The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1880-07-07

VI " VlhhllhS Cy mOdl
COSMOPOLITAN in one aspect, the Amer
leans are at the same time provincial
people. They are the last corners on the
stage of nations, and, as if not assured of
their position, they are the most nervous
ly sensitive to criticism. You may praise
America to an American to any degree
you please, no matter how thick you lay
1t on, and, with an entire absence of all
exercise of the critical faculty, he will
smile and show his delight in thousand
ways; he will take you into his arms, and
tell you, you are the finest fellow in the
world But just hint in the most deli
cate way that the picture is not perfect
venture to point out that there is lit
tie blemish in the coloring just here or a
little pimple on the nose Just there, and
he will regard you as an ignoramus in a
moment.
In England an author may criticise
the manners of the people, the character
OF the people, the character of the laws,
the manner in which the laws are exc
cuted, and may indeed denounce or ridi-
Guile national vice or national foible,
as it may strike him, and the Briton will
receive it all in the same catholic temper
that he would bear any other subject
discussed.
The Frenchman would not be equally
patient. He has more vanity, and less
solidity of character.
But our American is at once provincial
and vain, and he Gin the land of the free
and the home of the brave) is the most
irritable person in the world under any
criticism of the national character.
A short time since, we felt so outraged
at the acquittal of the murderer Currie
in Texas, that we called attention to the
fagrant nature of the crime which was
thus suffered to go UNPUBLISHED, and in
the same connection intimated that there
was too much of this sort of thing at the
South. When, we asked, "was white
man bungY 1t recalled many similar
cases, and, among others, that terrible
affair, about year ago, of the murder of
Allston in Georgia.
We expected to be called to account
for these remarks; we did not expect it
from the Southern Presbyterian or from
any enlightened and candid mind.
Our respected contemporary devotes
three quarters of column to vindication
of the South, and proceeds to prove that
"the laws generally fin the Southern
States are administered as faithfully as
in any part of the United States"
Even if the criminal laws are admins
tered as faithfully in the South as in any
part Of the United States, what sort of
justification is that, considering how bad
ly they are administered all over the
United States?
Having had occasion to animadvert
right frequently with some little sharpness
on matters in the North, it has not been
complained of; but the very first time we
criticise anything at the South, we are
gently punctured from South Carolina.
We wrote what we wrote deliberately.
and we knew whereof we spoke. We
were referring to the execution of the
criminal law in the South Virginia in
cluded) in cases of homicide. We were
not referring to that class Of cases which
are paraded in the Northern journals
under the head Of Southern Outrages. A."
We had reference to the general enforce
ment Of the law against murder, both be-
fore and since the war.
Now, if the Southern Pre85yterian
means to affirm that in the South land
the is very far from being free from
condemnation in the same matter the
crime Of taking human life has been pun
ished as the statutes of the land require.