The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1902-04-15
A KEEN REPLY TO MIR. PAGE.

The Messenger has no disposition to
underrate the capacity or success Of
DR.. Walter H. Page. born in Wake
county and claimed as ii North Caro-
l~linian. He is a very bright and ag-
gressive young man OF superior eGuca-
ton. But he is not what impresses Us
as a wise a as a safe leader, as u
true. faithful man to- his native state.
Most of his manhood has been passed
in the great. rich north and he is as
completely Yankee Zei as if he hid been
born in New England. reare in 4
typical family of that sectlon. n edu-
Gated in it's chools and universities.
He a either deliberately offended the
lsouth or has blindlv assaulted them not
knowing the effects Of his words. Some
years ago he made an address, that
Igave great offence TO most loyal n
educated North Carolinians, and he
was warmly raked for his opinions oil
the people of his native state. SOM
time since he abused the southern
christian ministry so shockingly hat
Rev. DR.. Daniel. of the First ~Presbyte-
rian church. Raleigh. took him in hand
in a scholarly. finished style and peeled
his epidermis away. Lately writing on
Booker Washington he piled up" his
agonY of praise while he said that the
negro problem had so dwarfed the
mass Of English men in the Southern
States as to hold them back a hundred
years behind their fellows IN every
part of the world. in England. in Aus
tralia and in the Northern and Western
States"
We a not seen his ~disparaginS
paper. but take the extract from "A
long. vigorous. ~incisive, personal criti-
cism Of him in the able Charlotte Pres
byterian Standard. That paper al
length exposes the clap trap of Mr..
Page and leaves him in a pitiable condi-
tion. 1t is a strong reply to the charge
drought by Mr.. Page, and if you would
see the gravity OF his offense and the
complete exposure of his deliberate IN
suit cad the Presbyterian Standard OF
April 2. We are not willing to enter a.
length into a controversy or TO COPY
at much length from another editor,
however. acute. virile. sarcastic and
triumphant We make an extract
which must suffice now. near he be
ginning nf DR.. McKilway's caustIc ex-
aminatior:
Mr.. Pages remark means one of two
things. That the Southern States arc
where the Northern and WesteI n were
n hundred years < or that it will be
hundred hnFo-z -,
with England. Australia and the
Northern n Western States. The
Ihrst belongs TO the domain or history
and Is fatty contradicted by history
Itself. The south ruled the union UP &c
lls60. II furnished the greater part o.
the statesmen and soldiers OF whom
the nation is proud. 1t was the eula.
lof the north in the number and endow.
Iment Of its colleges and IN the number
Iof its professors and students. II had
the only real university in America. IN.
university OF Virginia. The very fac
that the laboring class were slaves n
l%another race. made the English men 81
the Southern States, unQuestionabiy
THE best product Of Anelo-Saxon cfvtf;
cation 10 be found in the world. FnE,
land had an older civilization thar
iours- But whether the cultured Eng
Insniian feIt more al home IN the nortl
and west or in the south, let Dickens
american Notes. compared with Thack
Ierary 8 letters from Richmond an
charleston testify. The Civilization
tnat produced Washington and JeHer
son and Marshall and Monroe and Pat
rick Henry and Henry Clay and An.
lorew Jackson and John c. Calhoun am
IJohn Randolph and. Thomas Bento'
Iand Jefferson Davis and Alexander II
stephens and L. O. G. Lamar. TO SAL
nothing OF Robert z. Lee and the heroes
iof the civil war. was no whit behind
Iany in h world OF their day.