The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1869-05-15
A Southern Minister.

IN sSe"shSEn NkahsNtSEs
Russell" who writes TO the Boston Ira.
wl'er from the Battle-felds OF the South"
communicates the following In n recent let
ter:
In the moraing, before the arrival Of the
train At Mon tgomery, we arose from onr Steep
less couch and seated ourselves with large
fat man, whose rest, like ours, had been any
thing but refreshing. He was however, IN
very agreeable state OF mind, and upon learn
myth nj we were from Massachusetts,, engaged
earnestly I'm conversation. We soon learned
tina. he was n Presbyterian minister, and
owned a large plantation in Georgia. He
stated that his name was OGlethorp, and that
no was a chaplain during the war. He related
MANY incidents OF war life, and said that he
met a Massachusetts chaplain in the prison
ers, camp who one day, while they were haul
ing wood, suddenly got angry 1t the mule and
cnrsed terribly And when the speaker re-
proved him for the sin the profaner excneed
himself by saying that he was on an " indcfi-
mite leave Of absence from God and Gods
people" ,...., A., .,.,.
prisoners and that there We're many Massa
chusetts men buried at Harper's Ferry and
vicinity whose names we could get, and whose
graves we could find, on application to Z gen
tleman to whom he would give lis 4 letter OF
introduction. He stated incidentally that the
Massachusetts cavalry around Winchester,
and in fact all who were stationed there, were
rs near "deyils" rs men could well be.
v.
death than n brute" After n time the con-
versation turned upon politics and the state
of the South.
What do you think Of the warp asked
we "Do you see in it the hand OF God"
y" "No, sir: not at all. The devil and the
Yankees produced that awful disaster"
Don't you, ~ = Presbyterian, believe that
Gods hand is connected with all the changes
and events of lifeT'
"Wel, l can't exactly say; / cannot see
how-no no, sir; the devil conducted the
affairs OF the late war, aided by his satellites
the Yankees
az am n little surprised At your doctrine,
for cannot but believe that God permitted
this bloodshed in order that many things
might be accomplished, and one OF those
things was the extinction of slavery
"Ha! Ia I! ha , no no." laughed he; ais
that your doctrine? That is the most damna-
Bile and inconsistent doctrine ever suggested
Why? The nggers were better OIL III every
particular; had more pleasure, more money,
were better members of the community rs
slaves, and God decreed that they should be
slaves and when the Yankees freed them they
ignored the Bible, and curse is now coming
upon them"
"What curse %
"Why the race is running' out. Talk
about educating the uigger when the civil
iZation you have in the North is cursed t
God The women Of the civilized Yankee
don't have children, and the race OF the \ an
kce and the Niger is doomed together. The
niggers have but few children now, and fifty
wears hence there VIII be but few lett 10 quar-
rel over. Their doom is sealed when you at
tempt to civliZe them. You Yankees don
know what you are about. But when your
cotton mills all come to Georgia and Alabama,
when all that's left for You 10 do is TO furnish
the world with ice and stone, then may he
you will begin TO see the effect on the North
of this aboiitionism."
"Don't you regard it rs Il religious duty TO
educate the people asked we.
"No, sir. The Jews were the most favored
people on earth, and not more than one in
fifty could read or write. 1t is convenient,
but not duty"
"Did you own slaves yoursclf2" again We
asked.
YES, sir; forty of them One day stripped
a dozen of them and thrashed them for not at
tending church, rs was my duty, ana the next
day Wilson made Il raid on us, freeing the
whole lot, and now i never see one of them
nggers without his threatening TO thrash me.
Now, didn't lash them because l loved to do
so simply, but rs Il matter of duty, for l was
.oonsiblc for their religious welfare"
8 your view of the matter surprises me
somewhat, considering your profession said
we. "When the Yankees came down here TO
restore the Union they did not think Of FREQ
ing the slaves"
"Oh, you cannot make me believe that.
The Yankees calculated on the chances. They
saw they had the inside track, and TO vent
their spite they sent men down TO fight. The
Yankees didn't come themselves; they hired
Germans and lrshmen 10 do their fighting
for Them, while they lived ut ease and made
money. The Yankee has overpowered us, not
conquered us; and now l suppose the devil
will be loose for 4 thousand years"
The arrival of the train ut Montgomery
closed the conversation, and we insert it here
rs 1t is merely 4 rehearsal of the same ideas
that we have heard in Il hundred other places
since wanderings began. The South now
see how foolish aud ill-advised was their re-
s beIlion, but the animus of the war still re-
mains Northern men in the South are every
whore treated with rpSnppt and for OllrSplf.
we can say with hospitality and kindness.
But it is the influence of northern capital,
and not of fraternal feeling, which induces
The people TO behave rs they do. Those who
served in the Confederate army, however, are
universally genial i'll their intercourse with the
soldiers of the North, and in many places have
we been made the recipient of kind attentions
merely because we were 4 soldier"