The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1866-02-01
ss.1To see Ourselves as Others
see Us.N

as ,OtnerS% sec US, no fsetlOlitl pcInS WIN
deny. Hence we copy from the Boston,
Courier the following article, headed
I" Southern Resources" in order that our
readerslmay have the benefit of knowing
in what estimate the South and her re-
sources are held at a point in which are
congrogated SO many of her enemies and
prosecutors. The Courier, like the Post,
both influential journals, and those whose
sentiments they represent, though in
minority, nevertheless exercise much in
.fuence in Boston and in New England.
EThe article we copy is only one of many
in which " Southern resources" havebeen
favorably referred to:
The view entertained by many persons
that the people Of the Southern States
havc been subjugatcd, and that they may
be held as conquered people, is altogether
erroneous, and any one can see for him
self, who will look at the facts in the case.
1t was the disaffection of the people of the
South, with their rulers at Richmond, and
the, desertion of the soldiers of their
armies, which decided the contest. When;
several months before the final consum-
nation of the War, Jefferson Davis, in o
public address, stated that two-thirds of
the Confederate army were absent with
out leave, in other words, had deserted
and were scattered over the great and
thinly settled country, SO that they could
not be found and brought back, every
many whose discernment was worth any
thing, knew that tho question of victory
was settled The fact that Davis himself
did not see this, before that time, and
make the best treaty he could, we have.
always considered miracle, and plainly
demonstrated that,an overruling power,
higher than man, was riding on the whirl-
wind and directing the storm.
Itshould be remembered that the great
body of the rank and file of the Southern
armies were not Shareholders. The lead
ers went into the war for political power,
and they dcluded the mass of the people
with the plea that the North was inva-
ding the rights of the South and seeking
to free the slaves and make them equal
to the. whites. 1t was against negro
equality that the soldiers at the South
took the field. This it was that pre-
vented the Southern Congress from
emancipatinssthe slaves in the second
year of the war. They were told by those
who knew the army well that this meas
ure would be the signal for the breaking
up of the army, as the men would say
you are doing the very thing which you
called upon us to fight against and pre-
vent the North from doing, and if you
intend to do it we may as wellstop fight
ing. At thelast moment, when the Con-
gress at Richmond was discussing the
question, though it's adoption then was
too late to avail anything, they were still
told by men who knew the temper offhe
army that if the negroes were freed and
armed the white soldiers would fight no
longer; and this has proved true, for from
that moment descrtionas.beforc alarmingly
large multiplied daily.
In addition to all this, the Southern
armies received but little pay at any time
during the war; and nothing at all during
the last two years. This with the. knowl-
edge they had acquired that their leaders
had involved them in war which they
had not suficientca capacity either to carry
on or bring to close, was amply sutf-
cient to. demoralize and destroy any
army.
Thus much for the war and its end
Now let us look a moment at-the present
condition and tho future prospects of the
population Of the South. In the fist
place, the South has not lost SO many
men in the war as is supposed. The great
numbers Of missing men were large
proportion of them deserters, who did not
20 back to their homes, but scattered all
over that vast and thinly settled region,
in order that they might not be found
The armies having been gathered from
an agricultural population spread over an
immense territory. gave every opportd-
nifty which could be desired for successful
desertion. In the next place, great
deal more of wealth was preserved and
secrcted at the South by those who op-
posed the war at the outset, and were
fearful of tue consequences during its
nrorress. than is generally supposed