The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1866-12-14
dered vanity on his part. But In the inte-
rest Of Truth, In the vindication and honor
Of the nannle Of the South. In their ger.

dered vanity on Ms part. Dut III the lnte-
rest Of Truth, In the vindication and honor
Of the people Of the South, In their SER
vice, wherein bis pen has been enlisted.
he does point with pride to the extraordi.
nary reception the history he has written
under the title Of The Lost Cause has OBJ
tanned from the first authorities in the
| critical literature Of this country and of
Europe. He is proud to know that his
book has carried to the farthcst parts of
the world the glory and honor of the
Southern name. The bark or whine of
interested critics does not disturb him,
| when educated men stamp his work and
give Ii a permanent place in the historical
literature of the world, and declare it the
browning vindication Of the Southern
cause. The author would not say so
much personally for himself, but his book
belongs TO the people of the South as
we'll as to himself. If the voice of foreign
critics may be appealed to without vanity,
and as an illustration of the good effect of
a work written in behalf of the South, the
following will not be out of place here,
taken from Trubner's american and ORR
entail Literary Record, a London publica-
ton, which processes to register the re-
markable literary products of the world.
"This is confessedly a southern history
ofthe war, written with a southern bias, bya
southern man, proud of the achievements
of his fellows, and firmly convinced of the
Justice of their cause. Bearing this in
mind, the reader will peruse it with in
terest it presents many new facts, ex-
plains disputed points, and records with a
graphic power, rarely equalled, the most
stirring events of the war. Mr.. Pollard is
an experienced writer, and has had ample
opportunities of collecting the material for
this history. During the whole period of
the war, as editor of the Richmond Erdmi-
ner he had brought before him all those
minute facts that 60 TO make up history,
and was able, from personal observation, to
Judge of the animuS of the southern actors
in the great struggle. His volume is not a
dry chronological record, but a lively con-
tinuous narrative, in which political and
military events rapidly succeed each other.
On political events lie writes freely he
was not an admirer of President DaviS's
| policy, and his censurcs are numerous, and
expressed with vigor. His narrative Of
military events is very intercsting-few
writers excel him in picturing battle scenes.
w Hllc ICdulHS AIS puSco Z oSCLi w ha'O
before us all the stirring incidents of the
battle; the air seems alive with artillery !;
the steady advance-the rushing charge
the deadly encounter-the confused re-
treat, all seem moving before us. Mr..
Pollard prints here, for the first time, a
Report of the Joint Select Committee of
the Confederate Congress, appointed to In
vestigate the Condition and Treatment of
Prisoners Of War; made in February,
1865, which ought, and we think will, set
foreUer at rest tie charge of ~inhWndnity to
their prisoners maze against the late Con
federdte Government"
If the author of The Lost Cause had lone
nothing more than answer to the attention
and satisfaction of the world the charge of
"rebel ~barbarjtieS," so repeatedly and
plausibly urged in northern publications,
this alone should entitle him to the con-
sideration and gratitude Of the South. But
he intends to make other claims on their
regard and (however it may interest his
personal enemies to know it, his pen has
not yet stopped, and is now busy on an
other theme of southern glory, in which
the vanity Of many selC-designated great
men may be alarmed, but in which the
mass of his countrymen will find a new
illumination Of the Confederate name and
an arrangement of the ornaments of their
arms not unlikely to obtain the envy of
their enemies and the regard of the world.
EDWARD 4. POLLARD.
Ne,1 York, December 6, 1866.