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About Hesperian student / (Lincoln [Neb.]) 1872-1885 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 1, 1877)
m TllK SOt Tit W M, I toward the other has been persistently South. '1 ins .uii.-iironiMn la, in their s misrepresented lv cliques of U'ina-' cinl condition. Now m the North, social rogues for purposes ic base as themselves. Now before we harshly hlnnio Hit' South lor these results, wo ought lo look euro- ', fully into the causes of the Kebcllion. ! i In resneel to these, we are ant to be led into an erroi. We often regard the He hellion as a mere conspiracy of a base ol igarchy. That it was fomented to a great extent by a clique of demagogues, who made use of the discords then prevailing to furl hoc their ambitious ends, we do not attempt to deny. Hut to suppose that the real cnu.se lay no deeper than in the schemes of such men is an absurdity. The Lost Cause on the contrary, hail no trivial origin. Would the hall-fed, half clothed and unpaid legions of the Con fedrac.y have toiled manfully on through fouryear.s of terrible lighting? Would the South have suffered all the dcsolntinsr ef feds or war? Would all this have hap. pened simply because of an idea? Des pite the conduct of Davis and his usso. dates, we cannot believe litis. Now an imposier, when prosperous, may have gnat success, but when adver sity comes, he is found wanting. So it is with people, and the South, had it believed its cause an imposture, would not have been .so persistent or so self denying. The principles for which it rose in units were llrnily believed in by the greater maso of the Southern whites of all grades and conditions. We may consider them misled, but we cannot justly accuse mem ol insincerity. The world has been prone to regard revolution as a virtue if successful, but as a crime if suppressed. We must go back to the very colonization of our country if we would find the cans cs of the Wat for Independence: in like manner. p must K j,,,,.,. , ,hl. ))(lgiiu t,r :f our national existence if we would Ibid Hie eauses of u. inU. lLi.. Ion. The causes ot oni uvil wai are to be -ught lor i the antagonism between the demur du N.,,,1. and the arist.u rath equality pervaiU'd from iIip very begii'. ning; lull the South was aristocratic fioin Ihe outset. It recognized several grade of free whites, and there were, at first, in denied white servants as well as negro slaves. The planters stood at"the head ot the list. They were men of wealth, nil lure and influence, and owned largo c tales tilled by gangs of slaves. Tlic boasted of a long line of ancestry, ami in their hands they held the political on trol of iho whole South, lk'low them were other classes of whites by whom Hit trades and professions were tilled. The last of these were the poor whites, 'flu class were lazy, shiftless and improvident, yet such a condition was not wholly then own fault. Southern aristocracy ilcmaii ded the abasement of one class that an oilier might have an undue prominence The poor whiles were degraded lioni tin outset and were kept so; not tjinmiirnlu perhaps, yet none the less llrnily. The last class were Ihe negro slave Now an aristocracy implies the relation of master and servant ; in oilier word, that servitude of some sort must exist, thai the leading class may possess high cinl position, ease and luxury. The American will never submit lo being en .slaved himself, and the poor while scons the idea no less than the Yankee. So the planter, though he despised the negro, nevertheless employed him. In a warm climate, the negro is better adapted lm work than Ihe while man; therefore, slav ery grew in Ihe South and was defended (Jotton, it has been truly said, vvnsaso cial tyrant, whether it was ever king or not. Thc planters were a well educated class. Among them have appeared sow of the most brilliant men of our roimlrv Hut here, the bright part of the picture ended. The poor white did not care fm education, and the negro was denied n The planters controlled everything, h. causi their education and snehd dv tagis irave tin m an immense influence e
