Smyrna times., 1897-04-28
Fletcher COOper's Reply.

| -J NAAtAOAou VI his tApOSlJlOu Oh
American history, had not anticipa-
ted combined onslaught by two irate
and excited professors, brandishing
their cudgels of abuse and uttering
loud cries of recrimination.
am not filling the chair of Amer
lean History anywhere but in the
forum OF my own free Judgment
More than that, do not set up my
personal opinions of Lincoln. or Jack
son, or Washington, against the
bizarre opinions of Prof. LeFevre. or
OF Prof. ElsOn, or of any other public
lecturer or educator. | merely re-
cite the salient facts of history. and
thereby get the ordinary deductions of
common sense.
Furthermore, 1 am justified, by
every canon of criticism, in estimating
Professor ElsOn's general notions of
American history by any single one of
his expressed views on any singleone of
the Presidents; for no President stands
isolated, IN a rOtrospe ctive survey of
the entire line of Presidents, from
General Washington down to our own
day If man is color blind when he
looks at Jackson, it is sound logic
to conclude he is color-blind when
he looks at Buchanan or Andrew
johnson. There is no necessity for
dogging his every footstep to take
elaborate notes of all his comments on
all national characters, great and
small alike. Therefore, it is absurd to
say, as Professor Elson has said, that
his estimate of the relative greatness
Of Lincoln, Jackson and Washington
IS mot matter of any special import
ance' in appraising the value of the
general historical perspective in his
mind.
A discussion of all the incidents in
the careers Of Lincoln, Jackson and
Washington would be interminable.
1t is enough to know that Washington.
by Professor Elson's own admission
made the Union, and that Lincoln and
his generals preserved it. If Jackson.
IN dealing with Notification, had
really crushed States Rights. there
would have been some ground for
ranking him with Lincoln. The war
OF the Rebellion was absolute and con-
vincing proof that jackson did not
crush States rights.
States Rights was the incarnation of
an irresistible tendency of the South
ern people. Whether that tendency
was permanently overcome at a final
climax, at Appomattox, in 1866. re-
mains to be seen. Human nature re-
yeals itself under different conditions.
and 1t revolts from restraint under
widely varying circumstances. Who
shall say that the recent mutterings.
South and Southwest, are not the
same old surging heartbeats of Null
fcation?
SO far as modern historical
though" is concerned. have only to
reply that it is the pronounced ten
dency of modern thought to regard
men as masses of activities which make
crises without reference to the motives
or actions of the sO-called historical
leaders, or great men. There would
have been Reformation without
Luther. The Reformation was not
Man, but a Movement. 1t was as
inevitable as our own Civil War. The
Laws of History are the fundamental
laws of human nature, modif ed as
human nature develops or degenerates.
The whole Elson proposition. even
on the Elson terms, is very simple in
the abstract: There are three men.
One POUNDS nation. Another takes a
decisive step at but an intermediary
crisis in the affairs of that nation.
The other preserves the nation at it's
most gigantic crisis. Who ranks first.
who second, who third? Is not the
answer plain? Could a child 90
astray?
As for the University Extension lee
lures, 1 am fairly entitled to Judge
them by those who deliver them. The
public library in Smyrna is far surer
guide to historical knowledge. There
Is no kind of human knowledge not
now conveniently enclosed in books.
There are periodicals, also, that her
aid, IN a supplementary way, every
discovery in astronomy, in physics.
In physiology and anatomy, in geology
and anthropolOgy, every worthy work |
of philosophy, of poetry, of prose, has
been published. Technology belongs
only to specially equipped schools.
There is no longer any crying demand |
for lectures in towns where there are |
public libraries, except it be for purely |
speculative OF scientific, essays, on
such topics, for instance, as the mental |
processes, or electricity, which require
reduction to simple language, or need
experimental demonstration. The
Manchester Town Hall lectures were
good English models of what the peo-
pie really deserve for their instruc-
ton. Of course, lectures on history
from such men as Froude or Clarke.
or on literature by such men as Mat
thew Arnold, have ever been sources of
instruction and genuine interest.
And now, in closing, a pardonable
word about the mechanical construc
ton of Professor lie Fevre's fevered
attack on me and my motives
| have had no opportunity to felicitate
myself with his acquaintance, but.
lnasmuch as he attempts to handle me
without gloves, venture to express to
him my profound surprise on discov-
ering, from his communication to the
ZINES, that, as evidenced by his split
ting the infnitive, and by other par
hculars, he is, on the subject of syn
tax, as we'll as history-what shall 1
say?-an iconoclast?
70 the editor of the TINES I owe NV
thanks for throwing open his admir-
able local paper to free discussion of
these University Extension lectures.