The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1870-10-30


saSs$ Sas s|osss ssa & ss 81
whS sayttkaG the Eau nfh Il Nh M uTan. .sIr9
tis1t t6'rupsnre tho bopdstufsti fsti16sAmgli.
canh Union: ~: fnf :ttin eths y Aiaao nuf foY7TAIl
which, ,sit, is n6, m6ra 81. & BisEory, tEahl
is the history of,the revolution Of 1861
to 1865. They wrong rs, sir, who say
that it was this Southern land that
brought on the revolution Of 1776. and
that the South desired the revolution of
1861. And we are the heirs of all the
glory of that immortal struggle; it was
purchased with our blood, or the blood
of our fathers, which yet flows in these
veins, and which we desire to transmit
pure to the sons that are born of our
loins. All the traditions of the past
sixty years was portion of our Inherit
ance, and it never was easy for any great
heart or rejecting mind even to seem to
part with that inheritance, and enter
upon the perilous undertaking of esta-
blishing new nation.
Mr.. President, it wns my privilege
once to be present aud listen to speech
by one of the noblest sons of South Ca
rolina, whose name glitters among the
galaxy OF her great names-for South
Carolina was Virginia's sister, and South
ern, and stood by the South in all her
struggles. That little State, small in
compass, barren in resources, but great
only in the grandeur of her men aud the
gigantic proportions of those whom she,
like Virginia, has produced. I heard one
OF South Carolina's noblest sons speak
on one occasion: II walked" said he,
Through the tower of London-that
great depository where is gathered all
that to English hearts is precious-and
when the guide, in the pride of his Eng
lish heart, pointed to the spoils of war,
gathered through centuries, I turned
and said, You cannot point to one single
trophy from my people, or my country,
though England has been engaged in
two disastrous wars with it. ="
Sir, this was the Southern heart that
loved every inch of American soil and
every part of that canvas which, ms the
emblem of her authority, hontcd from
spire and masthead. And it was only
after the anguish of q woman in birth
that this land, which now lies in sorrow
and ruin, took upon itself that great Pc
ril. and embarked in the revolution,
"AtL thS VI lllu1 WuOSG praise
is on our lips tonight.
cognized the word duty-''let every man
do his duty"-as the only ensign or
motto. Tearing himself away from all
the associations of early life, and aban-
doning the service in which he had
gained sucl, honor, he made up his mind
to embark in the cause, and. with mode.
ration and frmness, expressed his will
ingness to live for his native State, and
do all aud any duty assigned to him. I
accept him in his noble teaching equally
rs the representative of the South in his
retirement. 1t cannot escape any speak
er. the dignity of that retirement, when,
beneath that apple tree at Appomattox,
he surrendered his sword to the general
on the other side; then Withdrawing
from public observation, withholding
himself from all conceivable complicn-
tions, he devoted himself to the one
great work which he undertook to dis
charge. So, sir, this land of ours obey
ed; quiet, submissive, resigned, yet
without resigning those immortal prin-
ciples which are the convictions of life
time, and which lie buried in the recess
es of the human heart
Sir, all over this land Of ours there
are men like Lee-not as great, not as
symmetrioal in the development of cha
racter, or as grand in the proportions
which they have reached, but who, like
him, are sleeping upon memories thnt
are holy as death, and who, nmidst all
reproaches, appeal to the future and to
the tribunal of history, when she shall
render her final judgment of that strag-
gle, and of the people who embarked in
that struggle. We are serene, resigned.
obedicnt, sleeping upon solemn memo
ries; but as said bv the poet-prophet in
the Good Book: "He sleepeth, but the
heart waketh" -waketh us it looks forth
from the watch tower into the future,
only praying now to Almighty God that
those who have conquered may at least
have the grace to preserve our constitn-
ton intact. And, sir, if it were my
privilege to speak to the people oil over
the entire land, would utter with pro-
found emphasis that no people ever t.a-
verscd the moral ideas which underlie
the character of the constitution and
the laws, that did not III the end perish
in disaster, shame aud dishonor. What