Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1882-05-20
WHOLE NO. 2,423.
The oratOry Of Ex-Prssdsnt DAVIS.

wv SfNtUy W EA-fF0Sf0eHT DuHf6.
Ex-Presideat Davis speech In the
Opera House in New Orleans, in
aid Of the Southern Historical So
ciety, Is evidence that the old man
has lost none of the oratory that
distinguished him In his prime.
We quote few paragraphs:
"The other side has written and
is writing its history of the cause.
we want to preserve ours also that
the future historian by comparison
OF both, may evolve that fair state.
ment which probably no contem.
porary could make. / would frank.
ly acknowledge that / would mis-
trust the man who served the Con-
federate cause and was capable OF
giving disinterested account of il,
III he had any heart, he must be on
MS own side. / want our side OF
the history. IL may be like the
other, but we don't take exactly an
equal view Of Ii. But the two will
be compared by some one who
comes after us who will do Justice
to our cause and our people. You
all know 1t would be needless for
me to speak of it; how thoroughly
unprepared we were when we en-
gagged in war-without money.
without a name among the nations,
without credit, without provisions,
without arms, without ammunition.
and without even factories to make
it; we went in relying solely upon
brave hearts and whose constant
trust during the struggle was equal
ed only, was the morality.
The unanimity OF our people and
the heroism of our soldiers have
caused the admiration of the world.
Generally they know the disadvan-
tages under which we fought; they
know the achievements with which
our soldiers covered themselves
with glory, but there is much that
is not known. You may ask the
schoolboy in the lowest form who
commanded at the Pass of Their
mopyl@ ami he can tell you; but
my friends, are there not many of
this audience, who, ifasked, could
not tell who commanded at Sabine
Pass, and yet l tell you that the
battle of Sabine Pass was more glo-
riOus than that of Thermopyle.
Who remembers how the iron-clad
feet came steaming up the river
with nothing to oppose II but mud
fort armed with fleld-guns, and
held by forty-two men; how its
commander was asked by a COM
rade what was to be done, and
suggested that they had better re-
treat, and how this gallant man
said, 1--WE will never retreat 1"
How they shook hands with each
other and said, "We will fight to
the deaths" How the iron-clads
came steaming in and were repulsed
by that gallant little army forty
two men. This was i'm 1863.
Now, who knows OF Bowling,
and yet, this Bowling L hold higher
than Leonidas. 1t is such events
as these that we must preserve.
They will be lost.
1t depends upon you, friends,
whether the South will have them
or not, whether you will give your
children true statement of the
deeds OF their fathers, and the prin-
ciples that actuated them. The
other side will then understand us,
and it is to be hoped that the time
is not far distant when the offensive
epithets only too common to-day,
which detile the English language.
will soon be blotted out of the
Northern vocabulary. We are not
revengeful. The fact Is, the South
ern people are not capable of hate,
and / tell you why i think so; hate
nj
do not hate like towards. Neither
are brave men ever so cruel; 50
wish you to draw from those who
can testify on both sides of the law
that we did everything in our pow
er TO assist those taken prisoners du-
ring the war; we tried to release
them; we tried to exchange them;
and / want those facts to go down
to prosterity, so that our children's
cannot have the name of
Andersonville thrown with oppro-
brious epithets in their faces. lt Is
false, utterly false that our people
ever did treat prisoners with cruel
ty, and / want the fact shown as it
can be shown. You can get wit
nesses who were prisoners; you can
get the men, who when prisoners
were paroled, went to Washington
to get relief, were denied audience
and had the honor to come back to
prison. You can get these men to
testify that If they were not treated
as well as they might have been,
there were physical causes; there
were climatic causes we were
in supplies; we were want
ing in the food to which they were
medicine was
made a contraband. How could
we supply them? Ii Is all the viii
est SANDER that ever was perpetra-
ted. 1t is here where the Histori-
cal Society can assist us and if you
succeed in giving such an impulse
10 the organization as will preserve
the society and increase its useful
ness, you will have another claim
10 the gratitude of your country
men.
Manufactures at the South.