now
no excuse for the waving ofa flag rep
resenting purpose hostile to the gov
eminent, unless they still desire to he
counted as rebels rejoicing over the
triumph of a rebel, and yet the Dem
ocratic papers, in mentioning the cir
cumstance, say Now let the bloody
shirt organs how'll
If the Southern people are loyal to
the Union, as they claim, why should
not they protest.against such action
as well as people in the North? Why
should not Democratic journals con-
denim it as well as Radical Republi-
can papers? 1t is as much an offense
to patriotic people in the South as to
those in the north, and ought to be re-
buked by all. But will it be?
If it is a representatives. E.act! and a
natural expression of the real senti-
ments of Wade Hsmpton's old COM
rades. it becomes more significant,
and people are not to be sneered out
of taking cognizance of it. A loyal
people, as is we'll known, are very
sensitive on the question of flags.
The defiant Haunting of foreign flag
in the faces of American citizens is
always resented. The rebel flag, If it
means anything at all, means more of
hostility to our established institutions
than any foreign flag, and there is no
reason why it should be tolerated.
Unless Wade Hampton is as much a |
rebel as ever, and his old comrades |
rebels at heart, there is no reason for |
the display of a rebel flag in rejoicing |
over his election. If the flag repre-
sents the feelings of those who favor
ed Wade Hampton's election, he
should when be takes his seat In the
Senate, refuse to take the oath of f.
deity to the Constitution and the
government, and joining with his ex-
Confederate associates in the Senate,
demand that the stars and bars be
run up over the Capitol. OF course
this would be attempted revolution
and rebellion, but it would be consist
ent with the action of the Richmond
Hussars in running a rebel flag up
over their hall.
There is no disposition to hold the
entire South responsible for such dem
except in so far as the
men disposed to indulge in such out
bursts find encouragement and sup
port in the general tone of Southern
and opinion. Such dem
onstrations do not take place In the
North, because public sentiment is
sgainstthe 1t is diff {
ficult to resist the conclusion that were
public sentiment in Georgia such as it
should be no waving of rebel flags G
would take place in that State.-Inter {
Ocean. 7