The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1873-06-05
Henry Ward Beecher's Noble Flea foE
Justlce; to tho EouShsN- 4.

Henry Ward Beecher's Noble Flea for
Justlce;to the South.l'$ q
It was announced from Washington, 4
week ago. that on decoration day, the
friends OF all soldiers, Union or Confede.'
rate, lying buried at Arlington. might
visit their graves and adorn them with
dowers. It seemed that the era OF good
feeling had really dawned, and oil wise
and tender spirits said, ''Amen." But
next day, it was reported that q commit.
tee OF the Grand Army of the Republic
had straightway fastened to the War
Department to inquire who is to control
the ground on TINT OCCASION, and to beg
that the ''insult" might be averted. W.
rious journals Fastening also to con.
denim this intended kindlinese, it seems
worth while to inquire whether there is
any excuse for Withholding 80 simple q
courtesy.
We recognize, Of course, IL the pro.
tess, of these gentlemen. staunch loyalty
to their notion of patriotism which is
in itself admirable. Their mistake, as it
seems to us, isa Misrepresentation OF the
conditions of the case, both past md
present. They assert, and with truth,
that after victory SO dearly bought as
! ours. thcro must be no tampering with
the spirit which 30 nearly overcame us.
They also assert, and with error, that
honor offered to our enemies dead, or
Cancellation extended to them living, is
such tamporinG. And here we take issue.
There are two aspt g OF our late me-
lancholy war, which we Of the North
ought never to forget, and which, prar-
t!caliy, we hardly ever remember. One
ls the fact that, as a community, we did
consent to the ever-growing encroach-
ments of slavery, of which war was the
logical aud inevitable end. Ours was
baser ain than that OF the South. For
the South had taught itself to believe
that slavery derived it's strength from the
Bible, and it planted itself Oh the ab-
stract right OF the patriarchal institution.
Supple doctors of divinity supplied it
with Scriptural arguments. The church
es, most of them at least, did not hesitate
to fellowship it. The whole South, re-
ligiously, was as solidiy orthodox as it
was solitlly slave-holding. III an cnor-
nous agricultural country, where the
masses could neither read nor write, and
| where, naturally, the newspapers had al
most no part in the education Of the
people, it was inevitable that few ora
tors and political managers should con-
troll the community. SO that slavery
and the consequent secession were, 10 q
remarkable degree, the honest cause Of
tho whole people And with splendid
courage and endurance. they followed
tEcir dis Union fag to wounds and
death, Us simply and bravsly as if it had
been the Banner of the Cross and they
the old Crusaders. They were very ig-
norant aud wholly wrong, but they died
for the best cause they knew-their idea
of patriotism.
BE- we who believed slavery to be
wrocg, who could not lure our con-
sciences to justify it, still accepted and
encouraged it through love OF gold and
desire of an ignobls peace. We taught
the South that it could not demand what
we should not be found ready to give.
And when, ut last, slavery threatened
our national life, it was the instinct O!
self-preseryation rather than any noblet
sentiment which prompted resistance.
In that golden summer of 1860, we won
on gathering and spending, and living
luxurious lives, careless of the potents
in the sky. In the early spring of 1861,
it was not alone the enemies Of the
| Union who doubted its power to preserve
4eo O"u iuleSE1SJ. IL WHb lt6 1EltuUS-
the Secretary Of State, the commander
in-chief Of it's army, the great merchants
and great lawyers, alas too often the
great preachers OF the great citiesl
There was nothing in the attitude OF the
North, almost up to the moment Of the
firing on Fort Sumter, to check the
menace OF the South. There was every
thing to indicate Tint the UIion would
quietly fall apart. Because We are by
no means innocent of the war. therefore
it behooves us to speak temperately OF
our fellow-sinners, however VIC abhor
our common Elm. And we ought never
to have forgotten that, sharing their
gnilt, we could not shut them out from
that redemption for which we fought.
II the object Of the war were not o re-
stored and regenerated Union, but only
the triumph of late-roused North over
an insolent md defiant South, then their
cause was as much better than ours "a
honest devotion to IN ideal, however
mistaken, is better than pure vindictiye-
ness. We have no moral ground to
stand upon, but are guilty of our bro
theirs blood, unless We meant to make
m Offering to God of our national sin,
and to free them. with ourselves, from
the body Of that death.
we lose, then, the only harvest worth
the reaping from .he tears and blood