Fort Mill times. [volume] (Fort Mill, S.C.) 1892-current, 1902-10-15
BILL ARP'S LETTER,
Nominations CT the Popular Sage of
Barlow
THE PHILOSOPHER is REMINISCENT
He Discusses Events of the Past in
His Usual Happy Manner - Things
He Does Not Know.

JdChSOH, Oh savannah, uellNereQ III
Atlanta the most notable. instructive
and eloquent address that has been
heard in Georgia since the civil war.
The subject was The Wanderer." Il |
slave ship that landed on the Georgia
coast in 1858. But the whole address
was an historical recital of many poll
teal events that led to the civil war
and of which the generation that has
grown up since were profoundly ig.
norant and still are. 1t was delivered
by request of the Young Mems Ii
brary Association. when Henry Grady
was its chairman. and supposed was
published in pamphlet form and could
be had OH application. But | have
sought in vain to find copy. | have a
newspaper copy. but il has been worn
to the quick and is almost illegible !
wrote to Judge Pope Barrow. who l.
General JackSon'S executor. and he
can find none among the generals
papers. Can any veteran furnish me q
copy? | would also be pleased to OBJ
tain a copy of Daniel Websters
speech at Capon Springs, which was
suppressed by his publishers and 10
which General Jackson makes alluS
ion General Jackson was n great man.
He won his military laurels in the war
with Mexico. He was assistant at.
torney general under Buchanan when
jeremiah Black was the chief. He was
the vigilant, determined Conscien
tious prosecutor of those who owned
and equipped and ofiicered the only
slave ship that ever landed on tbs
Georgia coast He was a man of spleu.
did G3isIre and n poet of ability and
reputation. Strange it is that this
magnificent address has not been
compiled in the appendix of soma
Southern history as a land mark for
the present generation. 1t is sad and
moitifying that our young and middle.
aged men and our graduates from
Southern colleges know so little of our
ante-bellum history. The Northern
people are equally ignorant Of the
origin OF slavery and the real causes
that precipitated the civil war. Most
of them have vague idea that slav.
cry was born and just grew up in the
South-cau;e up out OF the ground
like the l7-year-old locusts-and was
our sin and our curse. Not one in ten
thousand will believe that the South
never imported a slave from Africa
but got all we had by purchase fgoM
our Northern brethren. | would wager
thousand dollars against ten that
not man under fifty nor school boy
who lives North OF the line knows or
believes that General Grant thCi:
great military hero and idol. was
slave owner and lived of of their hire
and their service while he was fight
ing up about ours. I.incoln's procla.
nation of freedom came in 1863 but
General Grant paid no attt ntion to il
He continued to use them as slaves
until January. 1865. (See his Biography
by General James Grant Wilson in
Appleton's Encyclopedia General
Grant owned these slaves in ST. Louis
Mo. where he lived He was a bad
manager and just before the war be
gan he moved to Galena and went 10
work for his brother in the lanyard
While there ne caught the war fever
and got good position under Lincoln
but had he remained in ST Louis
would have greatly preferred one on
our side. So said Mrs Grant few
years ago to II newspaper editor III ST
Augustine.
How many of this generation North
or South know or will believe that a.:
late as November. 1861. Nathaniel
Gordon, master of n New England
slave ship called the Erie, was con
victed in New York city of carrying
on the slave trade. (See Appleton.)
Just think of it and wonder. In 1851
our Northern brethren made war upop
us because We enslaved the negroes
we mad bought from them. but at the
same time they kept on bringing more
from Africa and begging us to buy
them. How many know that England
our mother country, never cmanci
pated her slaves until 1S43. when
Twelve millions were set free in the |
East Indies and one hundred millions
or dollars paid to their owners by act
or parliament? 1t is only within the
last half century that the importation
or slaves from Africa has generally
ceased. Up to that time every civilized
country bought them and enslaved j
them. English statesmen and clergy.
men said 1t was better to bring them
away than to have them continue in |
their barbariSm and canibalism. And |
ii was better. | believe it was Gods |
providence that they should he |
brought away and placed in slavery.
but the way it was done was inhuman |
and brutal. The horrors of the mid |
die passage. as the ocean voyage was |
called, is the most awful narrative I |
ever read and reminds me Of Dante's |
Inferno" About half the cargo sur
vived and the dead and dying were |
tumbled into the sea. The owners said |!
we can afford to lose half and still |
nave thousand per cent profit. Rev. |
John Newton. one of the sweetest |
poets who ever wrote hymn, the au- |
thor of Amazing grace. how sweet |
the sound, that saved a wretch like |
me- Savior, Visit Thy Plantation
safely Through Another Week" aud |
many others. was for many years a |
deck hand on slave ship and saw all |
its horrors. He became converted. but |
soon after became captain Of n SLAYER |