LIBHAHV' UNIV. OF fORTH CAROLINA i-^^ ^

NOTE.

When the following essays first appeared in book form (1885) they entered a vacant field. The equities and ethics of the " Southern Question " were not at all then, as now so widely they are, current themes of discussion in literary form. In seeing a new edition go to press, the author finds occasion to say only that whatever value originally attached to these pages he claims for them still, as he is not aware of any effort having been made in the spirit of serious debate, since their first issue in book form, to answer the statements either of conditions or principles here set forth; save only the " Open Letters " [Century Magazine, May-October, 1886] of ex-Senator John W. Johnston, of Richmond, Virginia, and Mr. A. E. Orr, of Atlanta, Georgia, which, with my replies, are to be found at the end of this volume.