The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-06-11

Abraham the last yet we hear moth
ing Of tories there. Cotton and sugar
| planters down South may take the
oath of allegiance and cultivate their
| own lands with what were formerly
| their own negroes, by giving the yam
! KEGS one-half of the products yet we
are not told of any tories there.
| North Carolina must be made the
| scape-goat to bear off the sins of the
other States to crafty official spleen,
partisan malice and envious hearts.
She can well afford to act in this ca
| pacity: she can we'll endure the con-
temptible SCOTS and sneers OF. her ira
ducers. for she knows the sun of her
! fame shines but the more brightly, in
contrast with their dark conduct to-
wards her. and that she is so far be-
| yond their puny shafts that, but for
] pity, she could smile complacently
upon them. The truth of history, she
| knows will do her justice. and con-
scious of this, she moves along serene
and undisturbed, though she let's fall
/ a tear of pity for the depravity of
| those assailing her. She asks no arti-
| fetal boIstering, no high-wrought eu-
! logies of venal pens and hireling
scribblers. She would blush at any
notoriety given her by such means,
nOunce such false glitter knowing it
was not glory. She cares not that
abuse of her is made a stepping stone
to court favor and promotion. She
knows that all such will soon find
their level, unfathomably beneath her.
| She does her duty, fully, bravely,
nobly, and is satisfied to bide her time
| until the decentralization and enViOuS-
ness of the present day shall have CIV
| ON Tol1 F1fF 1nc-c mr. ind aa
and less corrupt era.
One other instance. At the battle
of Gettysburg, a certain brigade was
hoisted to the top round of the lad
der of praise for having stormed and
carried a portion of the enemy's
works. 1t is needless to say what
! State these troops were from; they
were not from North Carolina. or we
should never have heard of the grand
achievement The Virginia papers
piled Pelion upon Ossa, and day by
day bore up material to add to the
F! length breadth and height of the stu
| pendous pile. =.
And what are the facts? The works
were stormed and carried in spite of
few struggling Yankees left behind.
! the grand army having evacuated
the place and commenced its retreat.
1 There had been, but a little time be-
| fore, a heavy force there. and had it
remained until our assaulting columns
arrived it is highly probable that few
or none of the aSsailants would have
| escaped. In that case, had they been
North Carolina troops, it would have
been a blunder. But honor to the
brave officers and men engaged, for
they expected formidable opposition;
and l mention the affair merely to
show with what facility Virginia edi-
tors can magnify mole hills into noun
tains when certain troops are spoken
of, and reduce mountains to mole hills
when other troops form their there.
Had North Carolina troops stormed
these works. the whole affair would
most likely have been considered a ilu
dicrous joke; or an attempt might
have been made to create the impress
sion that they knew the works were
! abandoned, and sought glory which
they knew would be bloodless.
To add insult to injury, it is also
sometimes intimated that the North
Carolina troops are put in the front
OF the fight. in order that other
] troops behind them may prevent their
running away; but none of them have
ever yet been made to fall while other
troops charged over them. Ask Gem
! eral Lee and other honest officers why
they are so frequently put i'm the front,
and they will tell you, because they
are reliable. At Yorktown North Car
DINA troops were placed in front, and
in the retreat from that place they
brought W the rear. Thus was the
pest of honor and of danger assigned
them in both cases.
Quite Tecently-O. tell it not in
Cath nor publish it in the streets of
Richmond.-thesc same Virginia pa
pcrs, for purposes best known, per-
haps, to themselves, have spoken well
of the "honor" and conservatism" of
North Carolina. "Timeo Danaos ct
dona ferentes." Still they say nothing
of the bravery of our soldiers.
If a man has reviled. abused, and
spoken contemptuously of you through
a series of years, or sighted and ig-
norcd you, and all at once begins TO
praise you, can you regard it as COM
plimentary? Can you believe him sin
cere? Would you not naturally sup
pose he had some sinister motive for
his sudden change? If you are wise
you will watch him with increased
+ vigilance.
1t must be Notifying. too, to every
true son of North Carolina to see our
own State papers copying these ar
ticles, and expressing thanks and
grateful feelings for them; just as
child who has been scolded, is pleased
by a kind word from the one who had
scolded it, II is too much like the
whipped spaniel that will turn and
lick the hand that smote him. for
kind pat on the head, No; let them
abuse her--it is her praise: their
praise is her bane. Sordid motives
sometimes prompt the language of
compliment. Political considerations
often do the same. Spite at one party
not unfrequently suggests praise of
another. when neither is regarded with
any kind feelings, the show of kind
ness being put on for party purposes
to dupe one into antagonism with
another North Carolina has too much
sense to be thus duped, and too much
penetration not to see the serpent coll
ed beneath the rose. She is above
calling upon her defamers to prove
her good character. She can afford
to despise both them and their testl-
mony, well knowing they will have no
weight with an impartial historian.
Conscious rectitude can wait it's vindi-
cation; conscious guilt seeks for props
and stays and would deceive the
world by creating an impression of its
innocence even by pulling down the
and b,,t1dinc ,,vo,