Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-03-09

| Chairman Royal Thought IT. Wouo y.
| best to consider one resolution at
| time and as no one rose TO depa,e Nil
| Hazlewood's motion, IL was put ana car
ried unanimously.
AN EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
NJ, rtaz,ewood then introduced the fol-
| lowing. which was also adopted without
| discussion: -
Resolved. That the chairman be au-
| thorized to appoint an executive commit
| tee OF I'VE OF the members OF TINS com
mfttee of which he shall be one, ana eN
| ofTicio chairman, who shall have power
| TO exercise all the authority or TINS coh-
mittee when It is not in session.
PROFESSOR DABNEY'S LETTER.
Mfr. Royall then presented the follow
ing letter, from Professor X II. Daphey'
chairman OF the Citizens History Com
mittee, which was read by captain
| Elicit:
University OF Virginia. March o. lSsS
William L. Royal, Esq, Chairman HIS
torv J,ommittee. Grand Camp, Confede-
rate Veterans, Richmond, va:
Dear Sir,-As chairman OF the HISTORY
COMMITTEES appointed by DIR. Hunter NC
CURE in accordance win tne Ies ', !, III
of the mass-meeting Of Virginians held
i'm Richmond on the 18th or OCTOBER last,
/ beg YOU to express TO the distinguished
committee OF which you are chairman,
tho regret which 1 feel at not being able
10 accent from courteous invitation 10
nv committee to be present at the meet
ing of your committee on TUESDAY. But,
while the pressure Of other duties Will
prevent me from being present IN person,
the views Of my committee will be laid
before you by one of the members Mr..
John i. Mcclure, of Richmond; and Il
think il very probable that Dr. Hunter
McGuire-who has Just written me from
the Hot Springs that he expected TO re-
oh "a
you.
The committee to which / belong have
worked hard on the history question,
having read a considerable number OF the
most prominent teXt-works. and tho
roughly discussed them for about seven
hours on February 18th. In accordance
with the conclusions reached, | have
written a report to Dr. McGulre,
which all the committee have signed;
and / need hardly assure you how deeply
gratified we should be If the Grand Camp
Committee should reach the same con-
illusions, and give their endorsement 10
our report My committee consists en-
tirely of men engaged in educational
work, while yours consists wholly of Con-
federate veterans; and, If the two COM
mittees make the same recommendations
to the State Board of Education, these
recommendations ought to carry consider
aDle weight. Let me say, too, that three
Of my own committee are Confederate
while / myself was too young to share
the dangers the hardships, and the glory
OK the Titanic struggle for southern in
dependence, am not one of those young
e. men that imagine themselves immea-
sureably superior TO their sires, and,
while cringing before the victors in that
struggle, thank God that their fathers
went down in defeat. In a righteous
cause, my father fought and bled for
the South, and for thirty-two years car
"A That
bullet lies with him in his grave; and If
the son of Virginius Dabney ever apollo
gizes for his fathers defence Of his native
State, may his tongue cleave to the roof
of his mouth, and a bolt from Heaven
strike him dead. Very respectfully,
r. II. DABNEY.
ADDRESS OF MIR. INQUIRE.
Professor Mcclure then introduced the
report of the History Committee. In do
ing so. he said:
Mr.. Chairmsn In behalf Of the COM
mittee Of which you have Just spoken, \
have to thank you for the very courteous
invitation, in pursuance Of which | am
here. We are the more gratified, because
we hope that these gentlemen will think
fit TO endorse the report we have drawn
up, copy of which / hold In my hand.
as we feel that. in that case, il will come
before the public with very much greater
weight.
1t will contribute to that end If I tell
you very briefly what work we did. and
then, with your leave, read you the re-
port
The committee was ordered in October
II took some little time to arrange mat
tiers. General Payne promised to be our
but, 10 our great regret, he
had to give IL up. As soon as IL was pos
slble to begin work, we secured a list of
all the school histories of the United
States in use in Virginia schools, and all
"A 4 Ish glp4,r frnar nc
made them probable candidates for adop-
ton. The list Of books accorded in great
measure with that used by General
stephen ID. Lees committee, with some
signed to each of us certain of these
books for especial examination and re-
port, selecting from the lists of northern
ana southern books. For my own share
had the pleasure of dssecting Mr..
and examining Mrs Lees book.
and one other.
TEST OF THE BOOKS.
We We're expected to form opinions of
he whole list. Some of us did very
aithful work. OF course, we were eX- |
)ected to test our books by such positive
knowledge as each one OF us possessed, |
ma such reliable sources of information !
rs were accessible. l do not hesitate TO |
say that it was for me a labor of love,
10 doubt, but a labor of many weary |
nights. When the committee met i'm |
". |
having arranged our meeting so that we |
night have ample time for study. and |
yet conclude the report in 4-.4 time to |
submit IL TO the gentlemen Of the State |
3oard for such consideration as they |
night thinks its due, / found that one |
ma all had worked with a full sense of |
he responsibility laid upon them. We |
pent some five hours of careful and most |
Interesting discussion of the books. one /
~ one, and reached the conclusion which /
IL
possible for the chairman to embrace i'm |
MS report 1.-THE of the grounds upon !
which our conclusions We're based. In |
ioplng that we had done about the best |
nat could be done with the material be- |
ore US we were much encouraged by the |
act that Immediately upon meeting. we |
ound that without any previous CORE
pondence, and merely as the result of
huiVluual investigation, we were, with
Oltdry partial exception, of one mind |
IS TO the books to be recommended and |
ne suggestions We proposed 10 offer to |
he gentlemen of the State Board. II |
mould say that Professor White was un-
voiddbly absent, and had to mail his
sport ana notes as 10 the various his !
orleSl careful discussion and compari-
on OF views by those present served To
onllfm us in opinions formed i'm private
tudy' / hooe the fact will add TO the |
nance OF your endorsing the report.
l wish, heartily, that there were time
o read you the various reports and notes
made by the different members of the
ommttee; provided, il would not too
eVereiy try yodr patience. / may say
nat the long and exhaustive "a Teport
n the Barnes History confined itself 10
ne errors. omissions, and generally OBJ
ecuOnable features to be found i'm the
lstory from the settlement Of the country
0 the outbreak of the war between tbe
tates. Ample ground was easily found
or utter condemnation and for amaze
lent that such a book should ever have
Ound us way into Virginia schools. The
a 'ln ny us history OF the events of the