Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1867-09-20
JEFF. THoMPsoN.s LETTER.
BosToN, Mass, Sept. Sd, 1867

TO tie Officers and Soldiers acho acre
ande'' my command during The late AGAR
GENTLEMEN: have received various let
/ tiers from among you, asking what mean
| by my letter to Mr.. Prentice of the Louis
vile Journal, endorsing General Long
street, and what advice l have to offer you
as to your political course L have delayed
answering these letters in hopes that I
would soon return to New Orleans, but,
| finding that I cannot return for several
weeks, and other letters having come that
will brook no delay, have determined to
address YOU a circular, that I may be no
Longer misrepresented and misunderstood
among those who we're my true friends in
our darkest hours and with whom have
shared so many hardshjps and dangers,
successes and defeats.
One of the letters received contains the
gist of all, and [ will answer lit says
"IIongstreet is forever damned throughout
the country which became the theatre of
his immortality. and your old friends are
not reserved III their anathemas against
you. Give me some argument with which
to defend you, for l am too we'll acquaint-
ed with the spirit which animated you in
our disastrous struggle, with your cheerful
endurance of suffering and your persistent
fealty to the last, to believe that you have
abandoned your devoted followers, or have
relinquished the principles OF memories of
the past
For Gods sake what has Longstreet done
to damn him for what am [ anathematised?
from what do [ need defence? The war
produced no purer OF drawer man than Gen
eral James Longstreet, and surely from the
first to the last L have proved myself to be
faithful and true, and | defy any man to
point to one word OF sentence IN my letter
to Mr. Prentice that breathes a want CT love
for our people, or to a fact stated that can
not be substantiated. l am aware that
some scribblers have assailed me, but ''tLey
belong to the Tray, Blanch, and Sweet
heart order, who simply obey the instincts
of their own natures, by barking at what
they do not understand, but am loath to
believe that any tried soldier will doubt
another's honesty because he may differ
with him in the plans to accomplish the
general good, and [ have an abiding faith
that they will let any cOmrade have the
privilege to exercise his own judgment, as
the best manner to build up the country,
without being mathematical, and [, who
was a leader in the beginning and fol-
lower at the end, and who, during the
whole struggle, was with you at the front,
or prisoner Of war, will positively assert,
and manfully maintain my right to express
my opinions freely, upon all subjects af-
fecting the welfare of the South, to and
among SoUthrons, without fear OF favor
from chimerical theorists or bomb-proof
politicians.
If the war was to defend the South in
the exercise of its belief of the right to Sc
cede, then [ do not regretthe fight, though
[ may hare 10 grieve over the death of this
theory. If the war was to preserve African
slavery, then [ do not regret the struggle,
though [ do grieve over the loss OF four
thousand millions of dollars worth of prop
erty, and the sad fate that awaits the poor
negro, but if we fought four years simply
for the personal triumph of some political
partizans, few of whom would still make
us believe that the country is ruined only
because they are excluded from office, then
[ sincerely regret the conflict, and will
grieve anew over the graves of the brave
men who fell around me.
[ must again repeat that 81 did not
fight the United States because [ hated the
United States. 7 did not fight the North
because / hated the North, but fought for
what [ conceived to be the Honor, the
Safety and the Material Interests of the
Southern people, and [ am struggling now,
in another way, to accomplish the same OBJ
iect, and | will make as many sacrifices and
labor as earnestly and persistently as any
man in the South to control the political
elements, to devise plans and projects, and
put in successful operation enterprises that
will build up our poor, desolated and i'm
poverished country. This is what the South
really needs this is all the truly patriotic
men of the North ask and I will advocate
the best plans, in my judgment, to accom-
plish the object, regardless Of who origin
ates or supports them, Wings, Democrats,
Federals, Republicans, Radicals, Conserva-
tives or Eclectics.~
This is all the defence need. Tell the
people I am still for the Honor, Safety and
Material prosperity OF the South, and while
will not cast shadow on the graves of
of our manly struggle, yet [ must bid the
living look to the future, and help build up
our common country from the Atlantic to
the Pacific, from the Lakes to the Gulf
Tell them to remember that political tie
cries like sectarian (religious) theories, are
principles only in the minds Of the bigoted
and foolish, and demagOgues are only too
apt to misapply these terms to mislead
them. Constitutions and Laws are subject
to changes, by legal means and by revolu-
tons, and when changed are to be obeyed;
and if the lessons sad experience teaches
are not needed, then are people unfit for
self-gOVGrnment, and the sad fate OF he
publican Mexico will be our lot. The ex-
tent of the limits to State rights as argued
by Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Ham
ilton and the right to own slaves, were sub
mitted to the arbitrament of the sword,
and in my opinion they were decided, both
against us, and neither our honor, nor our
interests require farther contest for them.
[ can remember, but too well, the years
Of excitement and injury to the country
from the conflict on these theories in Kan
sas, and our late war, with its stricken
fields, its bloody graves, the ruin and desc
lation which followed in its track, is as in
dellibly fixed in my memory, as in any
mans in the whole South and while re-
membering the dread past, I must receive
its lessons, and not quarrel over dead theo-
ries, but look to the lice issues of the pres
ent and future for Though [ may be dis
franchised,) it is still my duty TO help re-
store tranquility, and build up the broken
prosperity of the country, for the widows
and orphans, my soldiers and my children
sakes, and on all practical questions affect
ing the material interests, such as Banks,
Tariffs, Taxes, Suffrage, Internal Improve
ments and Revenues, will be found as
true to the South as [ was in her stormiest