The Canton mail. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 18??-1882, 1876-05-06
ADDRESS OF JUDGE ]. W DOWNS.
Delivered Msms-ial Day, April 2e, 1875.

Delivered Gsms-ial Day, April 20, 1879.
Ladies' and gcnticmen--I accepted
your invitation to address you this
evening from . sense of duty, not
that it was . work Of pleasure to
me for I know that on this subjec,
you have, on former occasions, heard
your best speakers. We are me,
to-day to decorate the gravss of sol
diers, not the graves Of those who
died, perhaps full of years, at thor
quiet homes surrOuaded BY sorrow
ing friends, bat the graves of those
slain in battle or who died of some
of tho diseases incident to the SOL
dier's life. The fact that these are
soldiers graves just over yonder
furnishes Us with proof that man
has been engaged IN war with his
fellow man. When we consider tho
powers and capacity Of man, he
having been placed IN the scale of
being but little lower than the an
gels OF light, We might be led to be.
iieve that he would not engage in
the work Of carnage and death, but
the student Of history knows that
from his creation to the present
time man has INDUCED in violence
and blood. The first man that was
ever born in the world killed the
second one that was born. We arc
not so much surprised a. the cxis-
tenee Of these moods of passion in
! ourselves after we have witnessed q
similar exhibition Of them in physi-
cal nature. We look towards the
heavens and We behold those beau.
tiful orbs IS they move silently on
in their accustomed course, giving
out the music of the spheres, cast
ing their mild light upon tho earth,
when no voice is heard upon the
land and no murmur from the sea /;
the mi -hty mountains with their
mantles drawn about them in their
majesty and grandeur arc resting
quietly upon the earth. All is calm
and still rs the midnight of the
Stars. The genius Of peace smiles
at this picture of reposc. We look
again and the heavens are dark ened
aud all tn. agencies of nature seem
to be gathering strength for tho
coming strife, the war spirit is
sbroad-the artillery duel COM
menccs in tho mid-hcav ems and the
fearful tempest rushcs over us hurl-
ing it's thundsrbolts at tho trembling
earth. In this terrific strife Of the
elements nature is waging war up
on herself and the genius Of violence
smilcs at the ruin and dcsolation
she has made. As We find it in ma
ture, 30 it is in man, under certain
influences he is peaceful, pacific and
gentle, and in . different mood he
Is heroic, aggressive and mnrdcrous.
Peter was brave and courageous
when no drew his sword against a
multitude in defense of his master,
but an hour after, when the war
spirit had lott him, he was frixhten-
ed out Of all sense Of propristy by
the scornful finger of little mai
den. Man under the influence u
| anger is like q little kingdom in 10.
surrsction. For many long years
previous to the commencement Of
hostilities between the North and
the South the spirit Of violence pos
sessed the people.
Fifty years ago . small cloud wse
visablo on tho political horizon
which might have been taken for
the spray that some scafowl had
! shaken from its wings. Not then
ominous OF evil, but there il remain.
ed, slowly spreading over the heav.
ems, growing darker as it reflected
from its surface the angry and mad
dened passions Of the people as they
were passing through some heated
political campaign, I'll the while
holding the thunder in its bosom
till its long pent up agcs cies burst
upon the country and blood, car
mage and death mark its course.
Thus it was that politicians found
that tho way to political preferment
and promotion in each section Of tho
e0uhtry was to speak and write BIT
ter things against the other section
and in this way one portion of the
people was arrayed agaiBst the 9th
or in such hostility and bitterness,
that war with all its attendant hor-
| rors was the result.
/ just here let US learn lesson
from our sad experience of the past
by which we may be benefited IN
the future and that is, not 10 trust
implicitly 10 our leaders for this is a
governments of tho people, the poo
pie rule and tho foundations Of the
whole structure rest upon Thorn, and
it is their duty to watch closely the
acts OF those at the front and #
those acts are hasty or unwiss let
hasty and ultra men lie withdrawn
and others put in their places.
The great cause Of difference bo-
tween the North and the South
grew out of the construction to be
placed: on the Constitution, the South
constituting that instrument IN such
way as to foster and protect the insti-
tusions of that section, and the
North insisting on q different con-
struction, thereby circumscribing and
so crippling the Institutions OF tho
South as to destroy its political
power in the government. This
condition Of things drove the South
to the necessity, as she thought, of
Withdrawing from the unioa and
setting up an independent govern
ment of her own. From some
cause or other we were not able to
sever our domestic relations with
the family with whom We had re-
sided so long, and q history of these