Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-09-22

/ wire, recalled my written declination before
| it had reached Montgomery. Applause
| At that time Mr. Stephens was himself Vice
| President Of the Confederate States. Position
| of great honor. But what less could have been
/ accorded to the leader OF the respectable mi
| noritY who had res sted the act of secession!
| power He could advise, but be could not
i command; nor could he be held responsible
for failure where no power to prevent it
| existed.
| Needless for me to dwell upon the too IA
| miliar picture which was rapidly unfolded-
/ our country overTuD; cur wealth destroyed I;
| every household made desolate; the entire face
l OF the land spotted all over with the graves OF
/ our best and bravest All this he would have
/ prevented if he could-aye, by the sacrifice of
| a thousand lives had they been held by his
| feeble frame. [Appl'use
| Is any one disposed to say: "Can it be posi-
| bic that we have a Secessionst before US going
| back upon himself and the Lost Causef" Go
/ ing back upon the Lo { Cause! no. never, so
/ long as body and soul shall cling together
| Applause But, il TO go back upon ones
| sef'' means to admit, under he moral coercion
/ of historical truth. that another may have
| been wiser or worthier then, yes! am going
| back upon myself. and propose to do so the
balance of mvlife. lApplausel Where, l ask. is
/ the honest Georgian, who, if the wheels OF
1 time could be backward rolled and he couid
| be placed before Mr. Stephens in Augusta, be-
/ fore stephens at Macon, before Stephens at
| MilledgeVille, with the luTid light cf subsequent
/ history full upon him, would not be constraln,
ed, as lover of his State, as the constltutional
| protector of her women and her children, TO
/ follow Mr.. Stephens? Applause Upon
/ mere question Of political expediencv! 10 the
| surrender Of no constitutional right! 10 me
1 sacrifice Of no moral obligation When, by the
act of others, the right had been submitted 20
| the arbitrament of war, he too, gave In the
cause his hand, his heart, his life, his all. When
| / think of him as | saw him in the distance, be-
meath the slanting rays OF the defining sun,
| walking with an armed guard by his side along
| the rampartS of Fort Warren, not permitted
/ by word of lip or pen to tell him how much
| hal come to revere him; when l think OF
called rebel, witness Of State, before
| an examining commission of conquerors.
| within the walls which had rung so
/ often with his piercing and musical voice;
| when picture him to myself patiently toillDg
| in his modest Georgia home upon his history
| of the War Between the States when think
/ Of him rejected by the National Senate to
| which his State had commissioned him: ana,
| when subsequently defeated, before her Legis-
| lature in this city, by a gentleman much
| younger than himself, and who had won nls
| fame on the field Of battle rather than IN the
| deliberative assembly. returning to his old
| place in the lower house; cheerfully returning,
| though stripped of his Old national prestige,
| and there again battling, as he has always
/ battled everywhere, for the great principles
| of Republican liberty, l must confess@that
/ at the slightest imputation upon his loyalty 10
! Georgia or the South my entire being mental,
moral physical, rises in revolt, Applause
/ It may be natural for some to feign hypocrltl-
cal fealty to a cause they did not originate ana
cannot lead; let such an one remember that
| each of us carries within himself the STANDARD
| by which to measure our common humanity;
| and that the hardest criticism his ungenerous
suspicious may pass upon anotner, VIII IN
evitsby become with the honorable heart and
intelligent mind, condemnation the most crush
ing of himself. Lst such an one beware now
| he casts his own mud at Georgias favorlte
| [Applause.1
Before leave the man, let me read to you a
single extract from the volume which hold
in my hand-his own language recently spoken,
and which should be taken to the heart or
every Georgian: "And now, after the severe
chastisement of war, il the general sense or
the whole country shall come back to the
acknowledgment of the original Assumption
that it is for the best interests Of ali the States
to be so united, as l trusr 1t will-the States
still being separate as the t1lows but one
as the seal can fOresee no reason why,
under such restoration, we, as a whole
with peace, commerce and honest friend
ship with ell nations, and entang ing
alliances with none, may not enter upon q new
career, exciting increased wonder IN the OId
World by grander achievements hereafter to
be made, than any heretofore attained by the
peaceful and harmonious workings or our
American institutions of seH-goyernmenT.
All this IS possible II the hearts Ct the people
be right. It is my earnest wish to see IT,
Fondly would indulge my fancy in gezlng on
such picture Of the future. With what rap
ture may we not suppose the spirits or our
fathers wonld hail its opening scenes from
their mansions above. Such are my hopes
resting on such contingencies" The next
page contains verse which might well nave
made It's appearance mere:
"'A land there will be toward the setting sun,
Fresh as If Eden were again begun;
Two great twin oceans battle the happy shore,
And Fancy, looking could not ask for more.
But if, instead Of all this, the passions of the
day shall continue to bear sway; II prejudice
shall rule the hour; If a conflict Of races shall
arise; il ambition turn the scale; il the sword
ghul 10 hrn n
patriotism; if the embeTs Of the late war shall
be kept glowing until with new fuel, they shall
flame up again, then our present gloom Is but
the shadow. the penumbra OF that deeper ard
darker eclipse which is totally to obscure this
hemisphere and blight forever the anxious
anticipations and expectations or mankind
Then hereafter bJ some bard 1t may be sung;
1.-The star Of Hope shone brightest in the
west.
The hope Of Liberty, the last, the best;
That, too, has set upon her darkened shore,
And Hope and Freedom light up earth no
more
And now is any one inclined to say: you
have su your pa1 of hero worship to the
man. what have you to say about the remain
der Of your argument, the 'principlesf' In
deed, indeed, feel that have spoken ia vain,
if the moral Of my story has not developed it.
self. go whithersoever your country may
call you; be prepared to serve her IN any posi-
ton to which you may be assigned; recognize
in the voice Of the majority, Iairly expressed,
upon all questions that do not involve your
personal relationship to God, the sovereign
will of your country; temper and con
troll your personal ambition; sink yourself
in your country" Applause Does any
one say, Have you brought such tTlte
and familiar commonplace to utter them
here to us? Go tell them to schoolboys! We
expected TO hear about principles upon when
government is to be conducted" 10 meet
some such intima ion. l viii place witness
upon the stand to prove to you tonight that
these are the principles upon which, at last, all
true republican civilization must depend; 1t
can rest on none other No willing, though an
imperial witness is mine; no admlrer OF the
republics, but loving deVotee to the Caesars
of history. His name is Louis Napoleon, OF
France. His testimony is TO be found in his
Life Of Julius Caesar" | have brought the
hook NV countrymen, Georgians, Americans
let me say to you that. as you hear the sen
fences fall from my lips Vou will come to real
ize that these pages are for us by far the most
signi6c ant Of all history, ancient or modern:
The first citizens presented the most re-
markahle examples Of integrity and selfde-
NAL Marcus Va'eTius COrvus after occupying /
twenty-ope curule offices, returns to his fields
without fortune, though net without glory
Fabius Ru Janus, ii the midst OF his victories
snd triumphs. forgets his resentment towards
Papirius cursor, and names him Dictator
scrdCirg thus his private feelings to the H.
terests of his country" The Senate, we have
seen, put IN practice the principles which
found empires and the virtues to which war
gives BIRTH Thus, for all the citizens. equality
% rights in face of danger TO their county,
equality of duties and even suspension OF
liberty To the most worthy, hOnors and the
command"
THE example is furnished by the most illus
trious and richest families. A. the combat
near the Cremera the three hundred and six Of
the Fabii who all, according to Titus Livius,
were capable of filling the highest offices, per
shed fighting Later, at Gamma, eighty Sena-
tors, who had enrolled themselves as mere
soldiers fell on the field of battle. The |
triumph is accorded for victories which en-
larged the territory, but not for those which |
only recovered lost ground. No triumph in
civil wars. In such case, success be what II |
may is Away q subject for public mourning. |
The Consuls or pro-Consuls seek to be useful |
to their country without false susceptibility; |
to-1sy in the first rank, tomorrow IN the |
second. they serve with the same deVotlon
under the orders of him whom they commanded |
the previous day Servilius, Consul in PSI, be-
comes, he year following, the Lieutenant OF |
Valerius. Fabius, after so many trlumphs, |
consents to be only Lieutenant to his son. |
The great Scipio himself, after the defeat Of |
Hannibal, serves as Lieutenant under his |
brother in the war against Antiochus. |
''ro sacrifice everything TO patriotism Is the |
first duty. BY devoting themselves to the |
Gods of Hades, like Curtius and the two Decii, |
people believed that they bought, at the price |
of their lives, the safety OF others or victory.
Discipline Is enforced even to cruelty; Manllus |
Toruuatus, after the example OF Postpunius |
Tuburtus Furnishes with death the disobedience |
of his son though he had gained the victory"
Now for the conclusion. presented, as / say, by |
an imperial witness, and by the most practical |
European of his day. Hence the improving |
spectacle of town which becomes a people, |
and OF a people which embraced the world.
TADDlause1 And what is the lesson taught? |
advance YOUR enemy beforA your friend, |
advance your son before YOURSELF Nay; sacri- |