Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1909-01-26
The Causes of the War.

Lover Of Truth.
The Causes of the War.
What wor they er fightin' er-
bout?"
Somewhere-in an old school read
er, I believe it waS-l remember nav
ing seen a reproduction OF popular
painting, the subject of which was a
forgotten war. An old negro plow-
man was holding in his hand hu-
man skull that he had just upturned
from the sod, and he and his young
white master were regarding 1t IN
tently while the tired mule was con-
tentedly browsing on the foliage OF a
convenient bush. Underneath the
picture was the legend with which !
have commenced my essay, ana
which, as l recall, was a question the
old negro had directed to the supe-
rior historical knowledge OF the little
boy-"What wor they er fightin er-
bout?"
The whole idea of the artist seems
to have been that many years preVl-
ously, this cornfield had been the
scene of a bloody battle in which
thousands Of human beings had given
up their lives, literally sowing the
soil with their bones, and now in the
mockery of time, the world had act
ually forgotten even the very reasons
that had led to the terrible arbitra-
ment Of the sword. 1t was with
strange feelings, 1 remember, that L
considered that picture; but now,
more than a generation afterward,
when l am told to explain the causes
Of the most gigantic struggle that mas
ever been witnessed in this world OF
I1nf
are stranger still.
Among our own people are many
who tell me that the cause Of the war
was the question Of the right OF Sc
cession-the right Of some or the
states to separate from the others and
maintain independent sovereignties OF
their own. l have considered this
carefully and it does not appeal to
me as satisfactory. Does not the MIS-
tory Of this country clearly show that
the original union was little more
than a friendly agreement, and that
practically all of the ablest men In
every section, north and south, look
ed upon that agreement as nero
matter of convenience, to be terml-
mated almost at the slightest desire OF
any one of the sovereign states who
we're parties to it? AS far back as
1911, when events were not shaping
to his liking, did we not hear Josiah
Quincy threatening in a speech In
congress, that in a certain contingen-
cy the New England states would
withdraw from the Union, Peace
ably, if they could; forciby, If they
must? Surely ther with such a SEN
timent as this coming from the north
as long ago as that, and without chal-
lenge, no one is going to claim that
these northern people brought all
this bloodshed on the country because
the south actually did what the north
had claimed the right to do, which
right the south had never disputed.
Then again, there are those who
saw that the fields of the south from
the PENNSYLVANIA line to the Gulf or
Mexico, and from the Atlantic across
the Mississippi were soWed with
skulls because the barbarous south
ern people insisted on maintaining
negro slavery, and the generous, chiv-
alrous and philanthropic people OF
the north were willing to pour out
their blood rather than suffer the per-
petuation Of such monstrous inJus-
tice. That is the kind Of stuff with
which many of the histories they are
trying to make US study today are
filled. But whoever heard OF such
sweep back into the history Of this
country and we find the north full Of
negro slaves who were used and abus-
ed with a ruthlessness unequalled
anywhere except in the vicious stories
afterward circulated in the north
against the south. Yes, the people
of the north got rid Of their slaves;
but did they set them free? Not
much. Finding that they could not
use them with profit to themselves,
they sold them to the people of the
south for the last cent they would
bring on the market. Then, In the
light of these facts are we to be ask,
ed to believe that these people would
pour out their life blood for princi-
pie that did not even appeal to their
dollars? Out with such canting hy-
pocrisy!
These things-secession, union,
slavery, abolition-were not causes or
the war; they were nothing but pre-
texts that were never thought Of un-
til after returning reason seemed to
require a justifiable explanation of all
the ruin that had been wrought. But
still we are confronted with the ques-
ton, What were they fighting
about?"
Search the pages of history, exam
inc the records Of all the great trag-
edies of blood, pillage and rapine
that are there recorded, and although
YOU will find mention Of some right
eous wars, you will find the underly-
ing cause of most Of the others to be
the rapacious greed of unjust and
covetous peoples. Don't be shocked,
please Even George Washington
once declared in letter to John Ban
mister, THAT no war can ever be sup
ported except in the hope of material
reward" and this certainly warrants
me in declaring a material reason for
this war.
There is a famous masterpiece of
allegorical sculpture that is called
Force throttling Genius" Force Is
represented as a tremendous and
magnificent specimen of physical per-
fection, his giant limbs with their
corded muscles and his dull, stupid
face embodying the personification Of
irresistible brutal power. In the
lies Genius, q beautiful, but delicate
ly moulded youth, Of countenance ii.
vine, looking up at him in beseech-
ing helplessness.
Speaking broadly, but as charila-
bly, as possible, 1 say that this la"li-
BILE civil war grew out Of a conflict
between opposing civilizations-one a
civilization that was aspiring to the
highest and noblest intellectually and
the other a civilization that was based
on successful but necessarily coarse
materialism. My idea of it is fully
comprehended in the piece of sculp-
ture 1 have just described.
1t requires but a cursory investiga-
ton in the early settlement of the
sections to find that the ancestry Of
both the north and south Is traceable
to a very nearly common origin-to
people who left their homes in the
old countries to establish themselves
in a wilderness where they would be
permitted to worship God in accord
ance with the dictates of their own
consciences, and lead lives that might