The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1892-09-25
ATTACK ON THE SOUTH.
xn. WILLIAM p. rRExrs BOOK.
His biography OF william Gilmore simms.
His Aspersions on tho South Exposed
and Answercd--A scatbing Review.
For The Times)


duced private as well as public quarrels
between us. j must have misgivings with
respect to my impartiality, and the reader
may reasonably regard my narrative
with suspicion"
DIR. George Bsgby with bis quaint
ironical humor, once affected the Ike In
genuous prelude: 81 bring TO my sub
feet a mind wholly biased in favor OF
my own opinions" in all soberness, be
* said. that equal modesty and candor
might have induced Mr.. Trent to pre-
face his biography of William Gilmore
Sirnms TO this effect. Born and reared
In the State of Virginia, / am too young
for any personal knowledge OF my theme,
or OF his environments My STUDY ana
associations have been among DOCKS ho'
men; while my sources OF information
which | choose TO credit on this subject
ara limited 10 the writings and speeches
of William Lloyd Garrison, Thadde,us
Stevens. Hinton Rowan Helper, GharieS
Sumner. Harriet Beecher Stowe, Proies-
sor Sbaier. Of Harvard, Judge ~ Lou
GO The North American Review, et
n omne genus. consequently / desplse my
own people, with their institutions ana
oninions. while l reverence all that per-
tains to the descendants OF the tllgrin
Fathers and the Pennsylvania Dutch.
Yet this declaration would DE super
6uous, as its truth is already torcea upon
the reader with offensive emphasis.
with sopbomoric vanity this young gen.
a.rnau fatters hirasalf nth heinc ~ an
Grated from tho prejudices and "limita-
tions" of his primitive and picturesque
people" while all unconscious OF his mem
tai bondage to these ignorant and ylndlcc
I'VE traducers OF the south, he reels on
their thread-bare platitudes with. the
pjeased conviction that he Is enunclating
original truth and logical deductions.
The same Shiny trail of such com
mentaries peivades this one. Having I'M
bibed the theory that human slavery I'M
der whatever form and conditions is an
unmixed evil, brutalizing to the master
and cruelty unjust to the servant, he
Ignores the accepted practice Of induchve
reasoning and bends every circumstance
and argument to this preconceived fancy;
until one would be little surprised were
he TO ascribe the chills and levers OF the
carolina Sea Islands TO the blghtlng IN
f1uence of this social upas. Hence he
ayails himself Of the opportunity TO pun
fish to the world with elaborate care and
oontemptuous pity that his people. have IN
due course lapsed into moral and mental
hecrepitude little short OF barDarlsm, put
he wakes derisiye smile to observe that
the facts be cites contravene his hy0Ihe-
sis. or are irrelevant TO the issue; indeed,
he rot infrequently contradcts himsen.
Our little book abounds in the express
sions primitive, conservative, PIC
turesuue environments, limitations ana
environments" in depreciatlng contrast
10 "the progress of the North. MT.
Trent has not yet learned that change
Is not always progress, nor the violent
suhversiOn of organic law justified by
expediency, or even the tyrants plea OF
necessity. To him the institution OF
slavery was the root Of all evil, which
sanctified rapine slaughter conflagration
and perjury TO eradicate IT.
He bitterly denOunceS Preston BROOKS,
of South Carolina, for thrashing Charles
Sumner. who had made n dastardly at
tack upon his revered uncle in the alb
sence of the old gentleman, while he &C
cords the crown Of martyrdom TO John
Brown, who sought to incite serylle IN
eurrection with all its horrors OF lndis-
criminate slaughter of women, children
ond old men, when resting in the peace
ful slumbers of their own homes.
With this cue to the controlling tenor
Of the book. let the author speak Tor
himself through as cOpious extracts with
running commentary upon their tendency
and credibility. as the scope ana limit
of this article will permit:
DHoLINE OF THE SOUTH.
"He (Simms) owes the fact that he
never rose TO the front rank even OF his
own country's writers to the limitations
imposed upon him by his Southoxn birth.
J. 93.
4 I'll
lima. but the whole South, for all South
erners were submitted To the same i'll
Iuence.
but if the city of Charleston had sunk
in the scale of Importance so had the
State. and so Lad ihe proud Mother OF
But although the Southern States
were thus declining from the position
they occupied when Washington, &c,
were their representative men. and al
though for the next forty years from
1S2jl the chief interest attaching to their
history is the mOrmful interest arising
from contemplation of the evils that
flowed from an uns0und social and pO-
l.tical system: nevertheless there will be
found in the literary. social and economic
history during this period much that APP
pcals 90 the deepest sympathieS OF our
nature" +. -.
And lust following this jeremiad on
The decay Of men and morals is the emu
meratioa OF a galaxy OF brilliant talent
fit 10 illUmiue the highest type OF society.
Men do rot gather grapes of thorns or
tgs OF thiStles, nor Is such fruit the pos
siblc product of an eticte cvillzation'
And this applies 10 the South from It's
settlement 10 the present day, tie mus
trltions of which are far too numerous
e, known
world.
III .hore be a fact that stands out
before rue student OF ante-bellum South
eru history il is that the Southern peo-
rle down to 1854 were living primitive
iife--a lie fuil of survivalS. (Of what
This fact has been often brought out by
no one SO clearly. perhaps, as by Pretes-
sor Shalcr, Of Harvard, IN has adh'ra-
be article on the IRREGULARITIES OF me
South. n the North Amencan KeVlew
of October. 1890 Zone OF Mr.. Trent S
,veI-sorincs Of information about his
own people.) Approximate explanations
OF the fact have often been attempted,
and these explanations resolve themselves
sooner or later into two WOrdS-teudalSm
end slavery.
The stimulus of great crisis had been
Withdrawn, the incapaclty or the easy
going cavalier for graphing with great
moral problems became more apparent
lis pocket grew larger and his mind mar
ROVER as the market for his great agrl-
cultural staples increased p. 40
Now this incapacity to reason clearly
with the direful consequences that flowed
from it-social decay, war and painful
reconstruction is chargeable to no man
aud deserves no word of blame
"And finally, The evil effects, mental
and moral, Of over lordship. arrogance.
cnnfemnt for inferiors. inertia of mind