Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1869-12-03
The Southern University.


behalf of this institotion. and in calling
Especial attention to il, wc desire to offer
some hastily written thoughts in regard
to the vans of the South in this matter
of instruction in the higher grades of
learning.
One of the saddest consequences of OF.
melancholy fate since the war, is the en-
tire loss to Us Of all of our own public
schools and Colleges, few as they we're
The Carolinas have seen theirs worse than
destroyed, and the ebbing tide Of blood
carries away with it all traces Of what the
States farther South and West of Us have
been years in building and adjoining, so
that from the Virginia line to the Rio
Grande there was not left standing one
single Institution worthy of support. Was
there ever before. in the history of any
enlightened people, such an intellectual
waste. Not one oasis, not one cool spring
OF knowledge in all this, the fairest land
of earth. No trne Southern man can look
with complacency upon such spectacle;
and thinking men almost sicken and turn
away when they ask themselves the ques-
ton, where are those who are soon to
shape our destiny to get their Intellectual
food, at what fountains shall they drink !?
| Virginia, to be sure, has saved her noble
University; her Military Institute has
| been restored, and the great name of
ROBERT LEE has elevated Washington Col
eye to the condition of an institute of the
.rst class. But everybody sees that those
schools are TOO far away from most Of the
Southern people; middle and poorer clas-
ses can never reach them, and in the
present financial condition Of the South
who can call himself rich Now let us
examine this matter little more closely.
We do not wish TO write in bitterness;
We do not wish to stir one touch Of resent
ment, or to awake one revengeful thought.
Matters of this sort should be lifted above
strife, above the appeals Of the partisan.
But looking back oyer the terrible past;
looking up to where our brothers in arms
are at peace, we believe if we would hear
their voices; if the noble army OF our mar
tyrs could speak to US from the shining
lands it would be in some such language
as this: The precious gift of our blood
and lives has failed to free you from politi-
cal slavery; it hes failed to break the bonds
that bound your bodies, but there is q
freedom you yet may win. Grasp 1T, take
it. never, never lose it, and even in ali this
your desolation, in the midst Of oil this,
j.. III E
mighty sorrows we can say to you if you
prize Alright your opportunities now, we
will not have died in vain. Although po
litical, commercial, and in q measure, So
cial necessities, require close intercourse
with the North, yet, intellectually, you
may be free. Too many precious lives
have been lost; too much blood has been |
split; too many sacrifices have been made
so lose GU Wrest yourselves from your
literary thrtsidom ana you will be free. |
Build up your own places of learning, fill
them with your own men, and your chill
dren will enter upon tho duties Of life free
from the moral social and intellectual
corruption they would bring away from
Any man vino looks about him in the |
interest of morals and religion must see !
that there is something radically wrong, !
something rotten at the roots of the whole
Northern system Of education. Else how
comes it that such creatures as Wendell |
Philips, Thad. Stevens, Jno. W. Forney,
Sumner, Beecher, Anna Dickerson, Ben
Butler, Harriet Beecher Stowe,-yes and |
even Grant-are opponents of the status
Of the people-not accidents merely-but
men. How comes it that
almost all of Sheir reformed religious Or
CARNATIONS are so corrupt that no chris
tian man south can stand ou the same
platform and pray to the same God. What
Presbyteria south, Of either school, can
shake hands with his Northern brother !
Which of the various branches Of the Wes-
ieyan Societies can harmonize with their
Northern allies =? What Southern Baptist
would not throw cold water upon aDy at
tempt to establish fellowship with the
North ? One branch OF the Church of
God, to be sure, that for q while had
separate organization, has reunited III
charity and cordially shaken hands, but
that had been kept pure IL ways that it
is not necessary to mention here. How
comes it, We say, that in morals and re-
ligion We are Us distinct people, as if
broad and trackless ocea4 flowed between
Us. Who does not see, what christian phi
losopher does not know the because that
every fount whence their learning flows
that all their springs of knowledge, that
almost every source of information is pois-
oned with ratioralism and materialism,
and that slaoery of free thinking which
means only intidelity. 1t is just useless in
a Southern community to debate these
points. We have seen the effects, we have
learned the cause. Are we to profit by
the experience, or shall we permit our
selves to be led captive as of old times
Let us say then in all earnestness, in all
kindness, that the blood of our bro hers
will not have flowed in vain, our men will