The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1882-09-06
The Norll, and ihe south.
[From ne IndustIial south.l

Wy are soWewhat surprised when
they hear American citizens speak
ing Of the North and the South as if
they were two distinctive countries,
with two distinctive governments.
And Americans travelling in foreign
lands are equally astonished to find
that not only the two sections but
even the several States OF this Union
are unrecognized there.
The one comprehensive name of
the United States embraces all parts
and portions of this great country,
in the eyes Of all foreigners; and
among our own people the day is not
distant, we trust, when every north
ern man will be so proud Of the
South that he will make no allusion
to sections in speaking of his coun-
try, aud when every southern man
will be SO proud of the North that
he will claim her resources as the
resources of his country and her peo-
pie as his people, without explana-
tion or distinction as to any divis-
ions heretofore known between the
two sections. As long as slavery ex-
listed the Southern States were neces-
sarily characterized by all the pecu-
liarities, political, social, aud indus
trial, which were inevitably incident
to an institution whose powerful and
persuasive Influences were as percep-
tiblein every thought and in every
feeling throughout the slave States
as was the very atmosphere breathed
by our people. II was this fact which
was the great factor in the workings
OF everything that was southern. 1t
was this fact which was the great
factor in bringing about that divi,
sion of sentiment which eliminated
twenty-one years ago in u sanguinary
war between the people Of the two
sections. 1t was this fact which was
the great factor in producing the
striking dissimil.ude between the
North and the South. Aud now that
the cause of the differences between
them is gone, and gone forever, the
differences, themselves, as the effects
of the cause, must also soon cease to
exist.
The northern states and the south.
ern States are all, and equally too,
American States. The northern PEG.
pie andthe southern people are all,
and equally too, American people.
This sameness of soil and of race is
in obedience to the ordinances of
God: AMI whatever God NAV do, man
cannot undo it. Differences in sur.
roundings, differences in education,
differences especially in institutions
directly affecting the pursuits, the
habits, the customs, and the indiyid.
ual interests Of any people. must, of
course, rery soon produce differences
apparently ingraiined in the natural
character of that people, but, really,
only insrafted upon it. This was
ccnspicuously illustrated in the eff,
fects Of negro slavery upon the south
ern people. 1t gave direction to
their energies. Itgave shane to their
thoughts. II gave tone to their feel
Iings. l. moulded their manners. 1t
fashioned their habits 1t even edu.
Gated them TO such peculiarities in
usage of the same language spoken
in the free States as to make the
southern nan easily distinguished
from the northern man BY his pro.
nunciation alone. But all this is on
the surface. 1t is educational, and
not inherent. 1t is artificial, and
not natural. It is the effect of cir.
cumstances, and not the result Of any
contrariety established by cthnoligi.
cal law showing the northern man as
one of nature and the southern man
as of another. If the negro slavery
had obtained in the North as it did
in South, neither that people nor
this people would ever have known
the differences between them to
which we are referring. The same
habits and manners ana customs the
same social usages the same indus.
trial pursuits the same political
tenets would have prevailed there Ms
here
If by "the North" and "the South