Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1884-03-22
HON. JOHN HOUSE.

HIS Letter to the immigration Convention. !.
A letter from the Hon. John F.
III OuSe, was read in which he said
he was unable to attend the meet
ing on account of his foot and leg,
with which he was yet suffering
considerably, but, said he, 81 can
not let the occasion pass without
assuring you of my deep sympathy
with the object of the meeting.
When look over the South to-day,
and reflect on what she has lost and
suffered, / can scarcely realize the
momentous rapidity, with which
she has recovered from her wounds,
and the manhood that has enabled
her to stagger to her feet again I'M
der the load that oppressed her.
No people of ancient or modern
times ever displayed greater recu-
perative energy under so many adj
verse and depressing circumstances.
1t was a very generally received
opinion before and during our late
unpleasant civil war, that while the
people OF the South possessed the
courage and dash necessary to the
achievement of brilliant results,
they were wanting in the patience
and f0rtitude necessary to sustain
a prolonged or protracted struggle,
and that in fixedness of purposes and
powers of endurance the Northern
people were greatly their superiors..
Without undertaking to institute
any comparisons as to the charac-
teristics of the people of the two
sections, / may be pardoned for
saying that if it be fact that the
people of the South are deficient in
the qualities suggested, its illustra-
ton must be sought elsewhere than
in the history of the last struggle.
And after the struggle ended and
the smoke disappeared from the
battle-ields, what people were ever
called on to look out upon gloom
Ter prospect, or to wrestle with a
harder fate? Property amounting
to millions destroyed in a day or an
entirely revolutiOnized, their social
system shaken to its foundations
called upon to meet a state of af-
fairs that ran counter to the educa-
ton and prejudices OF alifetime, no
people were ever called upon to face
more unwelcome or forbidding
condition OF affairs than that which
sternly confronted the people of the
South at the close of the war.
How they met the situation, over
came its difficulties and encounter
ed its dangers, and solved its COM
plicated problems, will appear upon
the pages of future history as wit |
neSses of their worth, and as mOn-
umentS of their manhood.
Light is beginning to dawn at
last. Our people are beginning to
be better understood. They have |
been misapprehended and misun-
derstood. The advantages of our |
soil and climate and resources are !
beginning to be appreciated. The
capabilities of our soil, the superb
ority of our climate and the extent
of our resources, who can fOretell?
When the dead capital that sleeps
in our untunnelled mountains, un-
cultivated fields shall yield their
supplies to the power of capital and
the land OF industry, a result will
be produced beyond the power of
present consumption. All that is
needed is to turn in the light and
let the world see what is contained
within our limits. Let Castle |
Gardens be established at New
York and New Orleans, or other
suitable Southern ports. | hope
and trust the Legislature of every
Southern State will second with Il
ready and liberal hand the efforts
of the Southern immigration Asso-
citation to acduaint the world with
the advantages of our section.