The Camden weekly journal. [volume] (Camden, South-Carolina) 1853-1861, 1853-03-01
The North and tho South.

1t Is customary Tor Northern journals and
speakers to claim for heir section of the coun-
try the larger number of the great minds of
these States. A favorite theory with the
Northern people is that the institution Of slave
| ry has an enervating effect upon the whites as
well as the blacks, and that beneath its bale
| ful influence no excellence can be developed.
! This opinion like the greater portion of aboli,
ton views, is directly contradicted by fcts.
In proportion to the population of the differ
ent sections, the South has produced as many
! writers as the North: n larger number of great
statesmen; and still greater ratio of dis
tinguished generals. Our Southern people are
fed with maukish journals of Northern publ.
cation, whose small paragraphsts assiduously
puff themselves and their own writers, and
hence even they have yielded belief 10 this
| SANDER on the slave States. You find on every
centre table some Massachusetts, or Pennsyl-
vania publication, whose diShwater literature
is swallowed by our men and women as regu-
larly as their evening Bohca. Northern pa
pers have thus vacciuatcd the Southern mind
with their own peculiar weaknesses, until the
South has nearly nearly become mere prov.
incc, a diluted appendage to the North South,
ern men are not so well versed in the art OF
self-praise as their hyperborean brethrcn.--
There are net so many paid critics whosvend
their praises in widely circulating wecklies
| Writers who would have been famous in New
York are unknown in Charleston and New Or.
leans. Politics, the science Of government,
too, engages more of our talent than literature
| But still the South need not blush at any in
telectual comparison. In poetry it has given
birth to the greatest American. No writer on
this side Of the Atlantic can compare with Ed.
gar A. Poe. lie has written little, but that
little is nca-ly perfect. He has not covered
reams of canvass, but his miniatures are mas.
terpicccs. What the Venus is to the pyramids,
his poems are to the works Of other Americans.
His "Raven;' is a finished gem-a diamond
without a flaw. We must estimate excellence
by quality: not by mere quantity. Poc's Ra-
ven will rank with the productions of the great
est authors with Miltons Paradise Lost and
liomer's Iliad. In history we have Marshall,
His life of Washington will always remain a
monument of accuracy, aud clcarncss, and
mental energy. In the novel, we have Sims
and Kennedy Their writings are as familiar
| to the general reader as those even of Cooper,
and more frmIiar than those of any other
novelist. kennc;ly's "IIorsc Shoe Robinson
has been more extensively read and more gen
orally admired than any book which has issu-
cd from the American press. In the essay, we
have Writ His graceful and elegant style
places him in the same rank with Addison, and
Steele, and Johnson Ills ''British Spy" is al
ready classical. In astronomy and navigation,
by far the most distinguished American is
Lieut.. Maury, Southemer. lie has confer.
red more benefits upon the commerce Of the
country than any man in it. His reputation
does not pale before that Of foreign savons,
and if he lives to an extended age he will rank
with the Aragos and the Uc:schcls Of Europe.
In the art Of war the greatest generals Of Ame-
RIGA have all been Southcrners. Washington,
Jackson, Scott and Taylor, besides, many a
revolutionary name prove this fact. In the
science Of government, the South has always
led the North by many rod. Jefferson,
Madison, Monroe, Clay, Calhoun, are the high
priest Of our Republic. There are few names
at the North which are worthy of mention with
these. In oratory our Prestons, Ilcnrics and
Haynes need fear no competition for the palm
of glory. Thus in whatever department we
institute comparison it will be seen that the
South has seldom been second. Could We but
learn to view subjects in morals, literature or
politics through our own spcctaccs instead of
searching iIorthcrn cities for mediums, VIC