National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1886-02-13
A Reviewer Briefly Reviewed.

When Gen. Robert Toombs made his exit
from the stage Of life he left at least one
other distinguished southerner who is and
means to be to the end of his cNreeras thor
oughly unreconciled to the results of the
war for the Union as he himself was. We
do not refer TO jefferson Davis for his ir-
reconcilability and unreconstructedness
although sufficiently pronounced, do not
quite mount to an all-absorblng passion.
He recognizes that there are some things In
this world besides the "lost cause" to
which he may occasionally devote q thought
without being guilty of infidclity to the one
great object Of his alteration. The person
TO whom we refer-the man who still lives
and moves and has his being in the con-
federacy, the man who has learned nothing
of the lessons of history since the army of
Northern Virginia was in the fields the
Rev, II. L. Dabney d. D., IL. D., n teacher
Of theology aud writer OF "Southern His
torical Papers,
This gentleman has recently written a
historical paper entitled "Cable Reviewed,
or What the South Fought for" Mr..
Cable, the reader win remember, has been
guilty Of cutting loose from the corpse OF
the confederacy and in so doing has NOR
tally and unforgivably offended the bour-
bon Democrats of the entire south. Mr.
| Cable stated the fact that slavery was the
ca2se of the wRr-a fact known Of all men
known undoubtedly to the Rev. K. L.
/ Dabney, ID. D., Ii. d. But that gentle
man puts in a denial. He says Of Mr.. Ca
bic that he sis the first southern man we
have ever met with who seems not to have
grasped the plain distinction between the
occasion of an effect and its cause. He is
the only southern man we ever heard of
who thought slavery was the cause OF our
resistance; all the rest, from the peasant up
to the statesman, knew that slavery was
but the circumstance Of the attack which
furnished the incidental occasion Of our re-
sistance, while its moving cause was the de-
sire to preserve vital right to equality and
liberty for ourselves aud our children"
/ This is quibbllng, pettifogging, quite ur-
worthy of d. d. and LII. ID. and
/ teacher of theology. There are no two
| facts Of human history that stand more
clearly, positively, and unchaugeably In
the relation of cause and effect than slavery
and the war.
But we will let DIR. Dabney state what IN
his opinion was the real cause of the war.
This teacher of the young men Of the
south who are to be teachers in the pulpits
of the south, this writer of history, the his.
tory that is taught to the youth of the
south, puts this in cold type:
AS we read Mr.. Cables astounding mistake,
we wished that no had witnessed the clear
definition of this plain distinction which we
! saw given in the first public meeting we ever
attended In the cOniederacy By poor peasant
youth little above lout in intelligence. 4
captain Of volunteers was asking for recruits;
one and another of the country youth were
going forward to enroll themselves, whea on
bench near u.s. we saw this by.play. The young
man, blushing and trembling with omblrras3.
ment, wGs half Tislngto go forward. coarse,
sensual old man, known for his slavery to the
bottle, sitting beside him, was pulling him
down by the skirt of his coat saying, with an
oath "DOnt be q fool; sit sim; you have got
no niggers to fight for" The young man ut
last firmly pushing his hands away, rose and
said ~ know that; but I've got TO fight to
| keep the Yankees from making Niger of
| me-" lie saw clearly what, II seems our
audience has never seen, So, all the way up
to the other extreme of the social scale, the
southern judgment was equally clear. GEN
II. +, Lee saw the same thing when he, the
owner of hundreds of bondsmen said he
would cheeTfully surrender every one to pre-.
serve peace, were that the real issue to DO
| settled,
Was ever such trash perpetrated by amy
writer In this country beforeS Was there
ever a time before when the perpetrator OF
such rot could hold high station IN society,
in religious circles, in literatureY Gen. Lee
left the flag of his country and fought
against the Union "to keep the Yankees
from making Niger Of him" "rhe
southern Judgment was clearn that the
men of the south must take up arms "to
keep the Yankees from making nlggers Of
them" 1t would be an insult 10 the Intel
ligonce Of our readers to attempt any reply
10 such q monstrous falsehood-although II