The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1892-01-14

~ |ISg common humanity. talk
<Pss,ai :Pg 1aiasIa,T and swell Of 1P R""ae %i5e
turkey cock with his first
tail feathers!
Perhaps IL were well for Us 10 drop tho
/ King Cambyses vein long enough TO inquire
what we are chanticleering about. What have
we ever done that entities us 10 assume airs Of
superiority Nothing in Gods great world;
/ absolutely nothing We are 80 far in the rear
! OF civilization that we foolishly imagine our
selves 10 be ia the van. with the whole world
behind us. struggling desperately 90 catch mp /!
I We speak sneeringly of the Yankees and yet
/ the same despsed Yankees are our guardians
and tutors, even our protectors. Without them
we were but a lost calf running foolishly about
/ in circles until some political prOWler lassOed
/ Us and led Us to the shambes.
Take the South proper south OF the 35th
parallel-Nrginia and Kentucky, Tennessee
/ aud North Carolina are Southern only ia
name-and how will il compare with New
/ Engand2 Here we have a veritable Eden
/ broad and fertile sayaunahs a land of peren-
4 nial Summer the richest in natural rec0urces
/ in the Western world. New England is a cold
aud sterile land, where nature j. ever at fierce
war with man. Yet New England was deycl-
oped a century ago. Her rocky hillsides were
made 10 blossom like the Vale of Tempe; her
mountains were ransacked for ore, here forests
transformed into stately ships or 81 ~ more i'm
/ posing buildings; the hum of the factory rose
/ Ia city aud hamlet, and the rich commerce Of
world rolled in mighty waves over her wharycs
/ Now we are stretching out our hands implUr-
I ingly TO that rm-cursed, frost-girt land
praying that she will send brain and Drawn TO
develop our rich mines, utilize our vast forests
! build our railways, aud teach our children the
/ magic art OF industry; that she will do for us
/ what we have been too indOlent or too inapt To
| do for ourselves. We look TO the Yankees for
] ! n
household utensils, our capital our books our
higher education; for brains to plan and skill
TO direct our great enterprises.
/ while New England has been making
reapers and sewing spinning-jennies
1 aud telegraphs we have been making foolish
! stump speeches and moonlight whisky. While
/ New England has been breeding statesmen,
scientists aud poets, we have been breeding
'yaller niRgers and Cheap John politicians
/ We cannot boast half a dozen men born south
OF the 35th parallel in the South proper whom
historians century hence will consider wOr-
! thy Of dozen lines. We have not produced
dozen books worth burning; in the field Of in
vention We have done little more than the red
! Indians who 50 long lurked in our forests
Bnt If we can neither work nor think we
arc at least Incompatible fighters Behold the
recent civil war and how we did amaze the
! world! Amaze IL we certainly did but not in
/ the manner we would like our children 10 be.
/ heve. Whenever the civil war IL mentioned
the South mounts TO the top rail Of the fence
| Flaps its wings, apd crows lusiily-for what
| reason IL were difficult for au uuprciudiccd
| critic TO discover. 10 is now more than quar-
ter OF q century since Lees surrender; high
time surely that the foolish falsch0od that for
four years the South contended against fivefold
| odds was relcgaied 10 desuctude instead of be-
ing ostentatiOusly paraded by able editors ,
aud aspiring Ciccros on all occasions.
Such fables but make us the laughing
Of the world cause our Northern brethren 10
feel like thrashiug Us again instead Of helping
! 10 develop our country. IL is a fact patent TO
AL the world, fact that no honest man pos.
sessing any knowledge of the subject will dis
puie, that the backbone Of the Southern Con-
icderacy was broken, that the cause was
hopelessly and irretrieyably lost in 1sG3, when
| the Confederate armies aggregated between
6,OO1OOO and 100000 lighting men-aimOst, il
not altogether equal in point OF numbers TO
the Federal forces. II was in 1868 that Ycys-
burg fell, that Grant tore the Coniederacy in
twain, that Lees magnificent army was rolled
back d wreck from Gettysburg. With those re-
verses the Southern people became discouraged.
and thence fourth gave 10 the new Government
but half-heartec support. Naturally the Con-
iederate armies rapidly dwindled, while the
Federal Government continued TO push men 10
the front 10 hold the conquered territory aud
oyerawe the people, rs well as 10 speedily crush
the decinRted legions OF Lee aud Johnston aud
end the war. Practically IL was man 10 man in
1863 when the COnfederacy received its death
blow Furthermore, we were acting chiefly on
the defensive. We were in our own mountain
passes behind our own magnificent fOrtifica.
tons. 10 was the business Of the Yankees 70
disiodge as. How in the DEVILS name they
managed 70 accomplish IL matters not they
did H. Really the wonder, II wonder there be,
Is not that we held out so long, but that those
dcspised Yankees bosted Us 50 quickly, and
then magHanimOusly turned US loose 10 give u
the world our own explanation Of how 1t hap
pcned.
"These may be unsayory truths 20 some oi
the chanticleering swash hbucklsrs aud fuming
FalstaGs but truths just the same, obvious q
all the world. Southern chiyalry rolled uI
against Northern valor and got the worst Of it,
That Is the whole story. It was not that the
former lacked courage. No braver men than
those who followed the stars and bars ever won
the mural crown. Bat they were opposed Il
men equally fearless, Of superior physical
strength, Injured 10 toll and hardship. aud WHIT
knew how to use tools, 10 bridge rivers, make
roads over the mountains, and crumble bHlwarL
and basiion into dust It was a contest OF !
lower with a higher civilization, aud the for
mer had 10 down. The naughty but indoleni
, STAKEHOLDER aud the possum-hunling poor whit,
struggled desperately but yaiuly against mel
whose heads and hands were educated in tn,
exacting school OF Northern industry. The
mon who had outstripped Us in the field o
labor fairly outfought as on the field OF war.
1T were we'll for US now to cease our foolisl
boasting and con well the stern lessons taugh
: at the cannOu's mouth. The first and creates
; OF these is that only by honest labor by earnes
endeayor. can a people become tray great. Tht
| war swept away the curse that was our weak
, , ness-negro slavery. IL broke la upon our olC
] eKcusiveness, shattered tho foolish caste tha
held us in iron thrall; made labor respectable
and progress possible. IL brought cnergeti
: Northern people among US 10 teach us that th
way 10 greatness lies through the workshop; 4
! incite us 10 shake OF our indolence and ente