The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-06-02
Report of History Com
1nittee at Meeting Of
Veterans.

The report OF the history committee
OF the United Confederate Veterans
was presented at the meeting yeateF-
day by Judge George Il. Christian, OF
Richmond. 1T Is as foilows
"Within the limits prescribed Tor
this paper II ia impossible to discuss
with any degree OF satisfaction, .he
issues involved In the great eonillGt
'61 to 90. These have, however been
so fully discussed by other members
of this committee on former occasions
that but little remains to add To those
discussions
I'm a recent work, with the some
what arrogant title The True fIist'iy
of the Civil War the writer begins
by SAYING:
tween the North and the South
ships commanded by Newport and
to Massachusetts in the May,
: flower" Each kind fell upon soil
we'll adapted to nourish it's charae-
teristics. There was, In
the beginning. an almost inpcr.
ceptible rift between the people of
the North and those of the Soulh.
This gradually widened until, not
understanding the necessity for
union. separation in sentiment,
thought and custom arose. This
estrangement developed until 1t
gave to the people Of the North
and the South the aspect Of two
races. manffesting towards each
other all the antipathy of rival and
dissimilar nations. and. in their
disagrecments. rendering lmpossi-
BILE either sympathy with each
others standpoint, or patient
listening to each others conten-
ton"
Without intimating any opinion as
to how tar all the other statements
contained in this work warrant the
author In giving it the title selected.
few glances at history will convince
the most skeptical that the foregoing
statement is well founded.
Threatened Punishment.
In 1775, when Washington's army
was in front of Boston. that great
threatening severe punishment to any
man found guilty of saying or doing.
anything to aggravate what he termed
the existing sectional feeling. Ana
during the same year. when peyton
Randolph. of Virginia, the first prcsi
dent of the Continental Congress, died.
his brother-in-law. BENJAMIN Harrison.
also from Virginia. was nominated for
that position: but. as John Hancock of
Massachusetts, was likewise nominate
ed, it is said that Ny. Harrison. TO avoid
any sectional Jealousy or unkindness
of feeling between the Northern and
Southern delegates at so nomentous
crisis, had his own name withdrawn.
and insisted on the election of Mr.. Han
cock And so. too. ini the Virginia
Convention of 17SS, Mr.. Henry. in OPP
posing the adoption of the Federal
Constitution. after pointing out the
provisions 10 which he objected, and
in which his almost, prophetic ken saw
realized. said, after all. he did not
so much object to the form of the in
strument as he did to the character
and dispositions of those with whom
we were forming the compact. And
another distinguished Virginian, with
fervfd eloquence, exclaimed that our
expressions under the compact would
be worse than British tyranny
With these early, and seemingly in
nate, antipathies, stimulated and de-
veloped by growing conflicting inter-
csts. arising out of tariffs, acquisition,
or territory and other causes, the .ir-
repressible conflict as Seward termed
IL. would seem necessarily onlv a
question of time.
As to the real cause causes which
precipitated that conflict there have
been, and still are differences OF opin-
ion. In our view, the settlement OF
this question is secondary; and the
vitnl questions to be determined are
Vital Questions.
(a) Which side, If either, was re-
or causes: And IL slavery was the
cause, which side was guilty of wrong
doing In denlins with that cause.
Obj Which wns the ngrrcssOr in pro-
vokins the conflicts:
(c) Which side Ind the legal right
to do what swns dOnet
&. And last. but by no means the least
(D Which side conducted itself the
better and according to the rules of
civilized warfare pending the conflict
1t seems to us that an answer to
these questions is pertinent at all
times. and at this distance from the
conflict they can be discussed dspas-
sionatcly. without cngendering sec
tional bad feeling.
- --Cnjist Charge.
Our auondan, enemies. knowing, as
It seems to us they must know, that
the evidence on every other point is
overwhelmingly against them, and rely
ing on the sentiment of the world now
existing against slavery, are prone To
charge that the South fought for the
perpetuation and extension of that in
stttuti0n. Or, to put II in the prici
Rnd common form, they charge (as
some of our younger people, in then
ignorance, seem to believer that slavery
was the cause of the war
1t would seem to the unprecedented
fact (Which. we believe. was u fact
that more than eighty per cent. OF tn,
Confederate soldiers held no slaves
that General Lee. our Representative,
soldier freed his slaves before the war
whilst General Grant, the representa-
tive soldier of the North. held on to hi
until they We're freed by the result
of the war, and the further fact tina
General Lee said at the beginning o
the war that If he owned all the slave
in the South, and could, by freein,
them. save the Union, he would do s
with the stroke of his pen, ought I
furnish satisfactory REPUTATION q
this unjust charge.
But let us admit, for the sake c
the argument only. that the charge
true. How, then, does the case stan
as to us. both on the law and tn
facts?
1t will not be charged by tn
greatest enemy of the South that
was in any way responsible either &c
the existence of slavery, or for IL
augurating that vilest of traflics--ti
African slave trade. On the contrar,
history attests that slavery was force
upon this country by England. again:
the earnest protests of the South, /
well as of the North. when the State
were Colonies under the control of thu
country; that the first statute estal