The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1882-05-13
right and the wrong.

In this city, the capital of the Union,
are erected, in enduring bronze or mar
BILE, statues ofthe heroes of the winning
side. In every Southern State are
costly and magnificent cemeteries, in
which grateful country has deposited
the bones of her gallant dead who had
fallen on the side of the victor, when,
in many Instances, not even a rude
stone, not green mound, marks the
spot which holds theashes of the brave
men of the South who gave their lives
for what was to them just and holy
cause.
fyou of the North want monument
al la,cs to tell of your victory you have
them in the three amendments OF the
Constitution. You know what they
are. need not repeat them.
On the statute-book there are also
many ofthese monumental laws grant
ing pensions to the Union soldiers
pensions paid out of a treasury supplied
by taxation on the South as we'll as on
the North, while the MANNED South
ern soldier aud the helpless widows
and orphans of those who fell in battle
or died since from wounds, if unable
to support themselves, must depend on
the charity of an impoverished people
or seek refuge from starvation in the
poor-house. The South makes no COM
plant of this. We neither object to
the nations generous bounties to Union
soldiers, nor do we ask the national aid
for our own. These laws are monu-
ments of Northern victory aud South
ern defeat but they are monuments
also of beneficence, of gratitude for
great services and great sacrifices.
But this law sought to be repealed
by this bill is not of that character.
1t confers no benefits, it bears no testi-
mouy of nations gratitude, 1t attests
no admiration for heroic services, it
breathes no spirit of generosity or mag
nanimity, it adds no jewel to the chap
let of the victor's brow, but brands,
or attempts to brand, with an inefface-
able stain the honor and the faith of
10, 100000 of American citizens. 1t is
only hatred and vengeance. What do
you men of the North gain by this de-
graduation or attempted degradation of
the South? What does the country
or is it divided into discordant and
hostile sections? Are we of the South
citizens or only subjects? Are we to
have a country or are we to be outcasts
in the land Of our birth, dishonored
and distrusted, or do you demand hui
initiating and degrading concessions as
the price of equal American citizen
ship? If so, we refuse to pay it, even
for that great boon.
Sir, we acknowledge no inferiority.
We confess to no crime we profess no
repentance; we ask no forgiveness.
But we acknowledge our defeat, and
we also acknowledge that separation is
no longer desirable. We acknowledge
the superior power which compelled
us to remain in the Union; but we de-
ny the right to make us inferior in po-
litical privileges, or less in the dignity
and nobility of American manhood
than the proudest and best among the
victOrs.
We may have erred, sir; 1 shall not
discuss that now. But if we erred we
committed the fault of freemen jealous
of their rights, Our cause was just
and holy to us, and it was defended
With u courage, endurance, and SELF
denial which brings honor, not shame,
on American manhood. If fidelity to
the convictions of conscience, if cour-
age and endurance in adverse fortune,
if heroic devotion to principle sin
cerely entertained, if love of country,
if veneration for the memory and ex-
ample of II great and glorious ancestry,
be titles to the respect and admiration
of mankind, the conduct of the South
ern people in the late war is worthy to
be recorded on the same bright page of
the history of the human race on which
is written the grand achievements of
the North. 1t cannot be made the just
ground of a charge of dishonor or inf
deity to truth.