Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1901-06-18
A DIXIE EDITORIAL
Burden Of It's Song is j. Davis; His
Martyrdom.
EULOCIzES THE DEAD CONFEDERATE.
Says That When the North Comedies
That Davis Was Great Man They
Will Then Recognize Lincoln as
National Hero.

Will Then Recognize Lincoln as
National Hero.
George H. Wheelock, formerly res
ident of Ottumwa, and indeed he would
be offended if one were to allege that
he changed it, sends the Courier the
following editorial from the New Or
leans Times-Democrat which together
with it's comment on an editorial from
another southern paper, shows
better perhaps, than anything else
could the way the southern people still
feel about the North and its people.
The effort to be fair is evidently very
much strained but it makes very in
teresting reading. 1t follows:
LET US BE MAGNANIMOUS!
| In sympathetic and thoughtful edi-
ferson Davis, the Daily States of Mon
day last says:
''The States yields to none in it's desire
honorable lines. 1t believes the time has
Wsn fn Of @ naa Eseta
bury sectional animosities; but 1t must in
sist that this bprylng process shall rot be
haf @ay ia the we aood bu
Single inch further we are willing to for
get the faults and to forgive the wrongs
perpetrated BY Lincoln and Grant when,
part by Davis and Lee, and not one mo-
ment earlier. We are willing to hold up
Lincoln to thu, admiration of the children
of the South the very moment the North
role to o the children Of the North. We are
sona ana Il gh for
if the conditions upon which it is to be
purchased be not absolutely equal and fair
to both sections The day has . neys, been
when the South will be ashamed Of her
history and her traditions-of her Davis
and her Lee"
1t goes without saying that the 10y
atty of the southern people to the
memory Of the master spirits in the
Confederacy can never be shaken ev-
en- for an instant. Their names and
their fame are now, and will always
be, cherished with admiration and af-
lection. With all this and with good
deal more in the editorial of our es-
teemed contemporary, we heartily
agree. There is, however, in the
States article one opinion in which
we cannot concur, and which, we
hope, descendants of men who fought
for the Confederacy will not readily
indorse.
We do not believe that this genera.
ton of southerners or, indeed, any
generation that is to follow, should, in
forming it's judgments of federal lead
ers in the civil war, be Influenced by
, what partisans at the North may think
, or speak or write of leaders on the
! southern side. The fame of both Da
: Wis and Lee-the supreme examples
/ of noble devotion to duty-is already
q secure 1t is true that large mum
y Der of unthinking or unprecedented
J. persons at the North still withhold
/ from Mr.. Davis and from Gen. Lee the
9 admiration which brilliant genius ant
enduring character awaken in candle
n minds. 1t is true also that politicians
{ now eminent in public life at thu
9 North have won distinction in NJ
|. small measure by sedulously defamin,
It the great and good men who led thu
s sons of the South in the Titani
, struggle of forty years ago. 1t is, il
It our Judgment, idle for the southern
people to attempt to convince north
s. ern men Of this stripe, for they ar
g the victims of heredity or of environ
t. ment or of both, and they should b.
IS commiseration. That many northern
q people still cherish generous thought
a. toward Jefferson Davis, we are wei
aware; but we are quite sure that the
would temper their judgments wer
they in a position to view in clear pei
n spective his character and his career
y and we are confident that Time, tn
Vt wisest of all historians, will correc
e, these erroneous Impressions, and sure
a. ". though perhaps slowly, give to tn
"a only president Of the Confederacy hi
S, fair and just fame.
L. And yet even though prejudiced PEE
sons at the North should persist in vi
flying the great leaders of the Soutl
: we cannot agree with our neighbo
o, that the southern people should, fo
n. that reason fail to recognize freel
lg and fully the noble qualities of me
~ who fought in the federal army {
l. who held high positions in directin
TO the war from the northern side. 7
i'd take that point of view would be
tie initiate the precise faults in our Nortl
Id ern friends we most condemn. W
should at least have the courage {
st our convictions. We should refuse
at be swept from the vantage ground {
ed truth by the harmless attacks of wea
Mt or mean men.
1t is for this reason that We mus
g. dissent from the views expressed
Ill the States. If there is one thing tn;
ne illumines the history of the Sout
since its earliest settlement it is a ce
tain love of truth inherent in the rae
The ability to look a situation" squar
ee Iy in the face" to see things actual
ed as they are and to appraise accurate
ar the value of historical characters h;
he been, and still is, a distinguishir
in characteristic of the southern peopl
go Candor-the mind ever open to convi
e. ton and the heart ever ready to a
knowledge freely and fully that whic
g. springs from its depths-is after g
Ill one of the royal qualities of southel
ed character; and wherever the souther
On er has gone this characteristic of h
has won for him deserved reputatie