The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-08-07

NORTHERN REBELLION AND
SOUTHERN SECESSION. by u. W.
Il. Ewing, LII. b., Richmond. Va.
1901. Octave. PIP. 1888, cloth. SOLD
by the Potomac Book Co, Box 1875:
Atlanta, Ga. Price, S1.50.
Prof. Charles Lee Smith, Phi. D.,
Professor of History and Political
Science in William Jewell College, and
some time fellow lecturer in Johns
Hopkins University, contributes espe'
cially for our readers the following
review of a work in history that is
attracting wide attention all over the
country. DR.. Smith is especially pre-
pared to speak with authority on mat
ters of history His History of Educa-
ton in North Carolina, published by
DR.. Adams in the United States Bureau
of Education works, his historic work
in Germany, and his university extern
sion lectures have given him happy
reputation as an authority. He is al
ways conservative, and his endorse
ment should give Major Ewings BOOK
the circulation which it so richly de-
serves, particularly at the hands of
the South. DR.. Smiths article is as
follows
DIR. Smiths Review.
To the Editor: The author of this
interesting and valuable monograph is
a scholarly lawyer who writes as an
able and ardent advocate His brief for
the South gives both the law and the
evidence in luminous and convinc-
ing way. Conscious of the Soundness
of his position and the business of his
cause, he seems not to fear the YER
diet
Mr.. Ewing has made a thorough
study of his cause, and his opponents
afiirmations and denials are met at
every point. In many instances, he
uses their testimony to substantiate
his own contentious. Both in the text
and in the fOot-noteS, he is careful to
give exact references, and unlike many
others who have written on this sec
tional controversy, he does not ask his
readers to accept mere assertions as
positive proof. In this instance, the
partial advocate furnishes valuable
materials for the impartial historian.
There are chapters on the forma-
ton of the Union, State sovereignty,
the legal status of slavery, the Mis-
souri, Compromise, the national char
acter of slave legislation, the negro
and Ohio, the American slave trade
legality of the first Kansas elections
and their relation to the civil war
the Kansas legislature and overt
Northern rebellion, cumulative evil
dence of Northern rebellion, depreda-
tons affecting the existing Southern
States, eXacerbation and prescription,
universal history of slavery and the
disregard of it's lesson by Northern
abolitionists. conclusive evidences of
imminent evil, from Harper's Ferry to
the end. These divisions indicate the
general scope of the book. 1t closes
with a long list of the authorities used
liz its preparation.
The authors most important contri-
buttons are the chapters discussing
the Ordinance of 1897, and the Kansas
difficulties. He contends that the Or
dinance of 1877 did not keep slavery
out of the States carved from the
Northwest Territory and much valua-
bic evidence sustaining that position
is given. The many misrepresenta-
tons of MissourianS by Nofthern his
torians in their accounts of the war
tor Kansas are corrected and convinc-
ing proof is given that the North
took the initiative in the struggle; and
that whatever resulted nationally or
locally was forced upon the Southern
people.
This work will help to a clearer I'M
derStanding of the causes of sectional
divergence and tend to remove un-
warranted prejudice against the South.
Students of American politics will find
it a helpful and suggestive study.
CHARLES LEE SMITH.
William Jewell College.