Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1880-12-07
CHICAGO LETTER
pondenee PUBLIC LrDern.

CHICAGO, December 3.-Before for
getting to do so, | will call attention
to the opinions of a Chicago Times
correspondentnow marching through
Georgia" From the expressions OF
this solon the uniformed reader
would be lead to believe that the south
is onlypartially reconstructed and still
on the ragged edge of disloyalty. AT
least such appears to be the belief Of
said peripatetic scribe. He seems to
base his belief in the premises upon
the grounds that southerners seems to
glory in the deeds Of dead Confeder-
ates by erecting marble columns to
their memory, on which are chiseled
expressions Of love and regret. Does
the writer, even for u moment,
imagine that southerners are more
heartless than other cilized people
who mourn for their illustrious dead,
slain in battle for what they believed
right2 If so, he has much to learn Of
the hearts Of a brave, ehivalric people
who shed luster upon the arms Of the
United States on every blood field
that glori6es her history. Because Of
the few marble shafts that he sees
erected to the memory Of her gallant
sons, by the ladies, the noble women
Of the south, the writer believes he
detects slumbering the fires of the
late war Of the rebellion. If he is no
better authority on other subjects of
interest his mission south will have
utterly failed. When he refeetsupon
the honor of southerDers, or their
gallantry, it is conclusive evidence
that he never crossed swords with
them in the hours that tried brave
mems souls and when he casts slurs
upon the want of evidence of prosper
ity of that section Of the nation, i.
also proves that he forgets what should
be a patent fact to every intelligent
mind that four years and a half OF ter
rible war desolated the section he
SCOTS at, and that the stroke of Presi-
dent Lincoln's pen robbed the people
he tacitly maligns Of hundreds of mil
lions worth Ofproperty. And that after
the Confederates laid down their
arms, upon the protection in all their
rights as citizens, and had again en-
tered upon their duties inthat respect
a horde of vipers, known as carpet
baggers, were let loose upon them to
further rob and insult them for q
period Of many years. With this
array of facts ever present, it seems
strange that an unprejudiced person
could take the stand that the Times
correspondent has. Evidently he
writes from partisan d~ictation. If. il
be a crime, or an evidence of disloy-
atty, for southern women and men to
strew flowers upon the graves of their
friends who died wearing the gray
then southeFners are the worst Of
criminals. But such sentiments Of
endearments are not crimes, The
tears shed are for their dead heroes,
and not for the cause for which they
died; and when the survivors Of the
"lost cause" offer incense upon the
affairs of their gallant, no fe ling Of
disloyalty against the stars and stripes
enter their minds to desecrate the
sorrow Of their hearts. As an evidence
of this, when Spain insulted, grossly
insulted, the flag of this country, when
the steamer Virginius was captured in
the Gulf of Mexico, Oct. 81, 70 and
afterward General WA. C. Ryan, and
others Of her passengers, was foully
murderedby authority Of that tyranni
cal government, so~utherners we're the
first to volunteer to resent the outrags
and demand reparation for the fend
ish infamy. Then, il the face of such
facts, men who should not be partisan
came to the front, and indirectly il
not directly, attempt to cast odium
upon the section of the nation hat
has already been most fully repre-
scented.
''Breathes thore a man with soul 30 dead,
Who never 10 himself hath said;
This is my WI my native land
If it be a crime to have been a rebel.
then Washington was considerable Of
a %iminaL fit be chiyalry to strike
a fallen foe, then the Times writer
can have all the glory to be found in
condemning the people Of the south
for perpetuating the memory Of theii
dead fathers, brothers, relatives
and friends. The Times mai
could do a great deal of good by omit.
ing to herd upon the sacred ground 0
a peoples sorrow, while in their mids.
by scofing at their monuments t
the dead, and pointing to deserts mad
by a victorious enemy. If he has any
acquaintance with history, he SHOULD
know that tyranny by the conqueroi
never resulted in breaking the spiri.
or makiog slaves Of the conquered
This is fully demonstrated by tn.
present agitation to poor old IRELAND
to throw off the tyrannical yoke o
England. II the writer can sympa
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