Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1869-11-29


judgment, give il eOrrObOration, AM
thus heap reprOach upon those VIII,
cannot speak for themselves? d
shall we inscribe deep in marble theil
hOnored names as a priceless inheri
tance to our children?
2 / think / know your answer to thai
question. Here, then, in the center o
the great Valley of the Mississippi
midway between the oceans; here on
; the shores of the mighty river, i'm thi,
: patriotic city which sent its Thousand,
of sons to the battle-field-herel let u.
lay broad and deep the foundations oil
Monumental Church, to be compile.
ted in buttress, and wall and dome and
vestibule, to teach the world, now and
hereafter, that, come veal or come
woe, come life or come death, we will
vindicate the honor of those who,
though gone before US, are as ''dear to
US as are the ruddy drops that visit
our sad hearts"
In the ages lOng'agO, when the voy-
ager upon the river Nile fOated along
the walls of the ancient Memphis,
whose name, in the language of its
founders, signitied "The City of the
Blest," he rested upon his oars, while
gazing with religious awe upon the
distant pyramids whose lofty SUBMITS
scared above the towers and minarets
Of that beautiful city, so renowned for
the number and splendOr of its tenn
pies.
Let us so lay the foundations of this
! our temple, that it shall soar as high
and stand as firm and enduring as
| "Titanian fabrics which point in Egyp-
tian plains
/ To times that have no other record"
So that hereafter in the distant future,
when the world shall have done US
! Justice and Heaven shall have blessed
our people, the vOyager who APP
prOaches this "City of the Blest,"
! throned in queenly beauty upon
I these heights, may lift his eyes in
WFapt admiration and religious devO-
ton to the glittering spire that scars
in silent grandeur to the clouds, and
bow his head in gratitude and adOra-
ton to Him who, though he 'sitteth
upon the circle of the Heavens" con-
descends to fill his earthly temples
with the glory Of his presence!
At the close of Col. stephens re
marks, Judge Brown was introduced,
and spoke as follows:
The soTrow-stricken, but yet I'M
broken heart of the South, demands
for those who fell in her defense
maintaining 10 the death her cause
some commemorative monument
more Obtrusiye on the senses, bBt as
enduring as a great thought linked to
immortal verse. This yearning de-
sire has been present to our people
with all the impulse and tenacity of
instinct ever since the last and IRE
trievable disaster befel our arms I
The poverty and humiliation that fol-
lowed defeat have not quenched it. 4
With returning prosperity ii gathers 1
renewed vigOr. Our great grief can /.
not be appeased until the cOstliest and /
most appropriate hOnOrs are paid to .
the names of our dead heroes. Hec- I
tor had his tomb and due funereal .
rites, although his valOr failed to Sc
cure ultimate triumph, and his deeds .
could not save his beloved Illium.
Is it Just and rational to crafty this (
acknowledged desire of the South, and /
will the execution Of a design to that 4
end eOmpOrt with the proprieties Of .
our situation? The solution Of this I
question does not necessarily reopen 4
any issue closed by the late civil war. [
Nor are we called upon to record in /
advance what may be the verdict Of /
history as TO the merit of the respect /
i've parties involved in this most fear
ful tragedy of the present century. /
Great virtues remain 10 ipdiYidu- /
ais as well as States, nOtBiih-
standing political errors. Often the
gravest political errors result
from an excess of virtue. To
argue that we were right, politically
i'm the struggle. would, 10 the South
ern mind, be merely an attempt TO
were wise in putting our statesman
ship at the time, on the hazard of bat
tie, would only be to make dispute
about a matter of eXpediency. Our
sectional foes and partisan antagonists
could not now admit either our truth
or wisdom, whatever convictions in
our favor may have iatteTly sprung
up in their breasts, rs time has been
them to pause upon the huge
golgOtha-the field of dead mems
which our beautiful land
has been converted. The time for our
IS not yet. But far be-
yond this debatabie ground are the
deeds, the thoughts, the herOism,
the sufferings, and the genius which
viii in all time to come demand and
receive from mankind that recOgni-
lion which must indigidualize US as a
people, and give Us a name and his
tory, surviving our misfOrtunes, and
scarcely tarnished by defeat. Other
people have perpetuated themselves
n the sympathies Of mankind, their
IOllies and ilI-success have only been
,rystalized in the tears of their fellow
men, and their only history has been
he IIli8d of their woes. Little ever
Of their career or character
which ought 70 have been preserved.
Not so with the South. We stand
mid the vast ruins that surround us
.bdve the pity of our race-sOlieiting
low. as we did at the prOudest mo-
nent of our martial power, only the
ust Judgment Of the world; and I
demanding only that place in history
% which, as a distinctive people,
rom the earliest colonial times, we
are entitled. We ask the closest ScTu-
iGV of our virtues and our faults
our tTiumphs and our defeats, Our
whole political career, since the foun-
lation of free government on virgin
continent, challenges the attention of
3Yery lover of freedom, and furnishes
l chapter in the worlds annals, rich in
in thought and ac-
ion.
The student of Grecian history may
EASILY revert over the lapse Of some
thousands Of years TO the time of
pericles. He will remember the au-
.umn day when this Athenien demo- (
rat and statesman, or orator, on the {
summons of his fellOw-citizens, de-
ivered, in one Of the suburbs of
Athens, the Metropolis OF that city,
he funeral Orati0n on the remains Of ,
he Athenian soldiers who had fallen .
Turing the first year of the PelepO-
strife between States once cOnfeder-
lted. The bones Of these sol
iiers had been gathered from
the wide-eXtended battle-fields OF that
first year, brought to Athens, and, on
an appointed day, were borne, with I
elaborate ceremonies, TO hOnOred Sc
pulture in the heTemiklts. 1t Is not
difficult for rs to conceive that sad
but heroic scene. Resplendent as 1t
was with all the civic and military
pomp Of Athens, the weeping friends
of the dead might, for awhile, forget
private sorrow in the glory of the
Commonwealth, and the august hon
ors paid to slain fathers, husbands
and brothers. But what the pagean-
try Of the occasion might fail to as
suage OF grief must have yielded to
the noble sentiments and eloquent
periods Of that rarest of Greek ora
tors. We can, almost, at this dis
lance of time, see the ardor Of a re-
kindled patriotism gradually illumin-
ing the up-turned faces of the Athen-
ian women, but moment since bath