The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-10-10
Chaplain of Tennessee Veterans Believes Con- ditions in Dixie Would Be No Worse Than Under Present State of Affairs.


 The grounds upon which we are called to be thankful for the success of the Union and the defeat of the Confederacy are mainly reducible to three." write Rev. J. H McNeilly. chaplain of the Tennessee division of Confederate Soldiers and of U. C. V. in The Nashville Banner. They are the abolition of slavery. the overthrow of the doctrine of slavery, the over- throw of the doctrine of State sov- reignty and the wonderful material development of the South. The first is moral and social, the second is po- iitical, the third Is economic and in- dustrial. And 1t is assumed that these are blessings that could never have been realized if the Confederacy had been successful
 Let Us consider these consequences of the war and see If they are the blessings they are claimed to be; and and also to see what would have been the effect, of Confederate success on the status of the negro, the relation of the State to the general govern ment, and the development of the re- sources of the South. And also what would have been It's effect on the char acter of the people of the Confederate States.
 'As to the benefits of emancipation. They are claimed to be great for both the white man and the black. For the negro, he Is delivered from a gaiiing bondage. and given the opportunity due to every human being to develop his manhood along lines of his own choosing. For the white man he Is relieved of a burden of responsibility and from the temptation to use his authority for selfish and improper ends.
 Now while the hardness of the bondage has been greatly exaggerated, and while cruel masters were excep- tons to the general conditions, yet every candid Southern man will &C., knowledge that there were evils, in the system of siaveryi and that the de- sire for liberty is a natural desire of mans heart.
 Is Emancipation Bests
 But the question comes, in view of the actual conditions of the slave un- der the system of domestic slavery in the South. and in view of the serious injury that would come upon him in a State of freedom for which he was not prepared. is emancipation the best method of curing the confessed evils of the systemf And would liberty with its cares and responsibilities be benefit to him? Is it not possible that in carrying out a theory of hu- .--e-A AANhtT eO S1hAS1J tiiG COn- science. a great injustice may be done to both slave and master? Is there not better way of dealing with this ques- tion? A way that would have been adopted if the Southern Confederacy had succeeeded? think there was a better way, which was estopped by the success of the Union. The prob lem for the Southern white man to consider was: if the negroes were freed could two races, so widely different as Anglo Saxon and negro. live together in peace and mutual helpfulness. un- der the same government, with polit- ical equality? If not. then on what terms could they live together. so as to preserve the authority and civiliza- ton of the superior race, and at the same time secure to the inferior all the rights and privileges to which they were entitled as human beings? "This was the problem that required for it's solution all the wisdom. pa- tience, firmness, kindness possible to be exercised by both sections. For the North was more responsible for the existence of slavery in the States than the South was. Yet by the abo- lition agitation and the Union success in the war this question fraught with SO much danger, was suddenly forced upon the South. and we were placed
 
 at any time and hurl forth It's fiery lava streams. and its poisonous gases to spread over and to destroy the last traces of our kindly civilization, and desolate our fair land with all the hor- TOTS of a war of races. The problem is to-day an urgent one, and the most difficult any people have ever con fronted.
 Questions Emancipation.
 At | lu hAlA o ah hA aFno mo fVNat A of the negro and the removal Of the curse of slavery from the country was result that justified all the sacrafce of life and treasure. which the war cost us; and that the sufferings and humilations of the South, as a conse- quense of emancipation, were the just punishment for It's sin of holding tu- man beings in bondage.
 "The hysterical rhetoric of Presi- dent Lincoln's second inaugural Is held to be the true interpretation of Gods purpose in our defeat. His thought Is thus expressed: $f God wills that it (the war) continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's s two hundred and fifty years of unreg- nited toll. shall be paid by another drawn by the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still 1t must be said. The Judgements of the Lord are true ana righteous altogether.
 "Yet the same briallnt New England writer who quotes this utterance with approval, Is candid enough to say in another part of his book A very considerable portion of free labors have never been able to earn more money or to acquire more property than Is demanded by the actual and pressing needs of daily exhistence. common to all man kind-the need of food. clothes and lodging.
 Now, there can be no question that in return for their cervices the South ern slaves generally had these needs supplied They were fed. they were clothed, they was lodged. what is more. they were lodged, fed and cloth ed. to all appearances. rather better then they could have lodged them selves. on any wages which they could have earned. (Bar- rett Wendell. Liberty. Union and Democracy" Published by Scribner's, pages 3O7 and 154)
 "So much for this abolition talk about the slaves unrequited toll.
 Thinks PhilanthOrphy Misplaced.
 Nearly half a century has passed since MT. Lincoln issued the Emanci- patton Proclamation. which was well comed through the North as a long delayed act of justice to long-suffer-