The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1883-09-14
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n,s;l Duke on the war.

In his speech Mt the reunion oi .ile
Survivors of John IL. Morean's rebel
command at Lexington, Ky, on tues
dav Gen. Basil W. Duke said: In the
flush of early manhood when mans ma"
ture is most impressible--when inc
warm and generous blood OF youth
Yields most readily Ito the allurements
Of pleasure, but is also quicker to re-
snona TO heroic and unseltish Impulse
thew were hidden to choose between a
life of comparative ease ana OF saiety
and one of privatlon and peru, oatWeen
home and exile, but also. asthey deemed
between duty and a failure 10 perform
it. Anoyermasteringde destiny
a sudden andimperatlve demand, Whlch
rang owe this continent IKE the rum
pet. call OF al archangel. IL was espec.
tally addressed to the younger men OF
America. Political differences, sociai
problems, sectional complications n
resentments, to produce when tley a
done nothing, for the existence OF when
they were in no wise responsible, IN,
duced intense bitterness, progressed
until compromise RECONCILIATION became
impossible, and at length eliminated n
war. A madness, perhaps, but a mao,
ness as sublime as it was cruel, selzed
upon the whole population of this coun-
try. 1t palsied the efforts OF those
who wished for peace, it turned
into folly the c%ounsels OF the
wise. The confagration burst out and
wrapped the whole land in one WIDE
leap. Both sections were converted a.
once into hostile camps, Let any inter-
ligent man look back over that perlodo
intense and uncomfortable excitement,
and yet most earnest, and absorbing
convictions, snd tell US, If he can, how
wal might have been ave,tad. l have
heard complacent suggestions from clos
ct sages to that effect, but with the roar
of the mighty conflict yet %resoundlng IN
my memory they have seemed as paltry
and as powerless as the scrawls and
spells and imbeciie incantations with
which the vulgar pretenders to witch,
craft essayed to control the elements mt
exercise spirits more powerful than
a That great deluge OF passion re-
semnled some immense physical con-
v~ulsion; one of those vast and resistless
movements with which nature, in her
inscrutable and memorable order,
changes the face of the earth and de-
stroys or t~errifies its inhabitants. 1t
was scarcely more susceptible %ofgovern-
ance by human and moral agencies.
What, then, confronted with this ire.
mendous fact, were the youth n
manhood of this country to do? speak
of North and South alike-of the whole
land, and both aroused and emblttered
populations. | do not assert that it was
every mans or any mans duty TO enlist
in the army which his action sent forth,
and rather than reproach | wUald con-
graduate those who could avoidth con-
tilct. But | do assert That it was natural
and not culpable for many to hold it
be a duty, and in that belief it became
a duty with them. Aud does the mar
live who, from his soul, can censure
those who, honestly seeing the path
they ought to follow lead that way, did
enter the ranks and give their breasts
to the battle? Youth-with whom SEN
tlment is always stronger than relec-
tion-the youth of both sections gem
orally felt chat it was
"Not theirs 10 reason why,
Theirs but to 90 or die"
and that they were Obliged with their
best efforts and their blood 10 serve the
cause OF their own people, whether the
people were right or wrong. | remem-
Der hearing the Hon. John I. Morgan,
of Alabama, in the senate of the United
States e%pitomize in one or two remarka-
BILE sentences the best vindication of
the south and the true meaning and rea-
son OF the struggle. He said, substan-
TALLY, that the success of the rebellion
of the American colonies against Great
Britain in l776 rendered the srcc ess of
the rebellion in 1861 impossible. But
that the issues left untried the questions
remaining unsettled, the problems still
to be solved at the date of the adon.
ton of the federal constitution, and
largely inhibited solution and adjust
ment by that constitution and within
the union. made the conflict of 1861 in
evitable. We often hear it said that men
Of both sides believed that they were
right: The plea might be regarded as
sufficient. But am sometimes inclined
to believe that, paradoxical as it may
sound both sides were right, and that
history will so declare"