The

South Atlantic Quarterly.

Editor's Announcement.

Thirty-six years have passed since the end of the Civil War brought a new day to the South. The dawning of that day was observed with anxiety by many people. Some persons, men who were devoted to liberty and equality, thought that it would bring none but blue skies. Others, men who loved the things which had been, thought it could bring nothing but storms. It has been long enough since these two prophecies were made for us to begin to see that neither was entirely true. The new day has been neither so fair nor so foul as was anticipated, but it has grown steadily brighter. It is to-day fair enough to give hope to many who have for a long time eagerly sought for floods of sunlight.

The renewing process has presented many interesting, and some distressing, phases. There has been, unquestionably, a break down of society in rural communities. This has been especially marked in the zones immediately contiguous to the more thriving of the smaller towns. On the other hand, there has been a building up of towns. At first the towns were merely trading points for the farmers of the communities. But within the past decade and a half they have gained much of a manufacturing impulse. Their growth has been steady enough to warrant the hope that they will eventually repair the social loss due to the deterioration of the country. The political conditions have caused much anxiety. They have been complicated by some feeling. They have led to many plans for reform. They will, perhaps, be the last to be modernized. Education, though still far less developed than it ought to be, has made some progress. Some of the institutions of higher learning have abandoned the delusion of a numerous attendance and have raised their entrance requirements. Most

of the towns have established systems of public schools which give adequate instruction in what are known as the "English branches" and some introductory knowledge of Greek, Latin, and at least one science. Everywhere people are beginning to say that it is a shame that there is not more money spent on the public schools. It is evident that educational sentiment is gaining, although the mass of voters are still unwilling to assume the heavy burden of adequate schools.

men.

This general social growth has been accompanied by a small but healthy movement toward literature. It has manifested itself most considerably in fiction; but it has also found expression in poetry, in history, and in literary criticism. It is born of a feeling that something can be done towards the development of literature in the South. It has had the support of many of the best people in the South. It has called out the literary efforts of many young men and of some old Its supporters have been men and women of all ages. They have longed for some persons to come who would make literature in the South. They have given to the few efforts which have been worthily made quite as much encouragement, under the circumstances, as could have been expected. Their encouragement has been, perhaps, too exclusively in the nature of good will. They have not realized that three other things besides good will are necessary to literature, viz: bookbuying, book-reading, and book-writing. But for all that their good will has been constant and vital. It may be taken as a basis for the future development of these other essentials.

It is in view of these conditions that THE SOUTH ATLANTIC QUARTERLY is established. The gentlemen who have projected the enterprise feel that there is enough demand for a Southern journal to give the necessary support at least to a quarterly. They feel, too, that there is enough talent which can be reached to make such a journal both instructive and creditable to the South. They feel, furthermore, that such a medium of publishing articles would develop young men into writers, and that it would at the same time give to many people a better knowledge of the conditions under which literature can be created. They have taken the burden of this journal on their hands without the thought that they shall reap any personal

benefit from it. As soon as the venture shall yield a return beyond that necessary to support it on the basis on which it has been founded, that surplus will be spent in making the issues larger and more frequent. They invite in the most cordial way the co-operation of all those who have at heart the development of literature. If there comes a reasonable response to their request there will be no difficulty about continuing the publication on the basis planned.

The editor of THE SOUTH ATLANTIC QUARTERLY desires to make the journal a medium of encouraging every honest literary effort. He recognizes that to do this there must be liberty to think. He will not close the review to opinions with which he may personally differ. A fair field and a respectful consideration will be his policy. He will consider the QUARTERLY fortunate if it succeeds in presenting the problems of to-day on all of their sides. His ambition is that men shall say that he has sought truth without prejudice and with no more than a modest confidence in his own conclusions. To find truth absolutely might be a good thing, but it does not seem likely to be done. The next best thing is to have many people seeking it in the spirit of honest tolerance. It is this search which develops mind and brings culture; and it is with a reverent hope of attaining it among a larger number of Southern men that the present enterprise is placed before the public.

An Inquiry Concerning Lynchings.

By JOHN CARlisle Kilgo, D. D.

During the last decade of the nineteenth century there were 1,620 lynchings in the United States. In 1898 there were 127 lynchings distributed as follows: Arkansas, 17; South Carolina, 14; Georgia, 12; Missouri, 6; Kentucky, 6; Louisiana, 6; Texas, 3; Maryland, 2; Oklahoma, 1; Washington, 1; Wyoming, 3; Illinois, 1; Indiana, 1; Mississippi, 15; Indian Territory, 2; New Mexico, 1; Alabama, 12; North Carolina, 4; Tennessee, 6; Virginia, 4; West Virginia, 1; Florida, 1; Alaska, 1; Kansas, 1, and Montana, 1. One hundred of these took place in the Southern States, 70 per cent. of them occurring in South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Arkansas. Of the entire number of victims 102 were negroes, 23 were whites, and 2 were Indians. It may be assumed that the statistics of 1898 give a general idea of the other years. The three things made prominent by these figures are: Lynchings occur more frequently in the South than in other sections of the United States; the greatest number of victims are negroes; and the majority of lynchings take place in those States in which the French and Spanish influences were originally prominent.

These facts indicate that the real cause of lynching lies in the peculiar ideals and influences that make up the social order of the South, especially that order found in the States lying south of North Carolina. The immediate crime which excites a community to such speedy revenge is not the cause, but the occasion of lynching. Similar crimes are not revenged after this manner in other sections of this country and in other countries. Crimes produce different effects in different sections, according to the characteristics of their social organization and growth. The likelihood that the assassin of President McKinley would have been lynched had the assassination taken place in New Orleans or Atlanta instead of in Buffalo, indicates a distinct difference between the social spirits of the two sections. Lynching is the outgrowth of peculiar social development. It will be scarcely possible to explain all the features of lynching from any other point of view.

There is a distinct historical basis of the social feelings and ideals in that section of the South including South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Texas. The original social feelings and ideals of these States were largely influenced by France and Spain. Besides the Spanish possessions in Florida and Mexico, and the French ownership of the Mississippi Valley, the English who settled in South Carolina generally came from the West Indies, bringing with them the influences of Spanish life and social order. The colonists who settled Virginia and the New England States came directly from the British Islands, and the basal principles of their social growth were radically distinct from those in the extreme South. It will not be difficult to understand Southern life and its peculiar social dispositions if proper consideration is given to the sources of them.

French and Spanish society was strongly feudal. It was a social order in which were emphasized the degradation of the servant, the extreme dignity of the baron, and the independence of the land owner. Out of feudalism sprang chivalry, the growth of a spirit of social refinement, seeking to infuse into warfare a nobler feeling. Feudalism and chivalry were the basal ideas of the social development of these two nations and by them were introduced into the South, not so much in forms as in their spirit. The distinct features of these ideas and ideals were a sensitive distinction between servant and master, the high social position of the landlord, domestic luxury and ease, extreme sanctity of the family circle, independence of the individual in matters of personal protection, the subordinate relation of civil orders to the will of the citizen, a jealous regard of personal honor, and a deification of woman as a social being. Such a social organization must be marked by a highly nervous temperament and an intense sensitiveness. It cannot, in the nature of things, be otherwise.

It is not difficult to trace these original influences and ideals in the progress of these Southern States. Slavery did not find easy growth in the South merely because it was profitable in the cultivation of rice and cotton. The South has never shown a love of money that defied its social standards of right. Other sections of the United States have more to their credit in this