The daily clarion. [volume] (Meridian, Miss.) 1863-1866, 1865-12-07
TRUE sOUTuERN FEELING.

Th re is no moro contemplate sight
on the face of the earth than a man who
is false to his country. And depraved
beyond all measure must be he who un-
blushiDgly proclaims himself so in the
face Of the world. The Southerner who
can truly say that during the last four
years he never felt the first emotion of
sympathy with the Confederate cause,
that his heart never throbbed exultingly
ut the news of Southern victory, or
sank at the rumor of Federal triumph,
is man we would not care to trust. The
New York Record thus expresses itself,
and further remarks, that he who could
live in the very midst of such struggle,
see the courage with which it was sus-
tanned and the sacrifices unmurmuringly
endured, that it might prove successful,
who could live amid the fluctuations of
war, marx the tide of success ebb and
flow, see society breaking up around him,
feel the agitation and upheaVal caused
by the throes of the nation in its agony,
and remain unmoved, his equanimity un-
disturbed, his pulses even beat unaccele-
rated or unretarded, is moral phe>
nomen, on man to be marked and
avoided for ever. The veriest schoolboy
as he pores over the pages of Greek and
Roman story, takes side unconsciously
and the calm philosophic student
of history glows as he reads of
soma brave deed, or glorious str 1ggle.
Every one can remember for himself the
absorbing interest with which he followed
the course Of this or that hero of anti
guilty, how real was his interest in Caesar
how genuine his sympathy for Hannibal,
how glowing his admiration of Aristides.
And are the qualities we admired in the
men of old to excite no enthusiasm when
found in our contemporaries ? Are the
virtues that challenged our reverence in
the patriots of other times and other
lands, 10 be sneered at when illustrated
in the lives and deeds of our fellow
countIymen. We say without fear of
contradiction that the Southern man who
took no part in the glorious struggle of
las section, who felt no interest in its
result, and no pride in the noble quail
ties displayed by his countrymen, would
never have shouldered his musket in the
Revolution, never have starved with
Marion nor triumphed with Gates. Such
man would have bounded Washington
to death had he been unsuccessful, he
would have been parasite to Howe and
llckspittle to CORVALLIS, he would have
blazoned forth his ''loyalty" to his King,
by denouncing his countrymen as rebels,
and proved his fealty to Britain by trea-
son to his native land. There are some
such men in the South to>day, but not
many; not many who would purchase
place or preferment by befouling the
names of the Confederate leaders, or in
sulting the memory OF the Confederate
dead.
The Southern people have nothing to
be ashamed of in their struggle, and
nothing to be sorry for but that their
sacrifices were made in vain. Even the
true hearted Unionists of the South glory
in the prowess, the endurance, and the
dash of their people, their action and
energy, their fertility in resources, their
moderation in triumph, and their foIti>
tude in defeat. They exult in the death
less fame they have acquired, the lofty
qualities they have displayed, and the i'm.
mortal names they have added to the
worlds roll of fame. They reverence
the hallowed spots,
"Where the veteran drooped beside the spripoald |
Where sank strength and symmety In line"
They sympathize with the victors of
Charlottesville and they stand where |
stood the few and fearless followers of |
Lee and Johnston when they surren-
dered, and realize with a sense of sym
pathy, that is painful in its genuineness,
chow patriots feel when all but life and
honor's lost" Ten thousand times bet.
ter are such men than those who fought
throughout the war, and at its close fall
in with the victors and cry peccava
We were led to these remarks bv read.
ing aspeech or Judge Binghan's of Geor-
gia, in relation to the test oath, in which
the following passage occurs:
81 opposed the secession of Georgia
from the Union, but l, nevertheless, re-
gret to see that we have a candidate for
Congress in this district who commends
himself by saying he thinks he can take
the test oath to which he specially refers
Speaking for myself, am not willing to
write Traitor over the graves of the hon
ored dead. would not, if could, thus
insult the survivors of the recent severe
conflict of arms"
Nor is it necessary. General Fiske saws
so, and-nairoble dictt-Henry Ward
Beecher says so. The first says the South I
erners are not repentant, and do not pro
fess to be, and the second says he would
not wish them to profess repentance, and
would not trust them if they did.
Even with such men time serving fails
in its object; even they can afford to des
pise a recreant Southerner, who, false to :
his instincts, throws slur upon the hon :
ored dead, by apologizing for, instead of ,
glorying in their efforts in behalf of their {
native land.
ALL RIeHT.-The Mobile Tribune Of
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