The advocate. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1901-1913, 1907-02-14

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been inestimable. We know into
what hands. when he was lost, Re-
construction fell" -.--
How SO learned a man as Goodwin
Smith can permit himself to criticise
Lincoln for treating secession as re-
bellion, when it was nothing short Of
the most wicked rebellion in the an
nails of man, is puzZling to those Of
us who have followed him with faith
full feet these many years. "A sud-
den creation Of a new nationality"
was not so sudden after all; a cre-
alton undeniably it was, just as all
conclusions are primarily creations;
but where in all history is there to be
found a record Of more stubborn
or more eXasperating rebellion
against a creation, than the rebellion
OF the South against the Inevitable
position of this government as re-
gard slavery? II Mr. Smith can
point us to the book whose leaves
record any thing like our Civil War,
the purposes which actuated it, and
the situations which contending
forces sought to bring about, We will
set MIN down on the tablet OF our
memory as the most learned of men.
That Lincoln's influence on
Reconstruction would have been
inestimable, we neither question
nor doubt. The lingering re-
Nf
come up and studied the period of
reconstruction, and saw how Wisdom
was not, is that the master mind Of
his century was not spared to lend
his wisdom and direction to that
stupendous problem which presented
its four sides only upon the close of
the war. But who denied us Inrs
boon? One who rebelled even af-
ter rebellion had been put down, one
Who rebeiled against the life of that
man who dared defy rebellion. Was
Booth a rebel? If he was, SO we're
they who sought to end the govern
ment directed against his kinsmen
by his victim.
OF a truth. Eve know into what
hands, when he K Lincoln) was lost,
Reconstruction fgll.s' Reconstruction
fell, after Mr.. Lincoln's death, into
hands less wise, less. steady, less
calm, han the hands of mighty
Abraham, but not less patriotic.
There are many now living, who took
part in the work at the South, that
conducted themselves much as they
thought Lincoln would have had
them conduct themselves if he had
been with US. But for the reconstruct
tionists who came into the South
from other sections, we are persua-
ded that slavery under another
name, in another dress, would have
been revived. The Observation-Disclosures
made mistakes, Fearful mistakes,
mistakes which we all know cost the
Negro his political head, but he made
them not until he begun to offer and
accept compromises with the ambi-
tious ex-slaveholder. This is ire
futable history, not dwelt upon
enough by those who profess to be
enlightened as to what really took
place in the slave states during the
ten years after reconstruction be-
gan.
Some day the competent and i'm
partial historian will arise and
grasp his quill to write down for
posterity the true story Of the South
after the War of the Rebellion; and
he will write of the astounding wis
dom of the Negro in legislative halls;
the patriotism of the measures he
placed upon the statute books; the
magnanlmity with which he met his
former master; the ability he dis
played in craftsmanship; the eIo-
quence with which he described his
Eew-found liberty; the protection he
oHered the homes and firesides of
every man that inhabited around:
the loyalty with which he served the
Federal government; he will write
of the laws the Negroes framed and
passed for the untrammelled edu-
cation Of the whole people, and then
dipping his pen into the ink, he will
write in bold letters of the sacrifice
and martyrdom; the tolls and trib-
ulations Of the carpet baggers" who
came to desolate and weeping sec
ton, and enriched it with their
learning and patriotism, and a her
1tage still enjoyed, and never to be
erased from the memory Of those
who cherish liberty until Time shall
close it's eyes.