The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1902-10-09
WAR NOT FOR SLAVERY.
A Defense by Hon. b. F. Grady in
Reply to an Article by Mr.. ID. }.
Corbett, Sr.
B. f. Grady in Wilmington Messenger.

B. F. Grady in Wilmington Messenger.
On September 9TH you published a
letter from Mr.. ID. j. Corbett, ST., Of
Keith, in which there was remark
which /, as one who fought for the
Confcderacy, am unwilling to let pass
without comment. Although Mr.. Cor
bett does not make the charge that
the war was waged on the part of the
South in defense of and for the per
petuation Of African slavery, he uses
language which the uniformed can
easily interpret TO involve such
charge; and such an Interpretation
could not do violence to public senl-
ment in many sections OF the South,
for thousands Of men and women all
over the South have heard little or
read little that was intended to do
Justice to the motives Of the people OF
the Confederacy during the sixties.
Permit me, then, TO lay before your
readers & brief summary Of the evil
dence on which correct Judgment
can be founded.
/. The long controversy between
the North and the South, 50 far as the
negro slave appeared as factor, was
simply whether the control OF tederal
legislation should be permanently
fixed in the hands OF the one section
or the other by the extension or the
exclusion of slavery in the territory
acquired from France and Mexico.
Such, il was never denied, was the
issue when the Missouri compromise,
so-calIed, was adopted and nobody
ever pretended that the North had 4
right TO meddle with slavery in the
slave states.
2. In 1860 the platform Of the party
which elected Abraham Lincoln de-
clared for 1.-The maintenance inviOIate
Of the rights If the states, and cope-
cialiy the right Of each State TO order
and control its own domestic in
stitutions according TO its own judg-
mcnt exclusively"
3. Scveutyfour days after the
secession Of South Carolina and
twcnty-eight day after the inaugural
ton Of the Confederacy, Abraham
Loncoln said in his inaugural address:
IL have no purpose, directly or in
directly, to interfere with the institu-
ton Of slavery in the states where it
exists. believe | have no lawful
right to do 50"
i. In April, 1861, Mr., Lincoln inauS-
urated his war Of subjugaton, and no
where IN his orders or instructions or
messages was The abolition Of slavery
announced as one Of the objects he
had in view.
5. After the war had been going on
twelve months Mr.. Lincoln disap-
proved an order or proclamation issued
by Gen. Hunter, in which he (Hunter)
declared slavery abolished in his dis
trict.n
There is, therefore, not a shadow Of
reason for the belief that the war be-
tween the sections was what a Chicago
newspaper some time ago called
slavery war" Nobody in the South
was prepared to believe during the
first year Of the war that the Wash
ington government would attempt to
do what Mr.. Lincoln acknowledged the
constitution did not authorize it to do;
and it is not creditable to the heads
or the hearts of the men and bows of
the South to assert that they endured
all the hardships and risks Of four
years war in order that slavery could
be perpctuated-
In further confirming of the view
here presented the emancipation pro-
clamation, socalled, may he cited as
unimpeachable evidence. The paper
did not include among its proposed
beneticiares a single slave in Mary
land. West Virginia, Kentucky, Mis-
souri,, in thirteen counties in Louis
lana, or seven counties in Eastern
Virginia. Indeed. no slave outside
the Confederate lines was 10 be set
free by its operation; and. if anybody
thinks that proclamation was inspired
by sentiments OF regard for the slaves,
ct him examine the proceedings OF
the House of Representatives on the
10th of January, 1919. He will find
that Abraham Lincoln introduced a
bill to extend the then existing fugi-
tive-slave-law over the District Of
Columbus, which by an oversight had
been omitted from its operation.
b. f. GRADY.
Clinton \ & Sent 80 1On0