Races of men--nations--even the lesser communities, during the periods of
their social existence, erect monuments, or leave, unwillingly sometimes,
traces of their progress, their advancement, their culture, as memorials
for the admiration, or as the objects of horror for the contempt, of
future generations.
The gigantic pyramids and sphinxes of Egypt tell of the civilization of
their extinct founders; the airy and graceful columns, with the wonderful
sculptures of the Parthenon, disclose the degree of the perfection and the
delicacy of the Greek mind. Rome, though long since vanished from among
the nations of the earth, has left the impress of her force, grandeur, and
wisdom in those laws which now direct the tribunals of men; the lofty and
colossal structures of the temples of the Rhine are the emblems of faith
as well as the masterpieces of the Gothic heart and intellect; even the
mysterious and history-forgotten Druids have left their rude reminiscences
in those weird circles of enormous and cyclopean rocks, beyond which all
is darkness.
Thus men perpetuate their memories among the annals of the earth. But
after their long period of existence and progress, what have the Slave
Faction left for the historian to contemplate with satisfaction? for an
attentive world to study, imitate, and admire? What beyond this appalling
cloud of ignorance have they left as legacy to the poor white? What
besides misery, violence, and crime have they bequeathed to the black man?
With what treasures, in the estimation of mankind, have they enriched
themselves, or left as inheritance to their degenerate offspring?
The history of this remorseless party, its selfish and sordid aims, its
cruel results, will always find place among the annals of civilized man so
long as the noblest acts of men are admired, and so long as the dark deeds
of cruelty appall and overshadow our better nature. Thermopylae, Marathon,
and the holy sites where Liberty has struggled for existence, and where
men have risen above the trammels of their earthly natures, will be
remembered no longer than this field of blood and torture among the
obscure forests of Georgia.