The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-01-10


charming passage from a speech of
Major Moses, delivered, think, before the
Georgia Legislature, not long after the
Civil War had ended l heartily re-
spond to his fine utterances of some
thrty-fve years ago. It did good then.
doubtless. 1t may please and stimulate
to State pride and patriotic action those
who may read it now. The eloquent
Georgian said:
mo State can be truly great that does
not do honor to its noble dead. You may
with lavish hands aid internal improve
ment until your State shall be covered
| with a network of railroads. You may
penetrate your mineral regions, until the
disembowled earth shall pour forth the
rich treasures which lay there, hidden
| for untold centuries. You may cultivate
your soil to the highest power of agri-
cultural science, until your rich fields
shall be laden with their luxuriant crops.
You may build factory upon every in
land stream, until the music of the spindle
and the loom shall join in one choral
song with the glad waters as they leap
from point to point through their rock
embedded channels. Your commerce may
whiten every sea. immigration, invited
| by avarice and adventure, may cover
your valleys and your hill sides with a
teeming, busy, and successful population.
Your treasury may become over-burden-
| ed with its rich revenues, but your State
will never be truly great, unless you Gull
ltivate, foster, and encourage the sublime
spirit of patriotism: and this can never
be done successfully, while the history of
the Confederate war, written on the neg
lected names of the unburied dead, pro-
claims the States ingratitude.'
I have no accurate biographical cyclo-
pedia of the greatest Southern men in
the past. While we may not know of the
precise births of many leaders, and may
have no catalogue Of men of conspicuous
ability and accomplishments in the last
hundred years, we point to some of the
| many who are really far above medic
city, and deserved to rank high among
Americans. l give some names of leading
Southerners born within the last hundred
years as l recall them: Matthew f.
| Maury, Judah p. Benjamin, Jefferson
| Davis, Zebulon B. Vance. Abraham Lin
colin, George Vest. John w. Morgan,
James Johnston Pettigrew, J. L. NJ. Cur
rie, Benjamin Hill, Rev. DR.. Palmer, A.
7. Bledsoe, Rev. DR.. Dabney, Rev. DIR.
Thornwell, Bishop A. w. Whitson, Bishop
George F. Pierce, Rev. DR.. W. w Moore,
Gen. Joseph e. Johnston, Gen. Robert E.
Lee, Gen. Thomas J. Jackson, Winter
Davis, L. @. Lamar, W. L. Yancey, and
many others of marked ability and some
of genuine and distinguished learning.
Some others I would name, but l am
doubtful as to their birth, thinking sew
eral were born in the preceding century
IL Il T
corn probably before 1903. l omit there
fore Thomas H. Benton, William CASTOR,
George e. Badger, Reverdy Johnson, and
other very able men. In my own opinion,
among the living Southerners, Senator
John Morgan is the ablest of all He is
the ablest man in the Federal Congress,
now, according to my belief. OF all the
representatives of the negro race in this
country, the ablest is not Booker Wash
ington or any of the other negroes so
lauded in the negro-worshipping North,
but the late Rev. DR.. Price. OF Salisbury.
He would have made two Booker Wash
ingtons and with brain-power and fine
eloquence to spare. Price had but little
| if any white blood in him. while Booker
Washington is half breed. He says in
his book that his father was white man
Mr. Thomas J. Williams, of Selma, Ala
bama, who has spent several years In
North Carolina, is interested in its wei
fare, and especially in the war upon the
huge saloon curse for such it is positive
and unmitigated. He wrote some weeks
ago that he had read with special interest
the Raleigh News and Observer OF 22nd
of November. He says: Il have been a
subscriber to it for several months. l en-
Joy reading your articles, as well as those
by Mr.. Whitaker" He has not been IN
our State since 1865. Another gentleman.
Mr. julius c. Mills, of Reidsville, n. c.,
is kind enough to write recently in appre-
citation of what l send to the News and
Observer He says:
IL have enjoyed reading your articles
in the Raleigh News and Observer so
much that l must write and thank you.
IL Am much interested in the
sketch of Gen. Pettigrew. 1t was due to
my efforts that he was elected Colonel of
the Twenty-second North Carolina Regi-
ment.''
He visited Raleigh and had a talk with
Adjutant General Warren, who manifest
ed much interest in the choice of a Col
onel. DR.. Warren said to him that "he
had just the man l wanted. When he
mentioned J. Johnston Pettigrew / in
wardly reproached myself for not having
thought of him before Returning to
camp Mr.. Pettigrew was chosen. He says;
His career in the Confederate army is
now matter Of history. His character
seemed well nigh perfect"
There are many announcements of new
volumes of essays, for this is particularly
an age of critical discussions and biograph-
ical essays. The new volume of Hon. Jas.
p. Bruce, the able, thoughtful, conserva-
tive and entertaining English historian,
| essayist and statesman, is well praised by
iudicious critics in Britain and the
United States. The volume of biography
and Renaissance by Hon. Justin McCar-
they will be read with enjoyment by
| thousands of readers all around the Eng
| disappearing world. A Yankee volume of
essays is called Essays on Great Writ
ers," by H. D. Sedgwicl5, Jr.
The New York Saturday Review
l st ated that If traotS of Sco++ NTOn+o;1,y,o