The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1917-05-16

could be at home in any royal court
while the prime manners Of Abigail
Adams, the little New England maid,
oppressed her.
It was to the society Of the Old
South, that Anthony Trollope re-
ferred when, after visiting the Unit
ed States in. 1861, he wrote: "Ev-
erybody acknowledged that society
in Washington had been almost de-
stroyed by the loss of the Southern
half Of the usual sojourners in that
city"
Charles Ingersoll, q distinguished
son Of Pennsylvania, thus spoke Of
the Old South: "Slavery not only
consisted with, but it naturally pro-
duced and sustained a society, on
the whole, less erring than existed in
the North, and probably, than in
the emancipated South will ever
exist without it. That political vir-
tue, more important to a republic
than private virtue, which has be-
come less and less common in the
North, did not decay in the South.
The political South produced more
truly independent spirits than the
North"
William Cullen Bryant, Of Massa-
chusetts, wrote: the South certain
ly has the advantage over US in the
point Of manners
After travelling through the
United States many years ago,
Achille Murat, nephew Of Napoleon,
thus wrote to his friend, Thebau-
deau: "South Carolina has distin-
guished herself by phalax Of talent
unequalled in the Union" In speak
ing Of the society Of Charleston he
said: "There is nothing wanting
either as regards finish or elegance
of manners, and, what is of more
value to people such as ourselves, she
abounds in real talent, and is as far
above pedantry as insignifcance." "
He also wrote to this friend about
the people of New England: "They
are eager to amass wealth, and will
frankly confess like Petit Jean:
Without money, honor's a disease. I"
Senator Hoar, of Massachusetts,
/ in delivering an address at ban
quet in Charleston, paid this beauti-
full tribute to the people of the
South: "The American people have
learned to know, as never before,
the quality of the Southern stock,
and to value its noble contribution
to the American character; its cour-
age in war, its attachment to home
and State, its love of rural life, its
capacity for great affection and gen.
erous emotion, its aptness for COM
mand; above all its constancy, that
virtue above all virtues. without
which no people can long be either
great or free"
The foregoing shows that the
language Of the Encyclopedia Is
misleading and untrue as to the So
cial graces and accomplishments Of
the Southern people.
Two Of the most singular illustra-
tions ever presented, of the power of
literature to conceal and pervert
truth, to modify and falsify history,
to transfer odium from the guilty
to the innocent, are found in the
fact, that the reproaches Of dis
union and slavery, have been slipped
from the shoulders Of the North to
those of the South.
We shall proceed to show, that tho
North is responsible for the odium
Of slavery, and that its opposition to
the institution Of slavery was not
based on moral grounds. J.
It is well known, that at. the time
Of the adoption Of the Federal Con:
stitution. African seryitude existed
lin all the States that were parties
to that compact, unless with the sim
gle exception of Massachusetts,, in
which it had, perhaps, very recent
ly ceased to exist. The slaves, how
ever, were numerous in the South
ern, and very few in the Northern
States. This diversity was occa-
stoned by differences Of climate, soil,
and industrial interests-not in any
degree by moral considerations
which at that period were not re-
cognized as an element in the ques-
ton. It was simply because negro
labor was more profitable in the
South than in the North, that the
importation of negro slaves had
been, and continued to be, CHIEFLY
directed to the Southern ports. For
the same reason slavery was abol-
ished by the States of the Northern
section, (though it existed in several
of them for more than fifty years,
after the adoption of the Constitu-
tion), while the Importation of
slaves into the South continued to
be carried on by Northern Mer-
chants and Northern ships, without
interference in the traffic from any
quarter, until it was prohibited by
the spontaneous action Of the South
ern States themselves.
The Constitution expressly for
bade any interference by Congress
with the slave-trade prior to the
year 1908. During the intervening
period Of more than twenty years,
the matter was exclusively under the
control of the respective States.
every Southern State,
without exception, either had al
ready enacted, or proceeded to en-
act, laws forbidding the importation