The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1866-05-17
Thoroughly Loyal.

There can be no question of the fact that
some of the more prominent members of the
late Confederacy still need good deal ofrecon-
structing before they will seem quite the most
safe and desirable depositaries OF political pow
er. II any one be disposed to doubt this ref
erence to someIof the recent utterances OF Mr..
Henry A. Wise may afford some light on the
subject. At banquet given last week in
Richmond, in honor of the memory OF Stone
wall Jackson, that gentleman made speech
from which we take an extract or two:
don't know that am prisoner. I am
hound by no chain. / have pass togo where
/ please upon the soil ofmy native land. At
least General Grant says so. l may be arrest
ed, but wanted no man living to tell me
whittier might 90. have the proud salts
faction of knowing that fought until we had
won the privilege of being paroled. There is
no authority here or elsewhere to arrest me
or to stop my mouth, so long as obey the con-
ditions Of that parole; and upon that parole l
shall stand so long as l live. You call me a
prisoner of war; / am not a prisoner of war;
If prisoner at ali, am prisoner of peace
Among the last shots fired by infantry at APP
pomattox were those fired by the troops had
the honor and pride to lead and there at APP
pomattox peace was brought about.
You call the cause lost. 1t Is not lost. If
it is lost, the cause of civil liberty is doomed,
for it, too, is lost There was Paradise lost
and a Paradise regained, and there will be
Paradise regained in this country. The blood
that has been spilled is too precious. should
not believe in God if / did not believe that
special providence would yet give victory to
and secure the triumph Of civil liberty in this
country.
One thing can be said: there was one man
who could not be driven to do that which he
did not consent to do. As long as one man in
this Commemorative voice, "What Com,
monwealth ?") What Commonwealth? There
is but one Virginia But tell you Old Vir-
ginia is not at home. She will come back
some of these days, and then the devil take
the hindmost. / am watching, and will tell
her when she comes what has been done in
her absence. I'll say, Mamma, your children
did not do that. 1t was done by impostors
and pretenders." Again, say, there is but
one Virginia. They have taken and are
welding her powers. If am traitor, let
them make the most of fl am traitor,
why don't they try me and hang me?' / have
lost my property and lands, but would clean
boots on your streets sooner than bow to
usurpation. If / had triumphed, ! should
have favored stripping them naked. Pardonl
They might have appealed for pardon, but
would have seen them damned before would
have granted it. For myself, the boot being
on the other leg, l take no oathS! / ask no
pardons!
1t strikes us that little of the stripping"
which this gentleman AYERS he would have
been in favor of had he been conqueror would
now be healthy for his own soul. He and his
confederates have been treated altogether too
well. These base, ignoble churls cannot appre-
ciate the grand magnanimity of the people of
the North, and they repay unmerited favor
with insult.
Among the toasts given on the occasion of
this banquet were the following:
"The brave who have fallen in cause they
believed to be just-While their bodies are
committed to the grave and their spirits to
God, we will enshrine them in our hearts,"
'Virginia-Right or wrong"
Seen. Robt. E. Lee-Soldier, patriot, citi-
zen, Christian"
"St0newall Jacksonville only unconquer-
ed general-the Christian hero whom his en- |
emies revere"
"The Lost Cause-lDrunk standing and in
STENCIL
"The Conquered Banner-Fold it up ten
derly"
"The ilustrious prisoner now bearing in
his own person the imputed crimes of his peo-
ple-Every true Southern heart would suffer
in his stead The God of Truth and Justice
judge him."
"rhe Old Captains-Dear are the living;
dearer the dead"
"Henry A. Wise, Prisoner of War-Unfor-
given, unforgotten." lt
"The Southern Press"
An exchange notes the significant fact that
no sentiment in honor of ",The Old Union,"
was offered by any of those present, though of
course everybody knows that these gentry are
all thoroughly loyal, for do they not say so?
The following, however, occurs among the
volunteer toasts:
president Johnson-May he continue to
administer justice, without fear or favor, as he
has done heretofore"
To return to Mr.. Henry A. Wise. That
parsonage has recently made speech at Alex
andria in which he aired a good deal of the
of the late Confederacy. They rebelled, it is
true, but they had perfect right to do so,
and consequently they have done no wrong
and have no need of pardon or forgiveness
They failed indeed to destroy the government
because they were not strong enough for that
task, and therefore they are as good patriots
as the Dest and are entitled to unusual consid-
GRAFTON on account of their hard luck! Wise
drew fearful picture of the misfortunes of
the class to which he belongs, and INDUCED in
specimens of the hifalutin which would he nj
terly laughable were it not for the fact that
these extravaganza utterances really express
the sentiments of the southern people. "The
air." he said, "was now dark with ruin, and
putrid with the decomposing carcass of the
country" "the country was not home, but
a grave-the grave not OF the dead but the
living" As to the orphans of the dead Con-
federate soldiers, "you might" he exclaimed,
"call the fathers rebels, if you please, but he
was alive to defend the dead against the |
charge Of either treason or rebellion" As re-
CARDS his own conduct, he said that he was
not individually responsible for obeying the
voice fhis own State; that he was no traitor;
and that when the General Government COM
manded him to put down instruction. and
his State called upon him to repel invasion.
"there was a conflict of sovereignties." and
his act in obeying his State was in no sense
treason. As for himself, ''he had made no
concessions, taken no test oath, and there was |
no power on earth which could make him |
take one"
although" says Solomon, "you should
bray fool in mortar with a pestle, yet will
not his foolishness depart from him." Which
is equally true OF a traitor and his treason.