The Opelousas courier., 1897-03-27
Southern and Northern Histories.

Iiie New I ork Sun, and Il number OF
OTHER northern papers following in its
wake have lately made Il savage assault
on the American histories taught in the
southern public sciools-including those
III use IN this Statc-on the ground that
they give too southern IL cast to the his
tory OF the country and lean too much
to the Confederate side during the civil
war. They are teaching rebellion, say
these northern papers, are partisan and
unpatilOtic, and the result will be to
lessen the patriotism of the southern
youth.
What Offends the Sun and its CON
freieS most is the discussion OF the
| causes "hlcii led up to the civil war, the
! lc#iDInS ot Confederate victories where
| HhitiIein histories assert that the FEEDER
ais were Triumphant, aud the use Of
| the e&prtsslun "invus,on y and 'IutII-
less destruction in ciaracierizing
Sherman s march 70 the sea. S,heridan's
raEages III the Shenandoah Valley and
other similar raids. where rurenne's
policy in the Rhenish Pliatinale OF ex-
haustiug the enemy 10y the wholesale
destruction OF property was resorted to.
The Baltimore American is IL staiwart
republican paper, but published, as it is,
on the border lard between the north
and south, i - able to point ont the
Suns folly, auh it states the case well,
as follows:
IL our contemporary should examine
into the northern school histories as
carefully as ho has examined the south
err histories, he might fluid there the
reason why the latter were written. No
one unfamiliar with the subject would
gather from the northern histories that
tie right of secession was an open 0ues-
Fl Ina Il
ern people were fighting for IL principle. |
They now, and have for IA quarter of /.
century, admitted that the question has |
been settled, and settled adversely to
their contention, and they acquiesce in |
that settlement, but they naturally OBJ |
Ject to teaching their children that they |
were traitors and rebels. Secession was
first threatened by New England states,
bnt We doubt whether that fact is very
plainly brought ont III northern school
histories. Paitisauship is no better on
one side than the other. 1t is only the
truth which will make us whole"
Here Is the whole point of the discus
sion. 1t Is inevitable in discussing "a
disputed question that history should
lean one wa1 Or the other. Absolute
impartiality 8 difficult, and we are not.
likely to haAe it for many years to come
If we ever %. Under sueh, circum-
R2,r..o but q very irr- ,louaI news
paperTs46sid expect the sHtth to accept
the northern version otFsccsssion and
the origin OF the war NJ its main con-
duet, and ,>w1tsaahftts'' saaht in its public
Where The Sun is mistaken is ills be-
lief that because the southern histories
teach different lessons as to the origin
of the war they discourage or weaken
The south is today, as il
always has been, the stronghold of true,
BROAD American patriotism as distlu-
sulshed from sectionalism. 1t has
shown this in every former war We hays
lad, and in all of them it has CON I
in men aud money more than ;
lie north, and has suffered more from
lie depredations Of the enemy: whether | ;
t was in the war of independence, in
which the southern people embarked to
protect the liberties of the New En-
gland colonies, the war of 1919, when
We called England to account for lis
INJURIES to the New England shipping,
n the Mexican war. With these dis I
bays OF patriotism and national spirit {
before the country the south will not
iloW any nUrthern history to be read in I
is schools which teaches that its people !
re unpatriot!c simply because they diff I
red with their northern brethren in 4
S61 III the Interpretation Of the federal 4
OnstltutiUn. {