Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1868-05-02


- a = : 4
day 10 strew fresh flowers on the graves
and 10 she'd the tributary lfea Of NOM
ory over the ashes OF the I, oble dead, With
that broad charity for antagonistic mo-
tiyes and opinions, honestly entertained,
which will sink forever into oblivion
every feeling Of animosiiy and resent
ment For the brave aud good are in
capable of the dishonor Of cherishing o
remembrance of the wounds inflicted by
those whom they have slain in battle.
The performance OF these funeral cere-
monies at the graves OF the Confederate
dead n the more necessary and proper,
because no authentic history OF their
motives and conduct in the struggle in
which they fell, during the lifetime Of the
present generation, is likely to be seen
and read BY that portion Of mankind OF
least. who derive their intelligence alone
through the yenal press and libelous lit
erature of those who noisily detract from
them. now dead. inst in proportion as
they cowardy feared them while living.
Party malice will misrepresent the
purity Of their motives and the heroism
of their conduct; and partisan envy will
withhold the renown due to their bril-
liant proves, until Time and Death shall
| extinruish the passions and resentments
Of the base and the story of their fame
shall be recorded by the impartial histo-
rians of another age. fpo~se
By these touching funeral observances,
without even the means of written his
tory. tbe present Generation may preserve
and deliver 10 posterity a remembrance
of the deathless names, of the heroic &C.
tons. of the splendid courage, of the pa
tient sufferines. of the mistaken con-
stancy. of the charges made, of the
battles fought of the victories won, and
of the wounds aud death of those gen.
erous and noble men whose remains
repose. not in shrines and monuments
reared by national pride and munifcence,
but in humble graves prepared by the
hands of individual affection and love,
as we have seen to-day in the RENTER
ment of the ashes of Gen. Preston Smith
and Col. Jeffrey Il. Forrest among their
slain companions. Nfa Wgae
| I know that partisan bigotry and
malice have been accustomed to impute
To the Confederate dead and the Con-
federate living the responsibility for the
commencement of the war. and TO brand
them with the crimes of rebellion and
treason; but these questions of motive,
of urineiple. and of responsibility for the
commencement and conduct of the war,
and of innocent or criminal intents,
must be decided by the impartial tribu-
nal of " eternal history :" not in this, but
| in another and future age. The judg.
ment of that tribunal, when 1T shall be
rendered, will be That ne IS NOT respon'
sible for the commencement OF the wdr
WhO fired the first gun, but he oho pro
poked and rendered the firing OF thai
gun necessary.
African slavery, aud its recognition by
the Constitution of the United States,
was the fundamental cause OF the war;
It's more immediate causes, however, had
their origin in the professed belief of q
numerical majority Of the Northern peo-
pie that African slavery was a sin against
God, great moral evil, and crime
against humanity; and that the constitu
tional guaranty of the institution was a
"league with death.and covenant with
hell, and that it was their solemn duty
to abolish and dissolve it. On the other
hand, the people of the Southern States
avowed their determination to maintain
it as constitutional right, at al
hazards and to the last extremity thus
the issue was rendered by the North ana
accepted by the South, to be finally de,
termined by the wager of battle, instead
of by the mode pointed out in the Con
stitution itself
How then. and by whom. and by wha
means was the war brought on? The
answer ia. Bv the massage of legislative
enactments by Northern States in con.
travention Of the constitutional pro-
vision. and the Facts of Congress for the
return of fupitiyes to those to whom theil
services were due. By the Missouri agi
tot;on of 1921 which broke in on the ma.
t;onaI ear /" ike a fre-bell in the night
Rv The W;lmot nrov;so of l847. to ex
LINDA tba institution from the nationa
territories. Bv the Helper book, in
dorsed bv a largo number of Northern
members of Congress. with all its afro
o;ops announcements. By the anti
siovsrv ag;tat;on of 1870. Rv the "Johr
Pew raidn an Virginia Nv the cleo
IN M,f President without a sinpl,
Son,bern alectoraI vote nIadped in pub
liz sneecbes to. a nolicv hostile. as tn,
Soutbern neonle believed. to their con
st;tntionaI securi,y and the reserved
rights of the States By the rejection o.
~ n.c;acat;on nronossd bv the Peac,
C 81 Of 1861 Nv the overwhelm
NJ we;gbt If numerical maiorities il
,he Northern States having the power Il
cortrol ali the denartments of The Fed
eral Govarnment and eoupled with tn
oracular announcement that the countr!
must be call slave, or all Free" ant