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THE LESSON OP OUR CIVIL WAR. 



T7ie NeiD Orleans Price Current — a journal of the intensest Southern pro- 

 clivities — discusses the visit of Mr. Greeley to the South as follows : 



" The industrial doctrines professed by Mr. Greeley have subjugated the 

 South. Not because he j)rofessed them — they were planted before his day. 

 They orig-iuated with the gT.-eat De Witt Clinton, who persisted iu the execu- 

 tion of a great work of iutemal improvement which connected the Atlantic 

 with the Lakes. That canal conducted population into the Indian wilder- 

 ness. It was the pioneer of those other ways which have povu-ed all Europe 

 upon the North-Western territory won by the arms of the Southern colonies, 

 and which have naturally brought the votes and arms of that poijulation to 

 the aid of the cities and sections that bestowed these blessings upon them. 

 Mr. Webster, Mr. Carey, Mr. Seward, and Mr. Greeley have been the advo- 

 cates of the cai^ital, commercial, and mechanical interests. It followed that 

 when the question of inherent rights ui the States was referred to the arbi- 

 trament of the sword ; the one section was on hand \vith soldiers, ships, arms, 

 food, money, and credit, while the other had courage and a just cause, patri- 

 otism and endurance. Now we are far from agreeing with the school ia 

 which Mr. Greeley is an emiuent jirofessor, that any industrj' is entitled to 

 special protection at the hands of the Government ; but we are satisfied that 

 no people can ever hope to be free that exchange staple productions, worth 

 gold and sUver, for commodities which perish in the use ; nor who have to 

 send abroad for the guns that they fight with, the food that they eat, and 

 the very clothing that they wear. There can be no doubt but that the com- 

 mand of immigrant numbers, capital, and mechanical skill, with the financial 

 resources of the Government and country, was due to the school of material 

 and industrial develoioment at the North. They received powerful aid fi'om 

 the total want of preparation in these departments at the South. We have 

 always thought that Ames & Co., the greatest manufacturers of spades, 

 shovels, and axes in the world, did more to conquer a people who had not a 

 manufactory of si^ades, axes, or shovels, than any general of the Federal 

 army. 



" Setting aside, then, the ruinous application which has been made of 

 industrial progi'css by the Federalists, we have no cause of complaint against 

 the disciples of this school. On the contrary, it is the true duty of the South 

 to cultivate all those industries, the want of which has enslaved her. The 

 foundation of war and conquest was laid when Washington in vain adjured 

 the Southera i^eople to connect the waters of the Chesapeake with the 

 North-Westem territoiy. Mr. Greeley happens to have been a cotemporary 

 of the success of the system founded by Clinton, Adams, and Webster. If 

 there be something in that system to refomi or oppose, let us do so ; but do 

 not let us commit the mistake of turning our condemnation upon individuals 

 who profess the doctrine. 



' ' There is one topic upon which Mr. iTr^eley is entitled to the unreserved 

 approval of all who live by land and labor. He has been one of the most 

 intelligent and consistent advocates of agricultural improvement. What he 

 ' Knows about Farming ' has become a jocular phrase ; but, if he knows as 

 much as he has printed, he possesses no despicable amount of knowledge. It 

 is a little late in the day to sneer at book-farming, when the best minds of 

 the world are engaged in analyzing soil and seed to lessen the labors or in- 

 crease the profits of the farmer. The Agricultural Department of The New 

 York Tribune contains as much of scientific and practic:d knowledge as any 

 other paper, and, as it has a larger circulation than most, must diffuse much 

 of that knowledge." 



25 F '08 C^ 



