Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1875-04-30
For the Hour Hai.
HE Literature nfthc South.

Mcssrs. Editors Let me call your
attention to what our amiable and III
partial ueighbors on the other side OF
the Atlantic think of the people Of the
| Soath rs literary people. As ;he ed
ition @ b. of Encyc opOd a Br tAnn4ca,
from which [ quote, is just fresh from
the press, and may not have reached
| you and your readers yet, L make the
extract III full, from article american
Literature" page 719 volume Z.
The attractive culture of the South
| has been limited i'll extent and degree.
| The dollhouse fruit of wealth and leis-
| ure, IT has never struck its root deeply
into native soil. Since the Revolution
days, when Virginia was the nurse of
| statesmen, the few thinkers of AmeTi-
| ca born South of Mason and Dixon
line. outnumbered by those belonging
| to the single State Of Massachusetts,
nave commonly migrated to New York
or Boston IL search OF University
training In the world of letters at
east, the Southern States have sbone
by reflected light; nor is it too much to
say, that maiply by this connection
with the North the Carolinas have,
been saved from sinking to the level
Of Mexico or the Antilles. Whether
seem that the tropical sun takes the
poetic fire out of Anglo-Saxon veins,
and the Incidence VIII Oh is the con
comltant OF desputism has the sane
iiTmS Juggling fleet. Like the Spartan
mafshallng his hosts, the planter
lounging among his slaves was made
dead TO art by a paralyzing sense OF
his own superiority. All the best
transatlantic literature is inspired by
the spirit OF contids nce-often over
cOntldence-ln labor. 1t has Only
fourIshed freely in free soil; and for
almost all its vitality and aspirations,
its comparatively scant performances
and large promise, we must turn to
Now England. Its defects aud merits
are those of the national character as
developed III the Northern States, aud
We must seek for an explanation of its
pecuiarItieB in the physical aud moral
circumstances which surrounded |
them"
1t must be remembered that this is
not magazine article intended for a |
momentary and sensational effect, but |
Is from the pen of an author SELF c.ed |
by the editor of the British Encyclop- |
because of his peculiar fitness for the |
the task /! That it is to be recognized |
among the millions of English speak |
ing people of the world who hive no
means of knowing better, as a correct |
estimate of the literary standing of the
Southern States How long are we
of the South to serve all such writer's
as the horfid example of the blighting
effects of the sin of slavery, and pass
it by unnoticed?
The article above quoted, to my
mind, not only betrays cuIpable lack
OF Information on the part of the
author, but has III it an undertone of
spite against the South sole
Iy because they were slave owners.
What efft c. wonld it have Oh this
author to tell him that the Cdrolinas
have had their universities and their
literary men of a very supt rior- order.
He would perhaps not consider Dr.
Hawks Or Mr.. Griffith McRee histo-
rians, because he Lad never head OF
them; either would Judge Toomer or
udge CASTOR be consider ed the peers
of MIR. Rufus Choate. for the same
r JASON; nor W. u the poems of Mr.
Hayne, of Mr.. Ilnlrod, be anything
more than the feeble limitations oil
some British celebrities. He would
p erhaps think that Miss Fishers T,
novels, or Gen1 Johnston Pettigrew's ,