Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1870-05-13

Here and there q stricken heart, wounded to it,
Utmost core, and alone knowing its own bitter
mess. will cherish its sacred grief until Time it
iselt shall be no moro. But without proper ef
fort on part, there isidapger that the corrod
ing cares of the present and the absorbing exer
lions for existence may make or our descend
ants forget the rightfulness OF our cause, and tn
heroic martyrs who fell in it's defense.
! And beside all this, upon their fate and his
s Sssy lies there not the blight of failure and de
Those who fall in the arms of victory and sue
cess need no monuments to preserve thei
memories. The continued existence and pros
perity Of their country are sufficient epitaphs
and their names can never be forgotten. Blu
how shall those be remembered who failed?
ing it with their own misunderstanding it will
their calumnies. their prejudices, and their pas
sions, and it is this one-sded version of the con
querors that the world at large accept as tn
truth. for in history in the present, "Vo
! Vicsis t"-woe to the conquered!
| It Is true that when We, the actors in the lat
| contest, shall be sleeping In our graves, littl
will it matter 70 Us Whist the world may think o
Us or our motives. But methinks that we coult
hardly rest in peace, even IN the tomb, should
our descendants misjudge or condemn US. AnC
yet, 1s there no possibility OF this? They will b
told that their fathers oligarchs aristocrats
s!ave-drlvers. rebels, traitors, who, to perpetuat
| the mOnstrous sin CT human slavery, tried II
throttle out the life of the nation, and to reno
aeunder The government founded by Washington
that they raised parricidal HANDS against th'
! sacred ark of the Constitution; that they were
the unprOyoked aggressors, and struck the frs
sacrilegiOus blow against the Union and the fae
OF their country.
| What if this be but false cant and caIumny
Constant repetition will give it somathipg OF tbs
authority OF truth. We cannot 1Oubt it. Our
Northern and probably IN European pubca-
tlons-perhaps even i'll the very text books oil
their schools (for unfortunately we Southerners
write too lttle), and they may be compelled,
like ourselves to look abroad for their intellee-
tual nutIiment. It is til that our own inne-
date CONS ard daughters will not believe these
al
dren or grandchildren may believe them. And
those who are still enemies after five years
OF peace, rely confidently upon this result a
sO-CalIed minister of the Prince of Peace but
whose early and persistent advocacy OF war and
blooddhed prove, that he obtained his commits
sion from very opposite quarter, has dar, to
say that Sin few years the relatives of those
Southern men who fell in struggle will be
ashamed TO be seen standing by the side OF their
dlshonored graves. and he who said this,
mark you, ls no obscure driveler, but, on the
contrary, one of the highest representative men
Of the orth one HON they delight to honor.
No less parsonage than the Rev. Sharp Rifle
Beecher, who rendered his Church a shooting
gallery for bandits 10 acquire skill to murder
southern men in Kausas-Beecher, the abettor
and paneSyrist of John Brown, the chief of those
bandits-Beccher. the burning aud shining light
Of the Northern Church, whose utterances at
tract thousands every Sabbath. He says that in
a few years the Southern people will be asian ed
to stand by the dlshOnorCd graves OF their fallen
champions.
Fellow Southerners. whose teachings and in
uCGQCS can accomplish more than Au other
agencies confined to hurl back this foul Islander
in the teeth of shat reverend liar? Who can
best quad our posterity from the corrupting
venom Of falsehOod? Who Can so implant the
right and justice of our lost cause into their souls
tractors?
Your hearts reply like mine, SIT is the noble,
patriotic, unwavering women of the South"
es, let me repeat this last epithet, for it be-
longs peculiarly to them. U,.10aUerin3, true to
the right, true to the South, i'll the past and in
the present, as they will be in the future This
IS neither the time the place for vapid COM
plIments Or fulsome culOgy, and I speak only
tho words OF truth and sOberness, as all OF you
Will testify. We would be baser tina the brutes
that perish could we rget what the women of
the south did 10 promote the Success of our eff
forts. By night and 10y day they lab0red with
eilsent hands to supply the deficiencies Of the
government. They uursed the sick and wound
cd they bore sorrows and priyations OF every
kind without murmur. WHAT thew suffered no
tongue, no pen can over express. Yet hey new
er fzItered ; they never gave up and they con-
unnsd to cheer the sinking hearts of their de-
Ienders, ana 10 nope against oil hope, even when
al was ever And see how nObly they have kept
their t4lth. Wnile some men who once did gal
turned false for filthy lucre, where the rene
gades among Southern women Even we who
have preserved our truth unstained, have we not
grown colder and moro fOrgetful? Had it de-
pended upon US alone, is there not much reason
to &c Ar that our brothers bones would still lie
unheeded where they fell? Not that We have
grown Indifferent or estrauged, but the claims
OF the living ana the anXietes Of mis-
fortune have absorbed our attention. 1t
is these blessed Southern women, whose
tender hearts never forget, that de-
serve the credit OF all that has been done
among us to preserve from destruction the re-
mains Of our brave comrades. Unwearied by all
their labOrs and self sacrifice during four years
Of war, they were, like Mary, the first at the
gray OF their beloved dead. Therefore to them
We may safely entrGst the holy ark of our South.
ern faith. Yes. it is for you. wives, mothers,
daughters OF the Soulful is for you far more
tn an fer us, to fashion the hearts and thoughts
Of our children. We have neither the time nor
the apti ude that you possess for training the in
FAINT nina from the beginning and inclining the
twi8 the way the tree should grow. You are now,
Or Wal Dc some day, the m others of future gener-
atoms. See that you transmit to them the ira
ditlons and memories of our cause, and of our
glorious, if unsuccessful, struggle, that they
may III their turn transmit them unchanged to
those who succeed them. And let them learn
from you that although the same inscrutable
Providence that once permitted the Grecian cross
to go down before the Mosem crescent has de-
creed that We should yield to Northern suprem-
acy, AMI that should fail in our endeavor, yet
for all that, aoe 1rere right
And this points to another great lesson to be
nstilled into their minds.
The worship of success, no matter how achlev-
Ell, Is but too universal in the world. In the
North it is the great idol of the day. Pigmies
whose luck it was to come upon the stage when
they could oppose to the exhausted remnants of
The South the unlimited resources OF the North,
have been magnifed into demi.gOds, and receive
the daily alterations Of the multitude. 30 far
does this idOatry blind the Northern people that
they cannot understand our lack CT admiration
for the men whose ruthless course deluged our
land with blood, and whose tracks were marked
By the ashes Of our desoate homes Still less
can they comprehend the love, veneration and
enthusiasm that we stIl continue to feel for our
own unsuccessful leaders. The events Of the
last ten years have impressed upon the Northern
mind that failure is ignominious, AMI that sue
cess. no matter how iniquitouss ID the only critic
ron of right
It i for you. South ern matrons. to guard your
ones against this foul idolatry, and to
teach them nobler and higher moral. 1t is
for you to bring the youth of our land to these
consccrated mounds, and to engrave in their
candid souls the true story of our wrongs, our
motives and our deeds. Tell them in those ten
der and eloquent words that you know so well
now to use; tell them that those who lie here an.
5ombed were neither traitors nor rebels, and that
those absurd epithets are but the rawlings OF ma
ignant folly when applied to men who claimed
nothin9 but their right under the Constitution Of
their fathers-the right of self govern
nent. Tell them how We exhausted every hon.
1rable means to avoid the terrible arbitrament
If war, asking only to be let alone, and tender
nG alliance: friendship, free navigation-every-
hing reasonable and magnanimous-to obtain
IN an1ic&ble settlement. Tell them bow, when
lriven to draw the sword, we fought the MERGE