The Portland daily press., 1880-05-25

Editor Neao York Tribune:
SIR-The numerous attempts which have
been made to fix an autobiographic character
upon 'A FOOLS Errand' have been somewhat
provoking and very ludicrous. / desire space
in your columns to state that no mans life is
there intended to be drawn. So far as the in
ciden is of the work are concerned, almost ev-
cry one of them is simple fact. They are gath
cred from numerous lives, and attributed to
such of the characters as the action of the story
demanded.
The views of public affairs attributed to
Comfort Servosse, and the deductions there
from are those which the author held at the
times set forth in the story and the conclusions
which he reached are those which the author
has long held, in common with most northern
men who have been in the furnace heat of the
reconstruction contests from the hour when
the miracle of emancipation was fresh to all
minds and hearts until the present. 1t was
this experience which inspired the book, and
from the knowledge which it gave, the facts
were CLEANED with which the various charac-
ters are fitted forth, and the spirit and tenden-
cy of events illustrated.
Like Comfort Servosse, the author at first
wondered at the manifestations of the power
of the past, only half comprehended by him,
over those who had been reared under its influ-
ences. He despised the timidity and caution
of the native Unionist, wondered at the AFRO
gance and prejudice of the former ruling class,
was angry at the servility and submission to
insult and outrage of the freedmen. AS he
grew better informed he began to pity them all
because of tho past whose influence had made
them what they were.
Then, when the great counter-revolution set
in, and the spirit of the dead Confederacy over
threw and defed the power of the nation;
when the clement which had inaugurated war
reconquered for the South its old power, even
enhanced and strengthened, the author felt all
that admiration for the audacity, skill and dar-
ing manifested and the success achieved which
is expressed by Servosse. And when at length
they succeeded, by persistent and unblushing
arrogance in compelling the North to approve
their methods, excuse their eXceSses, and in
dorse their justification, he felt the same an
cry amaZement and admitted the justice of
their contempt which the fact of their success
engendered against the North. He admitted
with regret and shame that from 1860 until to-
day the ruling class of the South have been
consistent and true to themselves They have
yielded nothing, surrendered nothing, and lost
nothing of political power. Overwhelmed in
conflict they have triumphed in the political
arena, and that triumph, under ordinary Cir
| cumstances, has been the most brilliant of any
| age or country
| This fact is admirably illustrated by the re-
cent affair at West Point. The animatng
| spirit of the confederacy was hostility to the
| recognition of the negros manhood. The
| South had not then and has not now any an
| tipathy to the negro as "nigger." 1t approves,
| indorSes and likes him as such. 1t only hates
| him as man, an equal, a political coordinate,
| an element or representative of power 1t is
the same spirit which ostracized, ignored and
| insulted Whitaker. There was no ill-will to-
wards him as an individual. He was amiab.e,
| unobtrusive and forbearing. 1t is only as a
cadet, an inchoate officer, that he was tabooed,
| insulted and ostracized, if nothing worse. III
! he had blacked boots he would have been well
enough. 1t is only when he .aspres to be
man, to hold rank and power and place by vir-
tue of the nations bounty and his own efforts,
like his fellow cadets, that he becomes offen-
| sive to West Point.
When the Confederacy was in the last ditch,
in the very article of death, it refused to save
| its life by abandoning principle and arming
| the slave. When the nation was in its hour OF
peril it besought the help of the slave, and
| through his aid achieved success. But, now
that the peril is past the spirit of the dead Con-
| federacy is stronger at our national academy
| than the power of the slave-freeing and slave
| preserved republic That the South despses
| US tHlS Wcdh apaluoulucub anu VI
| our allies is both natural and just. 1t has the
right, too, to plume itself on its own conssten-
| cy.
| What is true of the character of Comfort
Servosse is true of most of the other characters.
| They are types merely, clothed with incidents
| gathered from far and near. An interview in
| the columns of one OF your recent Sunday is
| sues names some persons whom the person in
terviewed supposes to have been intended. A
| gentleman from South Carolina writes: 81
know Col Vaughn-fve hundred of him." A
| prominent Georgian writes: "You must have
| known B. You have traced him to dot. !"
| 1t is the realistic faithfulness of detail which
has given this idea and led to this error of in
tended personal identity in regard to most of
| the characters ONE OF THE FOOLS.