Posted on 10/04/2005 12:33:44 AM PDT by injin
"Get correct views of life, and learn to see the world in its true light. It will enable you to live pleasantly, to do good, and, when summoned away, to leave without regret."
Robert E. Lee
even the Buddha could not have put it more succinctly
The following is an excerpt from a book written by G.F.R. Henderson, C.B. titled ‘Stonewall Jackson’ around 1897. This excerpt represents, in my opinion, the best argument that I've ever read debunking the northern propaganda that the South seceded, and then fought a long and costly war to maintain the institution of slavery, and is, once again in my opinion, intellectually irrefutable and puts the slavery as the cause of the war issue to rest.
”When, in the process of time, the history of Secession comes to be viewed with the same freedom from prejudice as the history of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, it will be clear that the fourth great Revolution of the English-speaking race differs in no essential characteristic from those which preceded it. It was not simply because the five members were illegally impeached in 1642, the seven bishops illegally tried in 1688, men shot at Lexington in 1775, or slavery threatened in 1861, that the people rose. These were the occasions, not the causes of revolt. In each case a great principle was at stake: in 1642 the liberty of the subject; in 1688 the integrity of the Protestant faith; in 1775 taxation with only consent of the taxed; in 1861 the sovereignty of the individual states.”
”The accuracy of this statement, as already suggested, has been consistently denied. That the only principle involved in Secession was the establishment of slavery on a firmer basis, and that the cry of States’ Rights was raised only by way of securing sympathy, is a very general opinion. But before in can be accepted, it is necessary to make several admissions; first, that the Southerners were absolutely callous to the evils produced by the institution they had determined to make permanent; second, that they had persuaded themselves, in the face of the tendencies of civilisation, that it was possible to make it permanent; and third, that they conscientiously held their progress and prosperity to be dependent on its continued existence. Are we to believe that the standard of morals and intelligence was so low as these admissions would indicate? Are we to believe that if they had been approached in a charitable spirit, that if the Republican party, disclaiming all right of interference, had offered to aid them in substitution, by some means which would have provided for the control of the negro and, at the same time, have prevented an entire collapse of the social fabric, a system more consonant with humanity, the Southerners would have still preferred to leave the Union, and by creating a great slave-power earn the execration of the Christian world?”
”Unless the South be credited with an unusual measure of depravity and of short-sightedness, the reply can hardly be in the affirmative. And if it be otherwise, there remains but one explanation of the conduct of the seceding States - viz. the dread that if they remained in the Union they would not be fairly treated.”
”It is futile to argue that the people were dragooned into secession by the slave-holders. What power had the slave-holders over the great mass of the population, over the professional classes, over the small farmer, the mechanic, the tradesman, the labourer? Yet it is constantly asserted by Northern writers, although the statement is virtually an admission that only the few were prepared to fight for slavery, that the Federal sentiment was so strong among the Southerners that terrorism must have had a large share in turning them into Separatists. The answer, putting aside the very patent fact that the Southerner was not easily coerced, is very plain. Undoubtedly, throughout the South there was much affection for the Union; but so in the first Revolution there was much loyalty to the Crown, and yet it has never been asserted that the people of Virginia or of New England were forced into sedition against their will. The truth is that there were many Southerners who, in the vain hope of compromise, would have postponed the rupture; but when the right of secession was questioned, and the right of coercion was proclaimed, all differences of opinion were swept away, and the people, thenceforward, were of one heart and mind.”
The following is a footnote to the first paragraph:
”It has been remarked that States’ Rights, as a political principle, cannot be placed on the same plane as those with which it is here grouped. History, however, proves conclusively that, although it may be less vital to the common weal, the right of self government is just as deeply cherished. A people that has once enjoyed independence can seldom be brought to admit that a Union with others deprives it of the prerogatives of sovereignty, and it would seem that the treatment of this instinct of nationality is one of the most delicate and important tasks of statesmanship.”
the PEERLESS LEE was right 99% of the time.
free dixie,sw
no matter how much the DAMNyankees, REVISIONISTS & the hate-FILLED left may wish it were NOT so, the WBTS was only about LIBERTY for dixie AND the imperialism & hatred of the northern elitists for everyone/everything southern.
from the northern elitists point of view, the war was ONLY about MONEY & the continuation of their boot on southern necks. they cared NOTHING about any other issue.
free dixie,sw
And yet that's exactly what happened. Lincoln offered to support an amendment that would promise no federal interference with slavery. But that wasn't enough. The slave states wanted the expand slavery into the new territories, in violation of the Missouri Compromise.
So what is your guy saying it would have taken to keep the south in the Union? "disclaiming all right of interference." You had that. "by some means which would have provided for the control of the negro." Ah, there it is.
”Unless the South be credited with an unusual measure of depravity and of short-sightedness, the reply can hardly be in the affirmative.
If the shoe fits...
Basically you're presenting the same ol' same ol' Lost Cause justifications, here obfuscated in flowery 19th Century language.
puts the slavery as the cause of the war issue to rest.
And yet still you can't deny that every Declaration of Causes, as well as a vast amount of other contemporaneous material endlessly cites the protetction of slavery, and the fear of Republican aboltionist principles, as the proximate cause of secession.
Your response is predictable, boring and weak. DisHonest Abe was pure politician; the antebellum and War for Southern Independence equivalent of Bubba Clinton. The Southerners of the period understood Abe and knew that his promises rang hollow. The Emancipation Proclamation is an example of political legalese that is, to this day, misunderstood by the populace. Lincoln, like most northerners, was a racist and disHonest Abe was only concerned about reelection.
”Unless the South be credited with an unusual measure of depravity and of shortsightedness, the reply can hardly be in the affirmative.
If the shoe fits...
This response sums up nicely the yankee mentality.
It is obvious that we have reached an impasse for which no further dialog is necessary.
I will continue to fly a Confederate Battle Flag on my front lawn and you will continue your ad hominum attacks on all things Southern. So be it.
cowboyway
And you present the same post-war justifications, insisting that slavery had nothing to do with it and disregarding the vast amount of documentation that the south itself generated at the time saying that the protection of slavery was overwhelmingly the proximate cause of secession. Yeah, they didn't trust Lincoln. What didn't they trust him about? Slavery. And no amount of postwar spin you can produce can trump what the south said before it.
The Emancipation Proclamation is an example of political legalese that is, to this day, misunderstood by the populace.
And as Frederick Douglass said, "under his rule, and in the fullness of time, we saw Abraham Lincoln, after giving the slave-holders three months' grace in which to save their hateful slave system, penning the immortal paper, which, though special in its language, was general in its principles and effect, making slavery forever impossible in the United States. Though we waited long, we saw all this and more." Plus, Lincoln pushed for passage of the 13th amendment, which DID end slavery.
ping
CHRISTMAS NIGHT OF '62 by William Gordon McCabe (1841-1920)
The wintry blast goes wailing by,
The snow is falling overhead;
I hear the lonely sentry's tread,
And distant watch-fires light the sky.
Dim forms go flitting through the gloom;
The soldiers cluster round the blaze
To talk of other Christmas days,
And softly speak of home and home.
My sabre swinging overhead
Gleams in the watch-fire's fitful glow,
While fiercely drives the blinding snow,
And memory leads me to the dead.
My thoughts go wandering to and fro,
Vibrating between the Now and Then;
I see the low-browed home again,
The old hall wreathed with mistletoe.
And sweetly from the far-off years
Comes borne the laughter faint and low,
The voices of the Long Ago!
My eyes are wet with tender tears.
I feel again the mother-kiss,
I see again the glad surprise
That lightened up the tranquil eyes
And brimmed them o'er with tears of bliss,
As, rushing from the old hall-door,
She fondly clasped her wayward boy--
Her face all radiant with the joy
She felt to see him home once more.
My sabre swinging on the bough
Gleams in the watch-fire's fitful glow,
While fiercely drives the blinding snow
Aslant upon my saddened brow.
Those cherished faces all are gone!
Asleep within the quiet graves
Where lies the snow in drifting waves,--
And I am sitting here alone.
There's not a comrade here to-night
But knows that loved ones far away
On bended knee this night will pray:
"God bring our darling from the fight."
But there are none to wish me back,
For me no yearning prayers arise.
The lips are mute and closed the eyes--
My home is in the bivouac.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Rebels! 't is a holy name!
The name our fathers bore,
When battling in the cause of Right,
Against the tyrant in his might,
In the dark days of yore.
Rebels! 't is our family name!
Our father, Washington,
Was the arch-rebel in the fight,
And gave the name to use,--a right
Of father unto son.
Rebels! 't is our given name!
Our mother, Liberty,
Received the title with her fame,
In days of grief, of fear, and shame,
When at her breast were we.
Rebels! 't is our sealed name!
A baptism of blood!
The war--aye, and the din of strife--
The fearful contest, life for life--
The mingled crimson flood.
Rebels! 't is a patriot's name!
In struggles it was given;
We bore it then when tyrants raved
And through their curses 't was engraved
On the doomsday-book of heaven.
Rebels! 't is our fighting name!
For peace rules o'er the land,
Until they speak of craven woe--
Until our rights receive a blow,
From foe's or brother's hand.
Rebels! 't is our dying name!
For, although life is dear,
Yet, freemen born and freemen bred,
We'd rather live as freemen dead,
Than live in slavish fear.
Then call us rebels if you will--
We glory in the name;
For bending under unjust laws,
And swearing faith to an unjust cause,
We count a greater shame.
free dixie NOW,sw
THat was a poem sir
Deo Vindice !
Deo Vendict!
all i want for Christmas is dixie FREEDOM.
free dixie NOW, sw
think on this comrade :
THE SOUTHERN CAUSE by Duval Porter
Oh, Righteous Cause, for which we fought,
And for which thousands died,
We glory in it as we ought
And point to it with pride.
The Cause for which our fathers bled,
In Revolution days,
The right of self-defense instead
Of treasonable ways.
No "Cause" is "Lost" that has the right,
Success is often wrong,
Tho' seemingly it wins the fight,
The honors still belong
To those in failure or defeat,
Who tried and did their best,
As long as noble hearts shall beat
Within a human breast.
Was Russia right and Poland wrong
Contending for its place,
Among the nations, brave and long,
'Till crush'd by power base?
The rev'rence all true Southrons feel,
No foes can over-awe,
For Cause that ever will appeal,
With all the force of law.
And yet today we are as true
To country's flag as they,
Who bore it then and wore the Blue
'Gainst those who wore the Gray.
CHRISTMAS NIGHT OF '62 by William Gordon McCabe (1841-1920)
The wintry blast goes wailing by,
The snow is falling overhead;
I hear the lonely sentry's tread,
And distant watch-fires light the sky.
Dim forms go flitting through the gloom;
The soldiers cluster round the blaze
To talk of other Christmas days,
And softly speak of home and home.
My sabre swinging overhead
Gleams in the watch-fire's fitful glow,
While fiercely drives the blinding snow,
And memory leads me to the dead.
My thoughts go wandering to and fro,
Vibrating between the Now and Then;
I see the low-browed home again,
The old hall wreathed with mistletoe.
And sweetly from the far-off years
Comes borne the laughter faint and low,
The voices of the Long Ago!
My eyes are wet with tender tears.
I feel again the mother-kiss,
I see again the glad surprise
That lightened up the tranquil eyes
And brimmed them o'er with tears of bliss,
As, rushing from the old hall-door,
She fondly clasped her wayward boy--
Her face all radiant with the joy
She felt to see him home once more.
My sabre swinging on the bough
Gleams in the watch-fire's fitful glow,
While fiercely drives the blinding snow
Aslant upon my saddened brow.
Those cherished faces all are gone!
Asleep within the quiet graves
Where lies the snow in drifting waves,--
And I am sitting here alone.
There's not a comrade here to-night
But knows that loved ones far away
On bended knee this night will pray:
"God bring our darling from the fight."
But there are none to wish me back,
For me no yearning prayers arise.
The lips are mute and closed the eyes--
My home is in the bivouac.
instead i call it THE TRUE CAUSE of dixie FREEDOM.
here's hoping you & yours are having a MERRY CHRISTMAS.
free dixie,sw
free dixie,sw
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