The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1892-09-25

ing In such excmplars as General Lee ana
One of the differences between. the
Southern baron and his prototype OF the
twelfth century lay In the fact that tne
former. plundered his own family py ns
wasteful prodigality. while the lae,e,
numbered his neighbors by more open ana
violent methods. tContradicteo III aoo''
extract from page 9O) -, ..o
Then follows the usual parallel OF ine
Northern writer, trite as II is faise, De
tween the medieval Norman ana tne
ante-bellum Southerner, with his barpa-
rons bosnitality. his reckless prodigality,
b;s ignorance. arrogance, injustice, ana
co cor for interiors; his time dissipated
n;chflv debauches, IN which II was III,
cumbent on the guest to drink hiinsei
under the table; indeed, this serVle copy
list records the recreations OF a rurai poP
ulation as their business IN NE, anu .lei
occasional lapses from prosperity, coin
mon to every people, as their norln .st ,on
dition Yet we must credit him with one
saving clause: The South was never
barbarous. for it possessed picturesque
civilization marked by charm OF nina ana
manners, both in men and women. TOT
this much. thanks! A stranger to TINS
country might reasonably conclude tnai
this primitive and picturesque people,
as quick to slay as TO fOndlc, Divert IN
tents. dressed in skins, and lived on fsn
and venison, qualified by Indian corn.
From the retrospective cast thai, per
vades this reminiscence of the South
one can easily conceive Mr.. Trent III
the attitude of Lord Macaulay S New
Zealander standing on London Drldse
contemplating the ruins OF an eAtlnCt
race. He does not seem TO realize tnat
the people of whom he writes are the
elder portion of the community among
whom he to-day lives, moves and mas
his being Of he ever comes out OF MS IL
brary to mngle among them that we
are all the result of the system he de-
nounces-feudalism, chivalry and sla-
very. No, he is one Of those who pc
lieve in an Old South and New South
that the war was civil, po-
litical and social deluse that
washed away all traces of the past, and
we are a new people with no traditions
Of the elders-no heredity, which, he says,
demoralized those who preceded us; III
is TO be presumed that we of ontecoeiium
period have been refined by the lres or
war into liberal and enlightened citizens;
that by the benign influence and example
of the Yankee missionary we have been
renewed, regenerated and olsen
thralled."
PRIMoGENITUBy.
Zone more feudal NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
geniture-although not acknowledged by
law, hourished in the South. ms
young hero (the eldest SOM was to be
come the head of the house, was sent to
Yale or Harvard, and after to Europe;
OF Travelled on horseback through the
South to visit his scattered cousins. 1t
was no great matter if he were not a
reading man. but he must ride well,
shoot well, land he might have added,
and speak the TRUTH In word, while
the father afforded his son every facility
for polite and literary culture, he cared
not a rush that he failed to avail him
self of the privilege. In truth, a few
students patronized Northern colleges,
but as a rule they were educated at the
University of Virginia and William and
Mary College, whose standard has al
ways We'd with any Northern seat Of
learning, and whose chairs have been
filled by professors pre-eminent in their
several departments. Then the younger
sons are represented as being wholly left
to shift for themselves, and the father
would hardly have thanked st. BOthan
for the fact that only one of his sons
could pen line, but if one had turned
author i'll a professional way, he would
have had a sneaking feeling that the
family was somehow disgraced. The
other learned professions were, however,
open to the younger sons, when there
were not enough plantations to 90 the
rounds, but as these sons made enough
money they proceeded TO re-establiSh
their position among the gentry of their
native county by the purchase of plan
tation. Then they shaved the rest of
their lives at their profe ssions, trying to
make enough money to cover their
losses from bad overseers and waste
full system of culture" p. 80.
one also sees how well informed the
private gentleman of the South always
was on political subjects. Men who knew
nothing of the steps Richeleu had taken
to centralize France could tell you every
step IN that direction in America, nor was
this at all remarkable. In the North
man had his business to attend TO, and
he naturally fell into to the habit of let
ting bis politicians manage his politics
for him. just as his clergyman attended
to his religion Page 167. Gould there
be more naive concession TO the super
Tor intellectual independence Of this sim
pie and picturesque" people, But Mr..
Trent goes on 10 affirm that politics was
the only study of the Southerner, and
could spare from fishing, hunting, dan
cling and drinking" with no view to prac-
ticing law, but simply for training in this
direction.
The obvious comment upon this fanci
full sketch of the community is that it is
absolutely untrue and internally contra
dictOry. If the younger sons were so
neglected as mot to be able 10 pen a
line then literary and professional
walks were closed to them, and if sur
mounting this triiing obstacle they re-es-
tablished their social position by purchas-
in plantation. which was not sclf-suStain-
inc. what became of the young hero"
who was entirely dependent on his for
livelihood.
1t is impossible to imagine where Mr..
Trent caught the idea that there was
ever time when a man lost cast in his
county by the practice of law medicine,
literature, or any other liberal profes-
sion.
In very truth there is no people more
tsorougEly inbred with reverence and
admiration for intellectual culture and
independent thought, or amohg whom
Domestic democracy so generally obtains
sTATEs' RIGHTS.
''The reason of this inability to see
clea ly what is so obvious now 10 any
tyro in the theory OF politics is to be
found in the fact tat the South was
inhabited by primitive people The
night OF secession would have been dis
puted by few leaders OF opinion in 1883.
1t had been alluded TO by lizard in the
first :, sion or the First Congress. and
il had been appealed to by States North.
East and West during the first years OF
the Government. 1t would have been
marvellous if the States Rights doctrine