Knoxville Whig and chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1875-1882, 1875-07-14
TO ANCESTRAL PRIDE

APPEAL ~ ANCESIRALPR PRIDE
We can conceive Of no spectacle
more utterly contemplate than that
Of man without any merit in himself
trying to hold himself up in the world
by the reputation of his ancestors
Great men do not always have great
posterity, and because a lazy young
mans father has been successful. il
does not follow that his fortune is made
as soon as he is born. We have Tile
greatest respect for that feeling
natural to mankind which makes one
proud of his honorable ancestry, but
when we see man trying to make
his way through the world by de-
handing favors on the merit of his
father or grandfather, when he him
self is lazy, imbecile and worthless,
we regard him with feeling Of mix
ed pity and contempt.
We are led to these remarks by
reading the address of John S. Pres.
ton, of South Carolina, recently de-
livered before the Alumni of the Uni.
versity of Virginia at Charlottesville.
1t was peculiarly unpatriotic and i'll
timed, and we are glad to know that
it did not meet with the approval of
those who heard it. The Lynchburgh
Vir9iaid'l, speaking Of it, says:
We are glad TO learn that the senti.
ments of General Preston, though elegantly
expressed, were not received with fay or by
those to whom they were addressed, and do
not indicate the opinions of the sound think
ing people Of Virginia and the South. Let
the Northern journals make a note of this
when they undertake to hold us responsible
for the imprudent utterances of a retired old
gentleman who lived in South Carolina
when it was customary there to denounce
everything north of certain line"
Such Examinations were once popu.
lar enough, but they have had their
day. But, Notwithstanding the SEN
timents Of the speaker were openly
CONDEMNED, the very fact that he was
selected to deliver an address on
such an occasion, clothes his utter.
ances with weight and influence, and
they can not but have q bad effect
upon those who heard them.
His speech was mainly an appeal
to sectional prejudice. He went so
far rs to assail the character of the
pilgrims who landed at Plymouth,
making unfavorable comparisons be-
tween them and the emigrants who
landed at jamestown, of whom
Washington, jefferson, Henry, Pinck-
ney and others who figured honora-
bly, in the days of the revolution,
were the descendants. One he
characterized as the turbulent ia.
matte Of Plymouth Rock" and the
other as the God fearing Christian
of jamestown" He held out the
idea that between the descendants of
two classes so entirely different, there
must be an irrepressible conflict, and
that a Union between the two would
be an unholy alliance. This effort to
awaken strife between the people of
the South and the people of New
England by appealing to ancestral
pride is exceedingly wicked, and
shows most conclusively that the
speaker knew all about the weak
points of the Old Dominion.
How much better it would be, to
incite the enthusiastic young Virgin
ian to deeds Of industry and enter
prise, whereby he might take the
high position in our common coun.
try enjoyed by his forefathers. Teach
him that he is the architect of his
own fortune, and that, however hon.
orable the positions held by his
ancestry, by the exercise of industry
and skill, he may stand just as
high. This would be much better
than appealing to his sectional preiu-
dice and his ancestral pride.