The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1870-06-22

IA people g votoeI nv eS are q people YET :;
z Confused by brainless mobs and lawless
powers, ~ ,fs.Se = a
We have : voice With which TO pay the debt
OF boundless love and reverence and regret
ouri."
They fought to vindicate the great
truths enunoiated in '76, and to defend
their inalienable rights established by
our fathers, and bequeathed to us as our
noblest heritage. For these they fought
in vain; and Of all the attributes of free
dom, there is left to us only a peoples
voice, which, though stihed, calls Hea-
ven to witness that we were sincere and
honest in the convictions which prompt
cd our actions, which still asserts onr
unshaken faith in the justice of our cause,
and which, rising from every heart in
our desolate land, utters lamentations
for the precious blood that was so lavish
1y but so vainly shed in our country's
cause. We, my friends, who were the
actors in that mighty drama which for
four years filled the worlds stage, may
not be competent to pronounce an i'm
partial judgment as to the justice Of that
cause. Time, with its soothing inhu-
ence, must elapse, and the passions en-
gendered by the war must cool, before
the record can be fully made up for his
tory to pronounce her final verdict.
Believing that Truth, Right and Justice
were on our side, we submit our case,
without one doubt, to the impartial
judgment of posterity, reserving to our
selves, the ri ght of appeal to the Great
Tribunal above, where the Supreme
J udge OF the Universe, who reads our
hearts, will pronounce that decree Which
will, through all eternity, justify or con-
demn us. We know that the men whose
names are written on that marble, be-
lieved, as firmly as they did in the exist
ence OF q God, in the justice of the cause
for which they died; we know that they
sacrificed peace, comfort, life, to encoun-
ter war, privation, death, ut the call and
the service of their State; and knowing
this, we place them high on the roll Of
those patriotic and heroic dead who
make mp the great army of martyrs of
Liberty. Nor should their memory be
less dear to US, or less honored, because
they fell in q cause which God, in His
providence, has seen fit to let fail. The
heathen may defy the conquering hero,
while he condemns those who fail, to
exile, chains or death, for with him,
success is the only criterion of merit,
but not so the Christian. Right, truth,
Justice contribute the standard by which
he measures all things. Tho test he ap-
Plies to the actions of men, is the law
which God Himself has made. By this
law, we can distinguish the lines which
divide right from wrong, as readily rs
we can recognize those which separate
light from darkness. We know that in
the economy of God, evil is often per-
mitted to prevail over good on this earth.
We see virtue trampled into dust by vice.
We see liberty prostrate at the feet of
tyranny. We see religion superseded by
fanaticism. Intelligence, virtue, patrii-
otism thrust aside, while ignorsnce, vice
and selfshness usurp the high places of
the earth. These are the apparent ano-
males which strike US, when we consider
the Almighty government of this world.
But when guided by the light of revela-
ton, we look more closely into that
wondrous system, and comprehend more
fully the scheme of that faith, which
springing from Calvary, is lighting with
Its sublime truths every corner of the
earth, we can reconcile the difficulties
which stand in our way. That religion,
taught by the Saviour, which we profess,
nowhere premises that we shall be re-
warded in this world for we'll doing. It
does not promise that virtue shall here
while vice is punished; it does
not promise that the cause of liberty,
sustained though it may be by truth,
courage, patriotism, will necessarily sue
ceed when it has to contend with unli-
censed power, directed by ambition,
hatred and fear. No such promises are
held out by the Divine Founder of our
religion to his followers. On the con-
trary, they are explicitly told that on
this earth they are to look for trials, dis
and Affections; that they
will often see the powers of darkness
holding high carnival of crime, where
they hoped to see virtue exercising her
benign and peaceful sway; that it docs
not come within the scope of the Chris
tian religion to punish evil and to reward
the good in this world, and that not
until the last trump shall summon the
quick and the dead to judgment. will the
great Judge rectify all the wrongs,
punish all the crimes and reward oil the
virtues which have excited her since the
foundation Of the earth. It is this sub
limo faith that sustains the Christian
patriot as he struggles to bear his own