148 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
former, who, indeed, is said to have been his idoL^^ q[i_ more's brief description is vital on this point : " There is something, after all, in moral power. Mr. Benjamin does not possess it, nor is he a great man. He has a keen, shrewd, ready intellect, but not the stamina to originate, or even to execute, any great good or great wicked-
But again, some who recognize Benjamin's honesty assert that he took up the Confederate cause as a mere law case, utterly indifferent to the wrong or right, or to any personal issue, giving it his best service as long as he could, then turning cheerfully to something else. Here also I think there is error. The man's whole heart was in the work and he felt for it as deeply as he could feel. Passage after passage in his public and private writings shows indisputably the partisan hatred and the devoted enthusiasm of the loyal citizen. *' I entertain no doubt whatever that hundreds of thousands of people at the North would be frantic with fiendish delight if in- formed of the universal massacre of the Southern people, including women and children, in one night." ^^ " No people have poured out their blood more freely in de- fence of their liberty and independence, nor have en- dured sacrifices with greater cheerfulness than have the men and women of these Confederate States. They ac- cepted the issue which was forced on them by an arro- gant and domineering race, vengeful, grasping, and ambitious. They have asked nothing, fought for nothing,
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