The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1905-06-27

All BOSTON Paper.
If our highly esteemed contempora-
~, the Boston Transcript, were located
in the South, would that it wereD it
would fall within the class of what,
from its present New England view
point, it is pleased to term the "unre-
constructed OF course we fully real
lie that the Transcript will resent any
such allegation. 1t will dismiss the
thought of any such transformation be-
ing possible as utterly foolish and I'M
| grounded il reason. 1t could not con-
ceive itself in the attitude of one of
| the 'GnrecOnStructed." And vet we
maintain and we have the evidence to
prove that we are correct, that if The
Transcript had passed through the
events which have marked the history
of the Southern people it would today
be numbered among those that from
it's higher aerie it calls 'unrecOnstruct-
cd"
But for the evidence. 1t is plain,
Simple, n yet altogether conclusive.
Turn over the clearly printed pages of
The Transcript, until some news of
or reference to the soldiers of the Con
federate army Of forty years ago is
reached. Here is an example, from
The Transcript of date of June /; a
sentence is enough: There were 262
men of the regiment OF the field when
Gen. Hancock ordered them to charge
a division of the rebel army 5000
strong" It will be noted that The
Transcript uses the word "rebel." 1t
does the same thing throughout that
article from which we quote, as it does
in all other articles. To The Transcript
the Confederate army is the rebel
army" a Confederate soldier a '.reb.
ELL the history Of that war is the his
tory of the rebellion"
But what of it? may ask The Tran
script. Merely that it c%onvinces US, as
we stated at the outset, that if The
Transcript We're a Southern newspaper
it would be of the "unreconstructed'
sOrt-a sort which The Transcript
nightly dislikes. There is q great
deal more in that use of the word
f"rebel" than our Boston contemporary
is aware of, or, at least, than it has
ever thought of. There is no objection
to the word rebel" per Sc. 1t is a
good word, which has been used to de-
scribe a number of good men. Crom-
we'll was a rebel" as our contem-
pOrary well knows; Washington-not
Booker-was a rebel" some day an
enlightened and masterful 'rebel'' may
rise up in Russia and lead the victims
of autocracy to a glorious ~vindication
Of the principle Of righteous govern
ment upon the earth.
So that it Is not to the word ''rebel'
itself hat any one. Northerner or
Southerner, might object. But it is its
use by such a n as The Transcript,
with its MISUNDERSTOOD feelings and
prejudices upon the subject. that we
d~eprecate. We know, as The Tran
script knows, that in New England
rebel" is not a pretty name. In the
eyes of many readers Of The Tran
script it stands for something which is
not to be admired. 1t is this extrane-
Gus meaning which has been read into
the word ''rebel'' in Massachusetts
which causes Is to object to its use.
Rebel in Massachusetts, carries
about the same meaning as Yankee
in South Carolina. Neither meaning is
of a complimentary nature. Because
of this fact, this paper neye refers to
a soldier in the Northern army as
Yankee" unless it be humorousIy.
When in sober earnest we use north
r or federal" soldier. The same Is
true of the vast majority of the South
ern newspapers: the use of the word
Yankee is very rare, when the ref
erence is intended to be dignified. Why
can not The Transcript do as well by
p Southern papers as they do by The
Transcript? Why should The Tran
script show less regard for the feelings