The state chronicle. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1883-1893, 1885-05-29
THE NEW SOUTH.
ENOM HON. CARL SCHURZ,S
FsEVIEW OF THE SOUTH.


lof tAe Land of Dixie.
- 10, Immediately after the close OF
f war Southern society presented
I'M 'Aacle of what might be called a
".e tlssolution. The Southern armies
ad a5t been disbanded, and the soldiers
= . sot lour years of fierce fighting. had re-.
Stned home to shift for themselves The
hpoutnern country was utterly exhausted
~ the war Even where there had been
no actual devastation tha nrodnc+ of 10
bo por nad ever since the spring of 1861
nass Deen mostly devoted to the support of ar.
mes IN the field, that is. economically
leaking, wasted. The money in the hands
~ the people had become; entirely valne-
Ihus the people were fearfully i'm
serlsned. The slaves who had consti-
e alWo6t theaMhole Agricultural work
tss Toroe of the South, had been sc, free
nc QMaa The first and vary na4E..i
f1tlseof seege nnmbcrs.f- t.rm was to
~ Ter freedom bV QUITTING work and
" dering away from the plantations.
ne country roads swarmed with them
and with vague authorization of a oreat
Jubilee they congregated in the towns
nus the South was not only in distress
and want, but the complete hreakino I'm
of the old labor system and the d;ff;cnltr
of getting to work on q new basis made
the prospect of recovery extremely darl
The negroes behaved on the whole verv
gOOd-naturedly. There were few If anv
criminal excesses on their mart cycant nj
and chicken stealing Rui the negro did
not know yet what to do with his Freedom
and the whites had not learned vet how
to treat the negroes as freemen The
former masters were easily infur;atad at
the new airs of their former slaras aad
resorted to all sorts of means to maLe
them work.
Here were number Of ;nsnroant com
munities inst reconouarad h, farao &c
arms; in them fonr millions of naoroos
liberated from slavery hv the oovarnment
against the will Of their former mastars
that former maStar closs ovos,aratad ~,
defeat and matar;a1 1;stros- .> Pa go ta ~ ~
face with forna, s1a,-o, +bas o, oo -
with a fierce and a,naran+1, ;rooa,aii,,
BILE antagonism between ibam - ha
brought into neacaful and n,ntuai,v ' " bona 20
fetal RELATIONS nndar . ~. l,.da,.af 49,.
SO that tho uaaLor ,,,;aht ~ :.
safa in the nrasaa nf ~ 20 tp.nn ~ ~
was the nernlexing tasl to ha acennnnl;sh. ,,i,'
ed Was # to ha 1ona hv ~. .onStapt -.
ternosit;on of . snnar;o, ,o,,ar2 ,rhot ,ro,,Ia
have haan nn,+;p9 off ;ndot;n;ta1, ~
restoration If Local coll. .oo,-ernn,an+; y ia
Southern states Was + ~ ha dnna hr % :
once restoring tho states 70 +he;r f,;no0
tions leaving all tho nolit;oal nowar IN
them axclne;va1u =, 10 h"nde "f +ha
whites , That ,yo,Id hava hao- s,,,.a,, e,ao
~. ~ ia. e'ara A"so ;1oa ooGn ~ -
~ ae, - +;n,sai sa...,n. epob ~
iass ~ +ha ,rora'y ~ rs :, fo,.aa s4o,, Hop
whose nat,,ral desiro at tho In 4;n,a - ~oS TO-
reduce them to S]averv .g.;n Was II tn
be done by arming the slaves with politi-
cal RIGHTS 81 as to olive them the means Of
salf-nr1 taction ana hv cnrta;1;nu at the
same time the political rights of the late
master class. so as to weaken their means
of aggression That would exnose those
States ia all the evils of a rule of igno-
rance. Thus neither of these systems. nor
any mixing of them. could in all RESPECTS
have worked satisfactorily as to immediate
consequences. But here I have to do only
with actual results
The great mass Of negro voters fell
nromnt]y into the han1s Of more or less
selfish and unscrupulous leaders, and the
scandals of the so-callcd carpet-bag gov
ernments followed The Southern whites
might perhaps. have exercised a stronger
influence for good upon the negroes had
they at once frankly and cordially accept
ed the order of things But the old pas
sions and prejudices did not yield 50
quickly, and, moreover, l repeat, Presi
dent Johnsons ill-advised doings had in
spired them with delnsive hopes OF some
sort of reaction. 1t would be wrong to
class all who during that perod-from
the close of the war until 1s77-acted as
Republican leaders IN the South among
the demagogues and scoundrels. lhere
were very honorable ana patrlotic men
among them But on the whole, the cor
ruption and public robbery gong on
under those governments can hardly be
exaggerated. A mimicry OF legislation,
carried on by negroes, in part moderately
educated, in part mere plantation hands,
and led in many cases by Adventures
bent upon filling their pockets qulckly-
that was for years what they had OF gov
ernment in several Southern States
This, of course, could not last long. \
change was sure TO come. uhiortuha!ety,
the carpet-bag governments were, IA
measure, sustained by party spirit IN Con
gress, while, on the other hand, the reac-
ton against them in the South took law
less cha.-:.cter. The Kuklux organization
was first started for the suppression Oh als.
order, and then became l1sell an adn eaeho, ~
of lawlessness. Efforts were H. n'auu torror ~
overcome the negro maJofl.ies uy 1o!o