The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1904-12-28

| nal? Should either an individual or
nation bc qrick u avcnge wrong?
But tho Confedcra,cs were no bet
ter. The2 thought themselves pa
triots. They believed that their
cause was inst, and they were eager to
fight for it. Each SAW the other
mistake; neither its own. So minded,
both piously invoked the Prince Of
Peace. and then the opposing hosts
began to kill each other at sight. At
the moment of secession the United
States was right, ever afterwards dur
ing the war, quite wrong. The Con
federatcs were wrong at the outset,
and ever afterwards till they surien-
dercd ct Appomattox.
Although it may seem to sayor of
prolixity, this matter is SO important
that We may be pardoned for dwelling
on it little longer
We should have recognized the
truth that they we're nation de facto.
They should have recognized the truth
that they were never nation de jure.
| We ought not to have attempted mill
tary compulsion; they ought not to
have resisted military compulsion
Each should have placed itself at the
point Of view Of the other, and charit-
ably giving full credit for sincerity,
should have remembered that it is bet
ter for man or q nation to suffer
wrong than to do wrong. But the
command, "Put up thy sword again
into his place" was unheard for the
din Of battle, the blare OF bugles and
the beat Of drums, Deaf and blind,
both trusted in God and gunpowder,
lead and steel, muscle and grit.
It will be said that having begun to
fight it was necessary to fight strenu
ously to finish. It must be oon-
fessed that whether such instinct be
human or british, angelic or devilsh,
as we are constituted, there is at first
blush something splendid in such
persistence. But upon second thought
it is clearly not manly; still less god,
like. 1t is the rule with bulldogs,
eamecocks, gorillas, snakes and beasts
geneially, including human hrutcs
But as Socrates demonstrates that it
is "bester to be refuted thar to con
tinue in error,' so uothing is nobler
than frankly to confess and forsake
evil doing; and there never was an
hour during tho war when it would
not have been honorable for the North
to withdraw its armies from Southern
soil; never an hour when it would
not have been honorable for the South
to acknowledge that it made mistake
in quitting tho Union, mistake in
constituting itself new nation and q
mistake in refusing to submit to the
old authority. Why not acknowledge
the fact2 Even feeble minded duel.
lists, when one Of them has drawn
blood, often declare Otheir "honor'
satisfied, and they part friends.
Few may be disposed to couccde
that, as the Federal Government, was
magnanimous after conquest, it would
Rave been magnanimous not to have
attempted conquest at all. But all
will allow that 1t was proper and hon
orable for General Lee and his subcr-
dinates to yield obedience to our Ma
tional Government at the end of the
four years war. It is difficult to see
why it would not have been equally SO
at any prior moment. Nay, it would
have been vastly moro appropriot te
and more honorable to have submitted
long before; for voluntary acquies-
cenoe in rightful authority is ever
more manly than extorted compliance,
and countless miseries, shames and
horrors would have been averted.
Did years of battle butchery in any
wise help matters2 Did the sea of
blood wash away the guilt of waging
unnecessary and futile war? Is the
tiger instinc; altogether lovely when
it impels one to battle to the death,
even when warning against reason,
against Justice, against God?
That the North was blameworthy in
not stopping sooner will be denied by
those who superstitiously measure
merit by material prosperity; as If
success in manning or. stranglipg
proved the Lord to be on our side. We
kept mercilessly closing in upon them
with fast serpent coils Of fire and steel
till we triumphed. But does the
crushing of bones oT the choking inio
insensibility prove the anaconda NOR @
lovely than the tiger2
OLet US clear away some Of the re.
naming misapprehensions.