The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-08-04

ful TRIAL. entered the United States Naval
Academy, had served with distinction during
the Mexican war, and soon been promoted to
his career as yet indicated the glory which he
was TO acquire. Lol q great war breaks out;
Semrnes commands g. vessel, and he per-
forms exploits which have scarce q parallel,
n nny B bR a nave most go parne feae t6e
most incredible achievements, wins q
fame which will die only with the
world. The war is at an end; Se1nmes re-
tires from the public scene and again leads q
calm life until he descends into the silent
grave. Why were all his great deeds crowded
into so short @ space OF time? Why We're the
beginning and the end OF his journey 50
smooth? Whyl Because the middle path
was to be rough. Because he was called by
Providence to strike 50 many blows, and in
such rapid succession, that to be capable Of
performing the work, his arm must not have
been previously fatigued by any uncommon
sore want of rest. God gave him q COMPARE
lively peaceful youth and o quiet, though not |
inactive, old age; the first as q necessary pre-,
paration, the second as @ no less needed
repose. Without these the task were too |
heavy for any human being; too heavy even
for Semmes!
cloud had broken In our midst, and from
the banks Of the Potomac to the waters OF
the Rio Grande this fair country had become
one vast field Of carnage. [ do not stop to
inquire into the cause Of this horrid blood |
she'd or to say on what side justice and truth
were and still are. 1t has become quite out
of place to dwell on such topics. But it Is yet
| the privilege Of the conquered to love and
praise those who have fought for the Lost
Cause, and, though the issue was fatal,
| fought well.
At the very outset Senmes understood that
| the only way to weaken the force of the
| enemy was by striking it's commerce. Re
signing his commission in the United States
navy, he offered his services to the COnfed-
eracy, and obtained the command Of the
Sumter, which he himself has called an old
rotten hull With her he started to destroy
| Northern commerce, and soon the old rotten
| hull was the mistress of the Gulf Of Mexico.
She sank bark after bark, pursued and cap
tured the merchant ships which she met on
her track, and swept off the waters of the
| Gulf every vestige OF Northern supremacy.
But these we're negative victories. Every
port was closed against Confederate cruisers,
and the prizes which they made served only
to light up the ocean and warn the enemy
that Semmes was at hand Tired Of these
barren, though glorious exploits, the bold
captain crossed the sea, and, reaching Gibral-
tar, there left the Sumter.
| But he was soon to set out on @ more
famous cruise. The Alabama was the name
of the immortal craft. which was to be for
many months the phantom ship Of The ocean.
It is impossible to follow Semmes in his fabu-
what he has done in his Alabama ask the
South, and the grateful South will say: He
has well nigh saved me from ruin and re-
versed the issue OF the war Ask the North,
and it's curse shall be @ praise: He has de-
stroyed my commerce and sunk all my ships.
Ask the grave sta tesmen who were assembled
at Geneva, and they will answer: England,
with all her riches, may not repay the losses
nations, and they will say that they envy us
the possession OF the most intrepid and daring
captain these modern times have seen.
Semmes and the Alabama these glorious
, names remain inseparably linked. They are
stamped on the title-deeds OF our fame. They
shall be us charmed words to enkinde the
flame of patriotism in the hearts Of the future
, | generations of the South.
It is q custom with nations to honor the
great dead with some memorial erected on
the spots where they have won their fame.
II a marble tablet could be placed wherever
Semmes has won victory each wave would
bear it's record and old Ocean would be one
. monument Of bis glory.
But who is 1t that cries Boast not of the
Alabama remember her last fight her de-
feat?" Her defeat! But whose Is the vic
tory? On clear morning, near Cherbourg
seven miles from the coast of France meet d
powerful ship and q craft shattered by the
) brunt OF many battles. An hour Of grand
} fighting. The Alabama begins to sink, all heI
coiors at her peak Semmes is anxious fol
} the lives OF his faithful men. But no help
} comes from his adversary; three cowardly
balls strike the flefenSelesS vessel. Then the
, captains eye flashes, his frame quivers with
= Indignation. Lifting high his sword, he hurIe
{ it into the sea, and, casting q long, lingering
look on his lost Alabama, abandons her just
as she disappears forever beneath the waves
Whose, then is the victory? The sword, tbs
glorious sword, has not been, shall never be-
surrendered; the ship, the glorious ship, has
> not been, shall never be, captured Whose
the victory?
Rescued from death and subsequently re-
t turned to the Southern States, Raphae
} Semmes was made an admiral, in his case il
III
= but the man to the title. He was then ap
pointed to the command of the James rivel
squadron. Learning the fall and burning o
Richmond he himself destroyed his ships
and with his men formed q resOlute body
: who reported for service. A commission o
= brigadier general soon reached him; but some
: da ~ q fter Lee surrendered ct Appnmattn1
! = ourt-House, and Semmes was parOled By
: the sea had bowed humbly beneath the de
: crees of Providence, and the Confederate
: cause became the Lost Cause!
u What Raphael Semmes has been since thu
: war. you, ladies and gentlemen, know bette
u than do. You have seen him constantly
:, and marked his mOdesty; you have Spoken
l with him and have found him as deepl,
> learned as he was humble and unassuming
u He was good citizen, a patriot and a hero
4 and he was something more, an honest MAJ
9 and g. true Christian.
u He might-and what [ say here is know
y perhaps to many of you-he might have beel
:, ~ wealthy, had he been o venal man. But
y noble to the last, he labored for an homes
bread. He encountered adversely, as he die
: all his other enemies, his face to the foe
y Friends, we need many such examples-il
: shall not be the least Of our hero's honor
!, that this gem is not wanting to his crown.
u But something higher still remained, some
u thing without which the lives OF the creates
% are incomplete. Our hero had earned th
" worlds best prizes; he had stood on pima
" Gle of fame which few have ever reached
scarcely any without becoming dizzy. Not $
he. His heart was too great to be filled b
( these transitory joys; too noble and amb
tious to be engrossed by these goods Of q day
He served his country and he loved his kind
But he also served his God; he led a trul
j, Christrian life and died Christian death. FO
many years you have seen by his example hoy
g tremendously soid Christian piety and trl
:, heroism can walk hand in hand. We may nc
now invade the privacy Of his last moments
" nor describe the beautifully touching, thong
v sad, scene of a patriarch breathing his last |
A. l. III;