Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1862-05-30
Guatrbman & State Jcurnal.
BY B.P. WALTON.
MONTPELIER, MAY 80, 1862.
THE NORTH AND THE SOUTH.

/, never been brought into contact with South
ern people that we have not heard them con-
tnually prating about the South tho
South whereas we have seldom observed
that other points Of the compass were given
to this kind Of egotism, unless indeed the
Great West including within it both the North
and the South in the valley Of the Mississip-
pi might sometimes alude to her magnificent
resources and future destiny. The South has
been perpetually fostering the idea that her
people arc an entirely distinct race, Of superb
or birth, mettle and quality, exhibiting
stuck-up pride which neither intrinsic merits
nor circumstances would Justify. They do
are essential to the we'll being Of State-in
self-reliance, energy, active industry and GO
ahead-atiyeness from those whom they affect
to despse and brand with opprohrious epi-
thets These cavaliers should be taught to
know that in the eyes Of our dear English
cousins, all people of these United States have
( hitherto been considered unfortunately
Yankees We Of the North have been won't
to apply that term to our brethren Of the
= New England States. They limit its appli-
cation to the commonwealth where wooden
nutmegs were fist carved or whitfield, eout,
while the good people of Connecticut narrow
it down to few Of the more slab-sided,
money making, bargaining, hucktering, sneak
ing whining, cantng, hypocritical, nasal
toned shifting, whiting Of their fellow citi-
zeus, whose associations they despise. The
real Yankee is not an exclusive creature He
is found all over Gods creation in about
equal proportion, at the North and the South,
the East and the West,-in the islands Of the
e sea, looking out Of spy glass from the top
! Of Chimbotazo, and deying for riches in the
j. guano Of Ichaboe. In the view Of foreigners
no distinction is made We all stand on
q equal footing. South Carolina and Vermont
d arc commingled in this economical opprobri-
um. Whatever patrician blood may trickle
here or there. John Bull, regarding this as
the universal Yankee nation does not say, as
in the case Of the barber see Dickens who
, refused to shave the coal-bearer, when the
u latter protested that he had just shaved a
huckster, " There must be some distinctions
in siety. and we draws the line here" Ma
son aud Dixon's line is not drawn except on
our maps.
The South has become besotted in this
= naughty sentiment of supremacy. Her rep
c resentatiye men indeed possess the highest
culture. Many Of them are indebted for their
= education to the government which they con
= srire to overthrow They have been taught
the science Of war and other accompli, hments
j at her expense. How truly may it be said Of
= her-Sbe has nourished and raised up chill
L dren and they have rcbcled against her. A
u spirit Of genial kindness and generous hos
pitalty, perhaps as a general thing in excess
, of that which is found in colder cline, we
admit distinguishes the refined homes Of the
e South Yet these graces tase not root and
flourish exclusively within the tropics. They
?. are like the rose and the violet. which, God
IS be thanked bloom almost everywhere.
: This turbulence, insolence aud cant of no.
e bilty has of late become not so much insult
! ferable as supremely ridiculous. 1t sticks
out in every southern journal, private paper
and public document, from jeff Davis procla-
nation down to the LETTER found the body
d of the dead soldier on the field of battle, in
Il which the spelling is not near up to the pride
e Of ancestry 1t springs principally from two
y sources The first is that every one Of those
e people is acinated with the idea that he has
+ few drops Of blood in his veins from the old
: cavaliers Not mothers son Of them tut
&c what seems to have been born with spur
T. on his heel if not with coat Of mail, for
j. the climate is too hot for that at least with
/ coat Of arms, for there is no oeiyh in that
81 as if there were not well born people in equal
Is proportion between where cotton grows and
s. the North Pole. Their brains are about as
d much added as was poor Don Quix ties
from reading books Of chivslry. Some seem
to think that the farther remote they are from
the main source of respeotsbity the nobler
are they. as if the dwindled riyulet were SUI
perior to the out-gushing fountain. 1t was
Napoleon or Junot, who when once question:
ed about his descent replied boldly "i am my
ancestors" The sentiment OF good birth is a
delicate one, and, if genuine crops out not on
ly in high bearing bA in worthy fruits. 1t
carries with it nc assumption, and you never
hear gentleman talk about it! That must
be set down the veriest snobbery. The
Earl Of This and That would be apt to hold
= =, at respectful distance the Duke of Dismal
Swamp, while the latter was exhibiting his
y, genealogical tree, the saddle on which his
! great, great, great great, great, very great
grandfather rode, and the Aagon out of which
he got drunk.
= Such supereiliousness, however, may
- be mainly traced to the system under
~ which the Southern people have lived. They
are not responsible for its existence among
them, nor are we arguing that they should
- have aboishd it precipitately, derogatory and
. unfortunate as il is. But tey have come
to consider that the mere possession of bonds
men exalts them to the ranks of aristocracy,
no manner how barbarous in manners, how