The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1880-07-27

Cleveland Plain Dealer, July iol
"AFOOLpD ERRANW.''
Editors Plain Dealer: Since coming
into Ohio from my Florida home, have
encountered Q vast amount of intelligence
concerning affairs at the South. Men have
honored me with various questions which
twelve years of observation have qualified
me to answer with some accuracy, and,
on receiving my replies, they have inform
ed me that my views differ very widely
from those of Judge Tourgee, the author
of " A FOOLS Errand." This information
has been communicated in such a way as
to make me understand that difference
from Judge Tourgee is assumed to be
equivalent to distance from truth. have
thus been led to bestow a careful reading
upon the book which has so quickly be-
come an authority of the first order. The
result is that / have a few thoughts to
which am strongly inclined to give ex-
preston.
GA FOOLS Errand is a work of fiction,
written in the interest of the political
party to which its author is passionately
attached. 1t probably owes its origin to
recollection of the success which attend
ed the publication of " Uncle Toms Cab
in," and to desire to create such pop
ular conception of Southern society as
could never be evolved from plain state
ment of facts. 1t is the fruit of an imagi-
nation heated by partisan rancor and sec
tional hatred. No one can deny that its
author possesses literary abilities of a
high order. 1t is evident, too, that nature
has endowed him with many fine social
qualities. It is probable that his malevo-
lent feelings are directed against masses
rather than against individuals, and !
should not be surprised to find him sus-
taining most friendly relations with a
member of a class which, as a class, he
hates with all the strength of his nature.
Among other qualifications for the work
he has taken in hand, he knows how to
obtain credit for candor by ascribing some
good characteristics to those against
whom he aims to excite animosity. So far
all is clear, bat when we attempt to locate
Judge Tourgee in the moral scale, our
task becomes difficult. He says in his
preface: "The one merit which the story
claims is that of honest, uncompromising
truthfulness of portraiture. Its pictures are
from life" What does he mean by
this? Does he simply claim that he
has personal knowledge of incidents
similar to those which he describes? If
that is all he means, it is easy enough to
believe him. The kilograms in any morn
ing paper afford material for almost as
many pictures of criminal conduct as are
contained in his whole book. But a man
ofhis intelligence ought to know that the
great body of his readers understand him
to mean that he has given an impartial
account of the social and political forces
at work in the South, and that true con-
ception of Southern society can be gath
cred from the circumstances which he
narrates. Does he "palter with us in a
double sense ?" Has he conscience that
can be satisfied with the fact that his
words are susceptible of an Interpretation,
according to which they would be true,
while he knows they will receive, almost
universally, an Interpretation according
to which they are thoroughly false? It
is possible, however, that his burning de-
sire, which he nowhere disguises, to see
complete transformation of Southern soci-
ETY. effected by the Republican party,
through the agency of the Federal gov
ernment, has blinded his understanding
and made his imagination the source Of
all his convictions in regard to Southern
affairs Another hypothesis is that party
spirit has brought him TO the adoption, in
all sincerity, of the doctrine that "the end
jnstifes the means" However these
things may be, it 10 certain that con-
sciously or uncOnsciously, Judge Tourgee
is utterly dishonest from the beginning
to the end of his book
Before proceeding to consider the specific
Misrepresentation contained In "a FOOLS
Errand," it is wen for rs to get at the
standpoint of the author. We find that,
in his view, the South has been treated
altogether tho gently by the national gov
eminent. The measures for reconstruc-
tion savored too much Of what he calls
6 sentimentalism TO obtain his approba-
tion. LIN fast, he would have had no r6-
construction at all Of the plan which his
hero-his idealized approved he says,
g 1t proposed that the States which had
been in the infected region should be
quietly left to molder in the grave of re-
bellion-the bed they had themselves pre-
pared that the region they once em-
braced should be divided mp into terrific
and 90 remain Tor . score Of years under
national control, but without power TO
mold or fashion the national legislation"
Thus We go that our brilliant author
went 70 the Goath desiring 70 zee the peo-
pie among whom be took up his abode,
ssziPpsL Or every vsstige Of political lib