Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 06.djvu/57

Rh of our Society, whose work in Nashville, Memphis, Jackson and Clarksville, Tennesse, was so successful, expects to begin operations in Louisville and other parts of Kentucky in a few days. A gallant soldier, an accomplished gentleman and a graceful speaker, General Johnston needs no introduction from us; and yet the friends of our good cause can greatly lighten his labors, and help us if they will give him their hearty co-operation.

, has kindly consented to deliver an address in the interest of our Society at the Greenbrier White Sulphur Springs about the 7th of August (the exact day will be announced in due season), and it is hoped that many of the members and friends of the Society will find it convenient to attend.

, it would seem useless to say, never receive consideration at our office; and our rule is never to publish anything without a responsible name attached. All requests to publish papers to which the authors, from whatever cause, are not willing to attach their names, are useless, as the name must invariably appear.

We have received from the publishers, through J. W. Randolph & English, Richmond, a copy of this beautifully gotten up book.

It is the biography of a young man of fine talents and culture who entered the Federal army as captain in the Twentieth Massachusetts regiment and rose to the rank of brigadier-general; who lost his leg and was otherwise wounded in the service; whose whole soul was in the cause he espoused, but who seems to have fully recognized that the war closed when the Confederate armies surrendered, and to have devoted himself earnestly to bringing about real peace between the North and the South.

The book is well written, and the extracts from his diary and private letters give freshness to the narrative. If we were disposed to criticise the fact that some bitter and (as we hold) very unjust expressions towards the South in his army letters are allowed to mar the spirit of the narrative, we would be reminded that these indicate the true feelings of the times, and that these are atoned for by the very different spirit in which he wrote and spoke after the close of the war. E.g., if he called us in '61 "traitors" who "viper-like" had fired on the flag which protected us, he said in a public speech at Lexington, Massachusetts, on the 19th of April, 1875:. .  .   .  "As an American, I am as proud of the men who charged so bravely with Pickett's division, on our lines at Gettysburg, as I am of the men who so bravely met and repulsed them there. Men cannot always choose the right cause; but when, having chosen that which conscience dictates, they are ready to die for it, if