widely circulated-that another edition is issued, under the present title, including, besides the original Advertiser articles and some additional matter incorporated into them, other articles contributed by the writer to the press, and other matter of a historical character, worthy of note and preservation.

One of the writers of the letters here quoted-General Henry R. Jackson, soldier, orator, poet, lawyer, diplomat and statesman-is now the "breather of an ampler day" with the host of glorious immortals with whom, in this life, he illustrated the land they loved so well. "Ah! few and far on Glory's slope their lessening numbers stand."

The other-General Stephen D. Lee-still lives, in hale old age, and will ever live in the hearts of his countrymen, for no brighter blade than his ever flashed in the battle's front to save their loved homes from war's desolation.

The first of these letters shows how intensely its distinguished writer felt with regard to whatever touched the name and fame of the South, and how deeply oppressed he was at the thought-forced upon him by so much that he saw and read-that "the independent South has ceased to exist," and that "the memory of the South is potent only in Confederate Veteran Associations." His death soon after my return to Georgia from the Southwest prevented me (a misfortune I shall ever deplore) from having the pleasure and privilege of meeting and talking with General Jacksonor, rather, of hearing him talk, and tell of that historic

past in which he lived and bore so distinguished a part. In a letter subsequent to the one here quoted he wrote that he had in mind the publication of a volume of personal recollections and reflections, and it is greatly to be regretted that he did not carry the purpose into execution, for there were few whose lives. extended over a more interesting period than that during which he lived, and it would be hard indeed to find among the living the tongue and pen to speak and write with the eloquence of that widely accomplished man.

Atlanta, Ga., January, 1903.

T. K. OGLESBY.

"We cannot too strongly urge upon our people the great importance of avoiding, as far as possible, the purchasing and disseminating of books and literature which are unkind and unfair to the South, which belittle our achievements, impugn our motives, and malign the characters of our illustrious leaders. An example of this kind of literature is the Encyclopædia Britannica, which, while a work of exceptional merit in many particulars, abounds in such a distortion of historical facts in reference to the South as could have emanated only from ignorance or malignity. A yet more flagrant example of this kind is a reprint in part of that encyclopædia, known as the R. S. Peale reprint (published by the Werner Company, of Chicago), now being advertised in Southern newspapers. * * Justice to the South requires that the entire field of history be explored and its neglected facts be faithfully gathered and portrayed. We need a 'renaissance' of history throughout the South."-From the reports of the Historical Committee of the United Confederate Veterans, at Birmingham, Ala., April 25th, 1894; Houston, Texas, May 23d, 1895; and Richmond, Virginia, June 30th, 1896.

SOME TRUTHS OF HISTORY.

A Vindication of the South Against the Encyclopedia Britannica and Other Maligners.

I.

"Since the Revolution days the few thinkers of America born south of Mason and Dixon's line-out-numbered by those belonging to the single State of Massachusetts-have commonly migrated to New York or Boston in search of a university training. In the world of letters, at least, the Southern States have shone by reflected light; nor is it too much to say that mainly by their connection with the North the Carolinas have been saved from sinking to the level of Mexico or the Antilles. Like the Spartan marshaling his helots, the planter lounging among his slaves was made dead to art. It has only flourished freely in a free soil, and for almost all its vitality and aspirations we must turn to New England."-Encyclopedia Britannica (ninth edition), Volume 1, p. 719.

If the sons and daughters of the South do not themselves uphold the truth of history, "the dust on antique time will lie unswept, and mountainous error be too highly heaped for truth to overpeer." As my mite towards averting a consummation so much to be deprecated, I desire to place before the public, through the columns of the Advertiser, in answer to the statements of the Encyclopedia Britannica, a summary of historical facts, showing that to the South, far more than to any other section, is this Union indebted for the genius, wisdom, enterprise, patriotism and valor that have given it so proud an eminence among the nations of the earth. I purpose to fix these facts in the firmament of truth, so grouped that the most care