The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1899-05-24
The Truth About Our Country.

10 the Editor of Tie Ne,rs and Com-
ricr: Please allow me to thank you foi
the tirst-class advertisement you have
given my "School History Of the Uni
ted States" by repubishing the article
of the Philadelphia Press, which quotes
the criticism of the G.. A. r. Encamp-
ment at Buffalo on my book.
I plead guilty to the soft impeach-
ment. / do teach in my history, as
clearly and emphatically as am able,
that in the great "War Between the
States the Confederates were right
and the Federals wrong in the begin
ming and in the conduct Of the war.
l teach clearly, and / think conclu-
sively, that the Southern States had
not only a perfect right to secede, but
sufficient cause for doing so, and that
the war made upon us by the North
was unconstitutional and wicked, and
that in defending our soil from inva-
sion, our homes and affairs from des-
ecraticn, our people were not "rebels'
or traitors" butas true patriots as the
world ever saw.
do teach that as the ships of old
England and Of New England brought
the negroes to this country and sold
them to the colonists -thatas the North
ern States abolished slavery, not on
moral, but purely on economic grounds,
after they found that it would not pay
in their climate, and among manu-
featuring people, as they did not free
their negroes, but sold them South and
pocketed the money-and inasmuch as
the Constitution so distinctly recog-
nizel slavery that Mr. Lincoln himself
said in his inaugural address that he
had "no right to interfere with slavery
in the States, and no disposition to do
so if he had the right the proclama-
ton abolishing slavery was "unconsti-
tutional," and its final accomplishment
by the triumph Of brute force over JUS
tice and right was "a bold piece of
wholesale robbery and the plea Of
military necessity only 'the plea of
the, freebooter through the centuries"
And do teach that in the conduct
of the war the Confederates acted on
the highest principles of modern civil
lization, while Sherman's "March to the
Sea- and through the Carolinas, Sheri
dams desolation Of the Shenandoah
Valley and the conduct OF other Federal
soldiers were an eternal disgrace to the
flag they bore.
But excuse me, / did not mean to
write so much, but merely wished to
thank you for copying the article in
the Philadelphia Press-beautiful rep
resentative of "the City Of Brotherly
Love- and the "new era OF fraternity
between the sections"-which / shall
ask my publishers to put into circular
and scatter all through the South.
do not deay that Jones's School
History is Confederate to the core, but
] claim that the number OF leading
Northern papers which say that it is
fair to both sections do not put it too
strongly. and all ask of Southern
teachers and school authorities is a full
examination of my book, that it may
ctonI NJ, fall on its MERITS
Allow me to add my thanks for your
editorial of to-day on Lees feeling as
to the wal, and to say that the proofs
that his heart and soul were in "our
great strugglefor constitutional free
dom''-as he always called it-are Gu
mulative and overwhelming. call
your attention to just one in addition
to thoseyou give. When, in June, 1859,
that noble old Roman and unconquera
BILE patriot, Gen. Wade Hampton, made
the address at Washington College,
and was the guest of Gen. Lee, in a
free talkwith the great lieutenantabout
the war-its causes, conduct and re-
sults-Lee said in reference to his own
course. in refusing the supreme COM
mand of the Federal army and espous-
ing the cause of the South: eve could
have taken no other course without
dishonor, aud if it were all to be done
over again I should act in precisely the
same manner" Gen. Hampton related
this incident at the Reunion in Rich
mond, and it was received with the
most enthusiastic Confederate yells of
the vast crowd present.
The G. 4. r. may growl rs much as
they Iplease, but we must teach our
children and our children's children
thatwe thought we were right in '61-'65,
aud know now that we were right.
j. WILLIAM JONES.
Charleston, May II, 1899.
Spring of Life Comes From Kids.