The General Presbyterian.
Our friends of the Control Presbyterian take us to task for calling Old Stonewall a "f st" We only repeated what we had heard from others. We knew nothing of Gen. opinions, never having seen him in our Everybody tells us he is a very religious, conscientious man, and we hope and believe it so. We used the word "fatalist" in no offensive since, so far as we understood it. Indeed we are not certain of the exact meaning. Is a fatalist a man who lies on his back, and will do nothing, because he believes that whatever is to happen will happen without his agency, and that, therefore, if he is to be fed he will be fed, without stretching out his hand to help himself. If so, then there never was a fatalist in the world, and there never will be. The very Turk, who, seeing his house on fire, contents himself with saying, "It is the will of God." and suffers it to barn down without moving a finger to put out the fire, will move the own carcass out of the way when the flames come too near for his comfort.We explained the species of fatalism which we attributed to General Jackson, by likening it to that of Bonaparte. The sitter told Dr. O'Meara what sort of fatalist he was. The doctor told him he had heard that he was a fatalist. "In action," that is, in battle, "I am," said Napoleon. He then proceeded to exemplify his meaning. At the sings of Tonlon. where he commanded the artillery, a young officer of artillery, instead of observing the effect of his battery, skulked down behind the works. The men in consequence fired very wildly. "Coms up here, eir," said Bonaparts, "and see the effect of your shot" The young officer rose, but instead of standing out fairly by his side on the parapet, only peeped out under his arm. At that moment a shot passed under the arm, missed Napoleon, and dashed out the officer's brains. "You see," added Napoleon. "if he had stood up fairly, the shot would have passed between us, and he would not have been hart."
But we will not go farther in this subject, which Milton tells us perplexed the Apostate in Pandemonium immediately after the fall, and has perplexed everybody else ever since. All we shall insist upon is that we meant to attribute nothing discreditable to old Stone Wall Jackson.
