The Lost Cause

The Lost Cause, in American political history, was the cause of the Confederacy in the civil war. This titular description of our late war, which has become so popular on the Southern side, originated with Edward A. Pollakd. Shortly after the war he prepared to write a history of it. He offered the work he designed to a New York publisher, who thought well of it, but objected to the title, " History of the War," etc. 'the work thus entitled might be confounded with some other inferior memoirs of the war which the writer had already composed, mere annals,-" First Year of the War," etc. " Could not some title be found more unique and captivating, and not quite so heavy?" The writer promised to think of such a title. The next day he presented himself to the publisher and said, "I have thought of a name for the work 1 design : it is The Lost Canst. You sec the bulk of the people in the South were persuaded that we really contended for something that had the dignity and importance of a cause - the cause of constitutional liberty (though God only knows what the sequel might have demonstrated)." " Excellently well," replied the publisher ; " it is just the thing." The title Droved an instant success, and has since become monumental. The words "The Lost Cause" have been incorporated into the common popular language of the South; and the universality of their reception implies a significance that is itself interesting.

There prevailed in the South, a worship of visions, of ideas, of imaginary ideals representing an idealized and not a real "lost cause." There is always the halo of romance about a "lost cause," and human nature habitually indulges in much unwholesome sentimentality in the contemplation of a "lost cause." Such uninstructivo and misleading exhibitions, for instance, as arranging a chorus of children at Richmond in the design and color of the "Stars and Bars," or in the draping with the Confederate colors of a portrait of the President of the United States and other foolish illustrations currently reported in the press, tend to impress young and plastic minds with an improper veneration. So it actually and often happens that any uplifting towards true progress is made only when the romance and illusion are destroyed by the discovery of historical fact.

In 1860 the country was warned that rebellion would follow the election of a Republican President. In 1868 rebellion was promised in case of a Republican defeat. The rebels of the South made it unmistakably clear that they intended that a Democratic victory shall pay them for what they lost at Vicksburg, and Gettysburg, and Richmond. The lost cause of the South is found again, and lives in the Democratic party. Frank Blair promises revolution if he is elected. Robert Toombs declares that " the Reconstruction Acts are null and void, and shall not stand. The grinning skeletons that have been *et up in our midst as legislators shall be ousted by Frank Blair, whom our party has expressly appointed for that purpose." Said Howell Cobb, " In war we drew the sword, and bade them defiance ; in peace we gather up the manhood of the South, and, raising the banner of constitutional equality, and gathering around it the good men of the North, as well as the South, we hurl into their teeth the same defiance, and bid them come on to the struggle. We are ready for it, if you are." Albert Pike calls upon the young men of the South to swear that the Susquehannah and Ohio shall be like rivers of fire, which no Northern Hun shall attempt to cross and live. "Secession is not dead," says Governor Wise ; "it is more alive to-day than ever. I support Blair because he promises revolution." J. M. Ramsey of Georgia declares that the true men of the South are ready to rally once more under the rebel flag, " and try the issue at the cartridge-box," and promises that there are men in the North who will lead their battalions. "With the skull and cross-bones of the 'lost cause' before us," cried the Meridian (Miss.) Mercury, "we will swear that this is a white man's Government. We must make the negro understand we are the men we were when we held him in abject bondage."

At a preliminary meeting to arrange for the dedication of the Maryland Confederate Monument at Gettysburg, held in Baltimore, Tuesday evening, November the 16th, 1886, General Bradley T. Johnson made a defence of Confederates from the charge of being "Rebels" and "traitors" worthy of preservation in our records. We are often asked by persons quite friendly to us, why we persist in maintaining these Confederate societies, and why we every year make public demonstrations of our respect for the " Lost Cause," and our affection for our dead comrades and attachment to our living ones. I have been asked, " Why not let the dead Confederacy rest in peace ? It is dead; it cannot be revived, and you are guilty of an anachronism when you seek to put life in the corpse." My answer is, the cause of the Confederate States was the cause of civil liberty, under constitutional forms, on this continent. Those who supported it in arms acted up to the best lights they had, and maintained their faith and belief at the risk of life and fortune. That cause never will be a " lost cause," for as long as freemen all over the world love literty they will struggle for it, and, if need be, fight for it, and they will respect the people who dared, at such great cost, to stand in defence of it against overwhelming odds and irresistible force. By the conventions of Appomattox and Denham Station we agreed to " return to our homes and obey the laws in force there," but by those military treaties it was expressly agreed that we should retain our swords, and without that stipulation no surrender would have been made by either Lee or Johnston. The sword was the insignium of the soldier-the emblem of our right and the outward mark of the respect which we had won. It indicated our reserved right of self-defence, of our honor, of our property and our institutions."

At the beginning of the 20th Century Georgia Senator Ben Tillman predicted "bloody race riots," and asserted that "if all vagrant negroes were shot like wild beasts, the country would be better off. ... Here I will say a thing which is necessary, but which I regret to say. I believe it was and is the purpose of the politician in the North to so amalgamate the two races in the South as to make us all part negro. ... The Southern women are standing guard at the door of the temple of race purity, and the men are aiding in the amalgamation. There can be no dual standard of home life in this country. We demand, and rightly, too, that our women be pure. They are with us, and, by the living gods, a white man who will not stand with us should be made to live forever with the wretches with whom he delights to associate.

"I would like to have all the negroes move to the North. In fact, I have a scheme by which I believe it is possible to compel many of them to go there, where they appear to be loved so dearly, where the President of the United States has sat down and eaten with one. This association of white men with negroes oftentimes starts the demon in the negro which ends in an assault upon a white woman. The negro is led to believe that if he is as good as a white man, why not as good as a white woman, and then he soon dangles from the end of a rope -if there are men with grit enough to do their duty.

"Now for the remedy. In Europe, where everyone is white, all persons must show their papers. I believe the passport system in America would abolish ravishings. I know the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments would have to be done away with. When a man leaves home he would have to present his papers. In addition, he would have to give good and sufficient reason for his being absent from his home and where he was going and why. It would result in putting loafers in the chain gang, where they would be made to work. . . ."