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102
THE COUNTRYMAN.
garbled extracts. It was written when I
was quite young, and could not write a
great deal better than Billy does now :
and I regiet having written it, first of all,
because it is such a miserable piece of com
position, and, secondly, because it contains
many sentiments written in a manner which
should have been avoided. But bad as
the whole concern is, I would rather write
a thousand such, than one such article as
the store-house of falsehood and abomina
tion from Mr. Wilkes which now lies before
me. And which is the greater crime—to
write The Times when quite young, or be
Mr. Wilkes when a matured man ?—I wish
it distinctly understood that whatever
amount of punishment is my just due for
writing and publishing The Times, I am
willing to hear. I ask no mercy from man. I
will seek that from my God only.
But after all, there are some pretty good
things in The Times. For instance, in
speaking of those who pretend to follow
Christ (but who, like the infidel preacher
of the Journal, do not) it thus runs:
“ Thou man of Nazareth, how little they
Who lollow thee, thy spirit do display !
Thou taughtest peace, but envy they and hate —
Forgiveness thou, but they for vengeance wait.”
fn speaking of female colleges, The Times
6ays—
“Your female colleges are schools of brass,
Which rob of modesty each comely lass.”
And it is such passages as these, no doubt,
that make Mr. Wilkes feel especially un
comfortable.
Billy seems to show a disposition to mon
opolize all the practical infidelity to him
self. Very well! he is welcomq to my
share of it. But he wishes to prove theo
retical infidelity on me, so that his practi
cal infidelity may go unobseived. How
does he prove it 1 By some quotations
from The Times, condemning, in an im
proper way, some improper and mistaken
notions of worship and religion, and by
quoting from a eulogy which I prouounced
in the Georgia senate upon Mr. Speaker
Irwin, a passage in which I represented
John Forsyth and others of our great
statesmen as ambassadors at the court of
Heaven, in company with Mr. Irwin,
pleading the huerests of Georgia. Well,
if there was any folly in this, it was cer
tainly not very unamiable, and I must
confess that if Mr. Wilkes prefers to speak
of our great and lamented dead as being
at the other court, with which he. seems to
have more disposition to cultivate friendly
relations, than I have, and at which he will
not long have to be represented by proxy,
I don’t feel any very great compunction in
differing with him. And if he can estab
lish his proposition by such proof as he
brings forward, I have very little disposi
tion to combat it.
Because I gave Mr. Wilkes an occasion
al dig under the 5th lib, concerning some
of his untenable religions tenets, he will
have it that I attacked the Baptists—(Mr.
Wikes, you know, is “the Baptists”—he
is all of them—everyone of them—there
is no other Baptist in the world but him.)
He says he could defend the Baptists, hut
his paper is not the “proper channel” for
such defence. The truth is, Billy is afraid
to “pitch into” this subject, lest he should
offend some of his lovely Methodist sub
scribers. Billy is not going to lose a sub
scriber by being outspoken and independ
ent in his views—not he ! When he wants
three Methodist dollars for his paper, and
when he wants to array the Methodists
against The Countryman, Billy’s bowels
yearn with tender compassion, and they
are the greatest brethren he has. They
are very “ sozomcnous” then—aud, as
friend Dawson—(“Phil”—not “grand-
pap,” and not that other Dawson of lament
ed memory, of whom Billy speaks)—and,
as friend Dawson says, sometimes, when
speaking politically, they are in a “ salva-
ble state.” This is when Billy wants three
Methodist dollars. But when Billy has
a little bread to distribute, his Methodist
brethren are not “sozomenous" enough to
get any of that. No! ttiey are not “so
zomenous” then, but are anomalous. They
are even anonymous. They^ haven’t got
any name. Billy don’t know ’em. They
are the '•'•so-called" members of the Meth
odist “ denomination,” lik<\ the, nations call
the South the “so-called” Confederate
States. But Billy don’t know ’em—just
at that time. He don’t “ recognize” them
—then. They haven’t been—"baptized/”
Stand aside, boys, I can’t receivo you—
now ! But if any of you have got three
Methodist dollars that you want to put into
the treasury ot the Educational Journal, I
will give them an informal reception, be it
understood—at all times! Ah! Billy,
Billy !
But Billy has not only said “ sozomcnous’’
to me, but he has been actually cruel
enough to say “ Omores." Will he please
tell us who Omores was 1
Theie is one amusiDg little matter about
Billy’s course. In his paper of the 5th, he
heralded that he would have a use for the
fact that The Confederate extended the
right hand of fellowship to The Countryman.
By that he expected, I suppose,,to prove
the “ TJniversalism'' of The Countryman,
and its consequent “infidelity \” but Dr.
Andrews showed his teeth, and Billy in
continently hacked down. He thought it
was enough to have Turner and Atkinson
on hand in one “free fight,” and when he
gets done demolishing them, then, I sup
pose, he will take up Andrews.
The passages which Billy quotes from
The Times, are highly reprehensible. Years
ago I burned all the copies I could get
hold of, of that book, except a few which
I still have on hand : and this is true of
my other boyish poems. I have made all
the amende I could make for the sins of
those poems. Among the atonements made,
I have bjurned the poems themselves, just
as Billy will have to be burned some time
or other for his offences and transgressions.
But this is the least part of the atonement
that I have tried to make, in public and
in private. But of this I will not speak
farther. The follies of youth cause man
hood many a vain regret.
But with reference to the extracts quoted,
my motive was not an improper one. I
erred greatly in the method I adopted to
carry out my purpose. My object was to
condemn any improper idea that might
exist in any one’s mind that religion con
sisted alone in shouting, hallooing, or
screaming. I have never shown religion
itself any disrespect, but I should certainly
have had more respect even for what
I conceived to be mistaken ideas, or
prejudice, or ignorance, or weakness—even
for all these—than I did evince. For those
who would know my real views conoei’ning
the religious institutions ot our land, in
cluding camp-meetings, I refer them to my
last poem of any length—The Old Plan
tation. In that, they will find my ma
tured views and sentiments, including some
portraits of venerable ministers. For my
picture of the false preacher, they may
consult this article.
I make these statements, not for Mr.
Wilkes, but for some, who, unacquainted
with me, might be misled by his gross, arid
vindictive assaults upon my life and charac
ter. For Mr. Wilkes himself, I have no
thing hut ttie lash : and this I have laid
on until blood must certainly ooze from
every pore of even his brutish, insensible
heart.
In what I intended to'say, in The Times,
about improper religious worship, I am sus
tained by no less a Methodist than Judge
Longstreet himself, and could my motive be
seen just, as it was, I should be sustained
by every enlightened man in the country.
Not loDg since, in furtherance of the very
same views which I intended to express i»