The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-07-21
FRIDAY, JULY 81, 1899.
SUGGESTED BY A FRIENDLY AK
TiCLE IN RICHMOND DISPATCH'

General BTdQlcy IL. COhhASOAt ~
land. married at Raleigh, a daughter
of the late Judge r. M. Saunders. He
is friendly to North Carolina and her
people. In The Richmond Dispatch OF
the 18th instant, he writes more than
"a three-quarter column upon this state.
rt ia based upon the publication of the
board of agriculture. He is charmed
and ~astonished at the revelations made.
1T Dis a fair and interesting review OF a
publication of merit. Genera johnson
has some knowledge of our people who
are the most hospitable of all peoples,
and has some insight into the real n
acter that underlies the North Carolina
man. What III calls the North Caro-
lima Irregularities and idiosgncraseis'
are really not milk those OF other
states. They owe their native state. be-
1ieve in themselves and INK that they
are as good every way as their more
p~retentious and boastful neighbors.
They are true, honest, faithful. love
liberty with undying tenacity and sim
-cerity, and are not afraid of the same
number of men wherever born. They
are not altogether a. well educated as
they should be, and are not enough
interested as yet in education, but they
are advancing. There is unfortunately
a lack of unanimfty in the matter even
among the professed friends of edu-
cation, some mean j~ealousies, some un-
proper a~ntagonisms made so by mar
row ambitious and selfish leaders Of a
peculiar type. But there is progress
and the 800, 900 extra voted by the late
democratic legislature for popular ed
ucation is a forerunner of yet larger
and more commanding appropriations.
General Johnson says:
HE is bravest among the brave.
chivalrous as any knight who ever
couched lance, and is today as ready to
lead in defence of honor, justice. liber-
ty and right as when he declared in
dependence on May 20, ITS, or fought
at Alamance May IL, It'll. In 1861 her
military population was lis, 1863, and she
furnished 125, 900 men to the confeder-
ate army. Of them 14,522 died in bat
tie, or of wounds, and 20,602 died of
disease. Total, 1924; that is, nearly
one-third of her men of military age
gave their lives for the cause they low
ed so we'll"
Let us repeat here what has been sew
leral times stated in The Messenger, for
1T is line upon line in the matter OF
teaching figures and facts. The vote,
we believe, in 1860, for governor was
-112, 500. That was the last election held
in the state before the war. The North
carolina Roster, which Governor Vance
caused to be prepared during the prog
ress of the war, and has been published
in several octave volumes, show over
$4,000 names. There are some errors
to he found caused by transferring
men from different arms of the ser
vice-from cavalry to infantry, or from
infantry to artillery, or the opposite.
We believe that after deducting all mis-
takes, there were at least 126, 600 men
I'm the armies, and possibly two or
three thousand more. 1t is safe to put
the strength at 126, 1000. The United
States Records Of the War, published
at Washington by act of the congress,
and 1yingly called THE Records of the
Rebellion"-an insult without palliation
or any basis in truth-show that over
Al, 1000 North Carolina soldiers persisted
IN the great WAT Ill ueleuCS VI liUeIly
and second independence.
General Johnson finds North Caro-
linians great doors. He thinks North
Carolinians have had no distinction in
oratory or as writers. Well, we think
some of the North Carolina speakers
have been successes. Benton used tC
hold his own in the senate; Badger is
placed by a very distinguished New
gla senator in a book published
within three years as deserving the
Gerry first rank among the Creates
American senators. He was the bes'
speaker we ever heard make a speecf
when at his best, and we have hearl
Clay and Webster and other famou:
= men. He was a man of genius. Othel
natives have been much distinguished
Over this side of the line we hav'
thought Vance a great success as {
popular speaker. Senator Upton tolC
us that he was the very best politica
speaker he had heard in twenty years
since he last heard Tom Cotwin, o
7 Ohio-and added that Vance resemble'
the great orator more than any on
else he had heard speak. we mlgh
cite in pulpit oratory some splendi
successes-Dovick Pierce, Tom Low
,(the greatest of our 'national orators,
anda genuine Patrick Henry in the pul
pit. He and Pierce are natives OF tn
same county-Halifax.)
General Johnson regards Vance as
f'great governor" having had n
equal, rorth or south, aiming the gov
errors of states" He tells OF his SCI
vices iii the war-his vision, forecas
ability. IIe adds: This volume De
fore me is another proof of the extra
ordinary capacity of knowing what t
do, and doing it."
He mentions also that in 1895 Mort
Carolina "stood second as a tobacc