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W. C. BENET WRITES. Editor The Press and Banner:? It gave me very great pleasure and satisfaction to read in The Press and Banner Chief Justice Gary's "Justification of the South," which, tut for his modesty, he might. have entitled "A complete Refutatino of the Britannica's Slanderous indictment of the South." In historical statement it was as strong and truthful as the Britannica's article was virulent and falsifying. With his characteristic diligence and painstaking he had collected and marshalled hsi authorities which made his position impregnable. Too young to ftght under Lee or Jackson, he has certainly in that "Justification," full fifty years after the war, done his "bit" for the South. The Abbeville Daughters of the Confederacy are to be congratulated on having heard Judge Gary's admirable defense of the cause which they hold so dear. It may seem strange to them and to Southerners generally, that the great British Encyclopedia should lave published an article so unjust, so calumniating, and showing sucn gross ignorance and bitter animosity. What would not have been surprising as coming from a Bostonian abolitionist, does cause astonishment as i coming from an English writer, whose views of the "South are not supposd to be warped nad distorted by inherited anti-Southern sentiment. But let us reflect and see if this can not be explained. We of the Southern States must bear in mind that all the great cities and centres of \ population are in the North?that all the great and leading American newspapers that reach the outside world are owned by Northerners and printed in the North?that all the great publishing houses are in the ? North?that consequently all the influential magazines and nearly all the enormous output of American books and literature generally are published in the North. Thus it is that the people of Great Britain and ether European countries very seldom see a Southern newspaper, a Southern magazine, or a book by a Southern author. The result is that they see the South only through Northern spectacles which are by no means clear, true, or colorless. The, German propaganda against the Allies cannot compare in either efficiency or success with the anti-Southern propaganda carried on by the abolitionists of New England and flie North, which did not entirely cease when the war ended, and which vnduly and most unjustly still to some extent, influences Northern and 1 European sentiment. A genuine fact is always more satisfying than a theory; and it hap- 1 pens that an incident in my own ex- : perience throws light on this subject 1 I hope that my account of it will prove interesting to the Daughters < ml the Confederacy and to other i leaders of The Press and Banner. If < la relating it I am obliged by the 1 circumstances to put myself forward lather prominently, I trust that my < leaders will not charge it against me < as egotism. i It happened in Scotland in 1877. ^ I was there on a visit to my birth- 1 alaee. Tillicoultry, with my young Abbeville bride. Strolling by a pub- < fie hall one day I saw a large poster < which announced that the Rev. Mr. ' Parsons, D, D,. of Brighton, Eng- i land, was to deliver a lecture in that 4 baD on "Reminiscences of a Three 1 Months' Tour in the Southern i Skates." Of course I must go to i bear that lecture; and I went, accom- i panied by my young wife, my moth- * ?r, and my older brother, Hugh. On < account of my wife's inherited deaf- t ness, we took front seats, close to i fiie platform. There was a large audience, of whom about half were c weavers and spinners, very intelli- 1 rent workingmen. s The chairman introduced the Rev. j Dr. Parsons, the lecturer. He was t a tall, handsome man, of fine impos- j ing personal appearance, an ideal < - platform lecturer. He had a fine j voice; he was an orator; he impress- i ed you at once as an accomplished t jmblic speaker. He spoke for over t an hour. The audience applauded ! ] l?mi frequently. If I had not spent!} ten years in South Carolina, I, too,' 1 might have joined in the applause. ( Instead of that, I was biting my lip, 1 gritting my teeth, and making up ? my mind as to what I would do. ] Never did I listen to sermon or ; ] speech or lecture as intently as lit listened to Dr. Parsons. Not a word i of his escaped me. ] A most eloquent lecture it was. ' Delivered in Fanenil Hall, Boston, it J would have evoked thunders of ap-11 *?-? J A KKaimIIO at* 1 piause. uenveicu m nuuoi*?%, Columbia, or any Southern town, it'J would have provoked a riot. For < from first to last it was a most bit- 1 icr attack upon the South. No New j* England abolitionist fanatic could < have made an address to surpass it it for virulent abuse, am? malevolence. 1 Although this occurred forty years J ago, I distinctly recall some of his 1 expressions. They were vitriolic! i enough to burn themselves into my memory. Besides, his fiercest attack was made on South Carolina. Think of sitting there and hearing that Englishmen denounce South Carolina as a "hotbed of cut-throats and assassins." Think of his describing the soldiers of Lee and Stonewall Jackson as "tatterdemallions in rags and tatters," so ignorant and illiter?+? +!???+ fV?o pHiisnlriiers of the North felt humiliated at having to fight against such a despicable enemy." Yes, 'humiliated" was the word he used. My wife sat beside me, a South Carolina girl, daughter of a Confederate General. The Abbeville Daughters can imagine what her feelings were. She had seized my hand and held it with such a grip that I could feel her finger-nails sinking into my palm. I felt her trembling with emotion. She whispered, "Let us go, I can't stand this." I begged her just to wait and see it through. At the close of the lecture, a gentleman in the audience got up and in proper style proposed a vote of thanks to the eloquent lecturer. Before the motion was put I asked the chairman to indulge me with per mission to make a few remarks, lie did so. Before going further, let me state that Dr Par.sons had told how he had gofce from Richmond, Va., to Charlotte, N. C., with a negro preacher as his travelling companion; that when he and his reverend negro brother went into the dining room of the Central Hotel the negro head Waiter informed him that his colored friend could not dine there, and requested him to leave; that he,, Parsons, demanded to see the hotel proprietor, who said the waiter was quite right in refusing to wait on a negro, that his was a white folks hotel, that this talk took place in the office, which soon beean to be filled by a crowd of young men who seemed bent on mischief; that they used threatening and insulting language and ordered him to get out of the hotel and to leave the town on the next train. The reverend lecturer waxed magniloquent as he told how he protested against such barbarous treatment and vowed that he would invoke the powers of Queen Victoria and the British government and demand satisfaction for this shameful and unlawful treatment of a British subject. But, believing that his colred brother and himself were in danger of death, they went back to Richmond. The chairman having given me the floor, I thanked him and said that I agreed with the gentleman who, in making his motion, had said that the lecturer was both eloquent and interesting, but that I rose to prooooinct o vnfo nf fhftnlrfl ISVUV ? V ?V w? for a lecture which from beginning: to end was a most bitter and slanderous attack upon the Southern States and the Southern people by % man who knew nothing about them >f his own knowledge. I said that the lecture was an insult to the Southern people, and to the brave toldiers who had fought under Lee ind Stonewall Jackson; that, too, t was an insult to the audience, so argely made up of the intelligent xrorkingmen of Tillicoultry. s This was received with applause, ( luring which my brother pulled my 1 :oat-tails and said, "Stop! Stop! j rhis is very unparliamentary/' He will assert to this day that I said, ' 'Parliamentary law be damned." If 1 ! did, I trust the recording angel . nade no entry of it, for my record ^ is to the use of profane language s really better than that of the ^ 'Pinafore" admiral who "hardly jver" used a "big, big D". Besides, ;he provocation was great and I was s lot speaking in cold language. It would not become me to write >ut my recollection of all I said. 1 ifou can readily imagine what I s ihould have said, and you may be j jure I said it. I had captured my tudience, and their repeated ap- c )lause helped me greatly. It is * snough if I give some of the main 1 joints.. I showed that far from havng made a "three months tour" in ? ;he Southern States, the lecturer had j irtually never been there at all. g 3is own statements proved this; he \ lad spent the first month in Boston; ;he second month in Richmond unier the roof of a Boston missionary ;o the negroes, where, of course, he still breathed the anti-Southern, New England atmosphere; he spent a few lours in Charlotte; he hurried back ;o Richmond, then returned to Bos;on and spent the third month there. 3e had not crossed the border of South Carolina, and yet half of his ecture was devoted to virulent at;acks on that State, inexcusable misrepresentation and venomous abuse, instead of giving us his "reminiscen:es" of the Southern States, he lad given us a re-hash of Boston mti-Southern antipathies and prejulices. Coming from Brighton, on ;he distant South coast of England le had evidently thought that the >eople in this town on the far North cnew little or nothing about the Southern States or the Confederate t r u A I m 1 ?f I its loc w 801 tise po no ?Quoted from advertising i I Look ovc Banner < newspap< 1 design. 1 around ai 1 1 ter with loldiery. If he had been in Tilli- federacy sortry, as I was, during the war, he ^ my vould have found a Southern faction kit for th greatly outnumbering the Northern .'action, their disputes about North- Grimsh: srn and Southern generals and sol liers resulting sometimes in fiati- ? :uff fights, blackened eyes and bleed- ' ng noses. He would not have dared G1 x> speak of the Confederate soldiers is he had done in his lecture; &c. <&c. fee . ' I] Egged on by the audience, I had AS ipoken for about half an hour. When took my seat tne cnairman asicea Dr. Parsons if he wished to reply to PROPER ny criticism of his lecture. He "Write taid it was too late to reply to this gjgned nost extraordinary attack upon him, yQU jut that he would very soon take oc- inaur :asion to do so. To this I replied ^ ;hat I was ready to meet him on the against jlatform or in the press. The incident caused no little sensation. Very good reports of it apjeared in the Edinburgh and Glas jow dailies. On the day after the ecture, a Congregational minister :alled on me. He said he wished to aild do ;hank me for my exposure of the i.nsurail( English lecturer. He then told me ence. ;hat Dr. Parsons had been sent to Remei America by the English Grand Lodge to prov< >f Good Templars to organize negro fche safe odges, the American Grand Lodge of insur laving refused to do so. He told Our A ne, further, that the Scottish Grand ceiised 1 ^odge was to meet in Glasgow on the CC ;he following week; that Dr. Par- GreenW( ions was on the programme to de- rens anc iver this very same lecture, and that le himself was going as a delegate 0. Gr? ind he would see to it that the rev- J. M. Uan srend lecturer should not be allowed :o speak. I am glad to say that ho g* :ucceeded in silencing the Rev. Dr. l* jsj! Chai 'arsons; and that is the last I have R. H. Nic leard of him or of his "Reminiscen- F- L. Timi :es of a Three Months' Tour in the Southern States." This account will show you and he Abbeville Daughters of the Con- Greenw Advertisem whatever nati welcome by il >ks depend upoi ^AArl rlncim llii gUUU UV/Olgl ne chance of ) 3menl: being rea or design you 1 chance at all.' an address before the Poor Richar< nen representing nearly every natic ;r any product of 1 office, from a visit sr, and note the c That's where you rid comes back to y as many recruit d i*. expenditure warn ? r that forty ye?rs ago it fell JU.15 , in a small way, to do my e Southern Confederacy. W. C. Benet awes, N. C. ABBEVILLE ^ REENWOOD MUTUAL NSURANCE 1SOCIATION. OrganiiMl 1J91. _ TMIT,, TY INSURED $2,500,000. 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C., Jan. 1, 1S17. m ent . . . ire, secures ts looks; its 11 its design, i you have rour adverLd. but witli lave almoSI i i Club, an organization o inally advertised article "he Press and ing card to a rarefullness ol r money turns our cash regisollars as your mts A DDCT7TT IF C ADUb y IL1L.C1, k TO WASHINGTON VIA Southern Railway ACCOUNT ED C0NFEDERAT1 June 4-8, 191 Special Train Schedu S C. 4:15 P. M. Ma 3. C. 3:45 P. M. Maj C. !___ 4:34 P. M. May , C. - 4:52 P. M. May !. 5:25 P. M. May . C. 4:43 P. M. Maj r, S. C. 4:50 P. M. Ma ! 5:13 P. M. S. C 6:45 P. M. ___ ?, S. C 8:00 P. M. Ma: , D. C. 10:40 A. M. May Special Train will consist i cars, also day coaches fr [lie and Spartanburg. A1 lis train to serve breakfast l to the above Special Trai oil +voi-no Tnna 9. 7' ng June 21st or upon pa] tension may be secured unl 2d information call on any See large flyer. R. C. CO I > @ > I PS > 1 BW ? ||| i f-;1 / gp' 1 1 : 5. C $11.15 ' , D. C. System i'ii c . . : ? EVETERANS : 17 le Return Fares y 4 $10.85 r 4 11.15 4 10.85 4 10.85 4 10.85 r 4 11.35 y 4 11.80 11.65 10.65 j 4 10.00 5 of Standard and Tour/vm rirooirurnnH An^pr. so dining car will be before reaching Washn tickets will be sold at fch, inclusive, with final rment of 50c at Washtil July 6th. Southern Railway Sys TNER, T. P. A. Spabtanbubg, S. 0.