The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-12-24
Daniel R. GoodIoe and
HiIdreth S History
OF NATHANIEL MACON
Duty of Newspaper Men to Public in
Fittingly CharacterizIng How Not
to Do II Work of Short Con-
gressionaI Ses-
Nv CICERO ". HARRIS.
sions.

By CICERO ". HARRIS.
Washington. Dec 24-The late Dan
iel II. GoodIoe. as is well known to
those who knew him intimately, was
a very careful man in accepting his
torical data. They had to be we'll at
tested. All authorities were not the
same TO him by any means. | did not
mean TO write about that here, but my
purpose was to show that even the
most cautious investigators into South
ern history are unprepared TO receive
at their full face value all of the facts
as unouestioned which have been adj
duced concerning the South of the re-
mote and the South of the compare
lively recent past. Once said TO him;
Mr. Goodloe, it seems that South Car
DINA at about the period of the out
break of the Revolution was the rich
est community in the whole country,
regarding the widely separated and
distinct colonies as one country. They
were TO become so soon.' He doubted
this, or at least remarked that he had
not seen any authority to that effect.
/ gave him Hildreth, but stated that
there was no foot note. l knew, how
ever. Hildreth was not given 20
loose avermentS unsupported by origl-
nal authorities and | felt sure that ne
rested upon dependable vouchers; on
recent investigation and reflection. |
think SO still. The Palmetto colony
was the very richest in soil her sea-
islands and low-lying plantations on
the continent of any of the colonial
settlements. Besides, her enlightened
planters and merchants from st
Kits. Barbados, Lancashire and
other parts of English dominion and
from Southern France, from Ireland,
Scotland, to to a more limited extent,
Germany. switzerland and Holland,
were among the very cream Of the col
Oflists, Notwithstanding injurious re-
Elections by certain Northern writer's.
Those people began early to worship
God in suitable churches, to- found
public schools in Charleston to es-
tablish a city library, to lay the cor
ner stone of fine commerce by the
sea, which was shorn of some of its
proportions by the British Navigation
Acts. They were more cosmopolitan
than the North Carolina settlement on
the Albemarle somewhat older in
original because the latter in the very
beginning were dependent upon the
Virginia colony. and besides were feeb-
Ter in numbers at the outset. The South
Carolina soil, better adapted to pro-
ductiVe purposes, sooner enriched its
planters, and the South Carolinians
from the first lived in the winter at
their capital. which they had the wis
dom to place in suitable quarter on
the coast, after a few years trial up
one of the rivers. Thus a cosmopoi-
itan life Sprang up and this meant
both prosperity and culture. Hildreth
saw how this was and though the re-
cords were meagre they were suffi-
cient to demonstrate that the small
colony in the South was ahead in
wealth of either the great colony of
the South, Virginia, the great colony
of the centre. Pennsylvania, or the
great colony of the Northeast, Mass
chusetts. Indigo was the chief money
producing staple but was beginning to
be superseded by rice and cotton.
Nevertheless the cereals were extern
sively produced and cattle was export
ed, strange to say. The commerce with
the other colonies and with the West
Indies and the mother country was ex-
tensive. Let any man read McCready S
History of South Carolina and there
see a number of facts bearing on this
question, and recognize, too, the lead
ership of the South in the legislative
protest against the claims and excuses
of England.
Speaking of Nathaniel Macon and
the earlier worthless, and "Old Rom
ans of the republic, ONE is led TO COM
pare some OF these nigh mind
ed men" to the illustriouS patriots of
other chimes and times. Macon in his
own day and generation had a COM
peer in notable Virginian, John Tay-
Tor, of Caroline. Taylors service
was, however, two-fold, that of prac-
teal statesman, as Macon's and that
of writer on government. What writer's
on public law there We're in those times
of the Titansi Jefferson, Madison, Dick
inson, Hamilton, jay, John Adams, JAS
Wilson, John Quincy Adams. John
Taylor, Walsh-to name only few or
the greater ones. Wilson was after
his remarkable feat in forming and
securing the adoption of the Federai
Constitution, on the bench Of the SE-
preme Court of the United States, one
of the very greatest justices who eve.
sat there Scotch Pennsvlvanian OF
mighty parts, but opposed to all our
State rights ideas. Macon and John
Taylor and perhaps the older Johc
Tyler. father of President Tyler. were
spiritual descendants. so to say of the
Elder Cato. With severe probity and
manners austere, they garnished the
days of the youth of great heroic
republics. A philosophic Won Ranke
could aptly run out the comparison.
having the gift for that sort of thins
and more comprehensive knowledge
of the field of human history than
your humble servant. BY the way,
that great historian, one of the most