Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1869-06-30
SOUTHERN RECORDS.
A Plea for their Preservation and
Publication.
A Thought for the Consideration of
Confederate Soldiers.

IlIe i0llOWing IrOnt an article entl-
tied Authorship ut the South, :"
! which appeared in the Southern Pres
6.Yterida Rerjeir, and also in the South
eiR Eclectic Rerietc for July, is COM
mended to the careful Iconsideratio OF
fthe Confederate soldiers meeting to-
EnorrOw night:
az The tranquility Of our career, the
barFenneSs ofrOmance of our localities,
/ hayedeparted, AYe have had our tri-
falls and our sufferingS. We have death
tless names to care for and defend, ,acf
stboSesWho hayc wrought herQie deeds,
localities with golden
s5tsshafiIts. oiHe have made acqHain ntaI1ce
sFEanlpE EezWith. that adversely,
kesNylficf; ;4fS6 the tead, ugly and venom
Sous, - Sz,4...
ay oslrs SCI ~ i,sfeciutls jewel in his head.
EsOec$fsf6 f6n ssffppered, has come.
y Beaut tifuL upon ilount1in and plain
3ssiseiheT feet, 1fsW'd4eai forget the dread
.stitsct2hich brought, ben, 20 .Qur litera-
y Sl tllfg ~ g pen our soil and in our story
4 are aiye8d-roEi'of battie-iieIds, to which
4 Chalgf9Se, tNaseby, Worcester and
'AIafstohy N-erem mere skirmisheS. Upon
] our. recent annals are names which
! yield nothing in real lustre TO those of
1 Ha1npden, Of Russell, aRd Of Sidney.
.lsIleAsls have been doIFR, words have
!: :heen spoken, principles have been an
/ 4nouneed, which have far more vital
] ity in them than all hItman weapons
Of war, or any of the power and pride
/ of transient success, can give them.
r. Never were any people placed irf.
! Circumstances which called more
loudly for diligence and fidelity in his.
tory, than those which at this time
encompass the people Of the South.
I'VE have every reason 10 believe that
I the people who, in former years,
llwOWod their purpose tC have an anti
Slavery Bible and an anti-slaVery God,
/ whether they were the true Bible and
the true God or not, viii have .radi-
Rell history OF their attacks upon the
fSeuth before the war, q radical history
of the war, ans 4 radical history OF
| the pesS ei9ItitI since the war such
histories viii be written; they yare be
/ ing wFittenein great numbers. The
important queStiOn Is, are they loSal2
not, are they true and impartial?
I And there are few sane men, North or
South, out of the radical party, who
can accept such histories as either i'm
partial or true it> i held to be the
bOunden--1IIfy OF such historians To
represent their armies 9S always vic |
tOriOus IF it can be done and vet ac- |
count for the four years tigbting) and !
ours always defeated; to represent all |
the fearful C0lOFs of cruelty to prison !
ers Is shown at AndersOnYille, and |
none at Camp Chase or Fort Delaware; |
to represent Davis. Lee, Beauregard, |
Johnston, .JaCks0DS Hampton and Hill |
as fiendS, and Lincoln, Seward, Brown |
lew, Butler and Hunter as sageS and |
saints. The practice Of loyalty to the4
powers that be, viii be esteemed asf
much q duty in history as in other |
walks of life. 1t will be deliberately /
chosen and preferred to truth in the
sight of God. if truth is seen to be in |
favor If the rebels! And he is already |
subject TO severe reprOach, and q very |
poisonous name is ready to be applied |
to him, who feels called on to speak |
the truth, when the truth is in favor |
Of the rebels. IL is as much a part of /
the common law of the land that JUS
tice shall not be done to the South, |
nor to its cause, nor TO its lead
ers, nor 10 its armies, nor to its /
principles. nor to its battles. as sit
was before the war that the Bible was
TO be forced to be an anti-Slavery BIZ
bic, the Constitution an anti-slayery
Constitution, and God an anti-SlaVery /
God. Under these circumstances,
every man who has brain and nerve
to WELD pen, and a heart in his bo-
som which loves truth for truths sake.
is called on more sOlemnly than has
often been known in all the history of
Is-E.,,-,d e, !
it that materials for a correct judg-
ment of our cause, our conflicts and
our heroes, shall 90 down to pOSterity.
And never were any States more
enriched than ours have been with all
the romance of true heroism. Never
were any set of homes such a series of
d" altars of sacrifice" as ours have
been. Never were any fields of con-
fiict better baptized with the best
blood of the youth of the land than
ours have been. No Spartan mothers
were ever superior to ours in fidelity,
nObleness and self-SaCritice. And
never, that we now recall, were a set
of heroes clustered together in any
single cause, in whose breasts, as far
a. man can judge, so much Of pure
Christianity breathed.
Dead and cold and ignoble, indeed,
must be the heart of any generation
TO whose ear such voices as these shall
speak in vain. But we shall not per-
NIT ourselves to think that such voices
viii utter themselves in vain in the
ears of our men of letters. Already
I'VE have the earnest of the vintage. |
History, biography and romance press
Is eagerly forward to the notice of our
Impoverished people as if they were
bt impoverished. Once they were
Ale pecuniarily to encourage their ,
Ame authors, but unfaithfully sighed :
| fer English literature. Now Eng :
II literature utters but cold voice ;
! ot the ruins of their cause-but a | {
CD, unsympathising voice over the ;
tr:Rpled good names of their Chris
uat Sages, patriots and heroes; and
/ the sigh for the means which they
oncpOssessed, but would not employ, ,
to courage Southern letters which s
maypeak the voice of truth and eter-
nal Chit.
Whout friends in Europe who un- /
derstad our cause. or who will risk t
| anytlbg in its defense now it is fallen. !
any nFe than they would risk any t
thing hr it before its fall; without
iriendsn the North and West who |
have tn power to shield us from legis- {
latiYe nseeutiOn-still we occupy q
subllmepOsition We are witnesses
for the gpd names of our fathers and
mothers who have gone to glory to {
meet thespirits of their own slaves {
trained blthem for that glory. We
are marty witnesses for the good l
names ofbur patriot brothers and :
sons who aed for the maintenance of {
the old andsacred cause and Consti-
tuition and lights of our fathers. And I
we are witnesses against the humani- J
tarianism ah the semi-infdel ideas !
which vefampled boldly upon the j
plain dictats of the Word of God,
and have thrhtened both God and his t
Word with bnstraint and force by {
the spirit of te age, if they would not l
speak in accordance with that spirit. !