The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1886-05-06
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JEFF Davis I'm Montgomery.

ber seeing your Senue boys, SO small, to
use farmers phrase, they might have
been called seed corn, moving on with |
eager step and fearless brow to the carni-
val of death; and have also looked upon
them when their knapsacks and muskcts
seemed heavier than the boys, and my
eyes, partaking of q mothers weakness,
filed with tears. Those days have passed.
Many Of them have found namelcss
graves; but they are not dead. They
live in memory, and their spirits stand |
out grand reserve of that column which
is marching on with unfaltering steps to-
ward the goal of constitutional liberty.
[Applause.1
'It were in vain if ! should attempt,
rs L have already said, to express my
gratitude to you. 1 am standing now
very nearly on the spot where L stood !
when took the oath of Office in 1861. !
Your demonstration now exceeds that |
which welcomed me then. This shows
that the spirit of Southern liberty is not
dead. Long and continued applause.
Then you wero full of joyous hopes.
You had every prospect Of achieving oil
you desired, and now you are wrapped
in the mantle of rcgret-and yet that re-
gret only manifests moro profoundly, and
does not obitcrate, the expression of
your sentiments.
81 felt last night as I approached the
Exchange Hotel, from the gallery of
which your peerless orator, William T..
Yancoy, introduced me to the citizens of
Montgomery, and commended me in Ian
guagc which only his eloqucncc could
yield, and which far exceeded my merit,
felt, say again, that 1 was coming to
my homo, coming to land where liberty
dies not, and serious sentiments will live
forever. [Applause.]
"l have been promised, my friends
that should not bo called upon to max,
speech; and, therefore, I will only OK
tend to you my heartfelt thanks. Coo
bless you, one and all, old men and boys
and the ladies above all others, who never
tailored i'll our direst need" Loud ant
long continued applausc.]
When he retired the shouts were sc
long and loud that Mr. Davis had to &C
to the front again. He bowed his nc
acknowledgements and thanks.
Governor O'Ncal, when it was Dossibl,
to be heard, made n handsome speech il
reference to the cause of the gathering
and of the love the people of the Soutl
feel for the statesmen and soldiers of tn,
South, and introduced General John b
Gordon, the orator selected to deliver tho
address, as i'll Mr.. Davis's feeble condi
ton it was understood he could onl,
speak few minutes. General GordOl
received grand welcome, as many sol
dicrs that he had commanded were Drcs
ent.
In opening his address General Gordon
made an eloquent allusion to Mr.. Davis
in the course of which he said:
GAS silw him i'll that first great conhic
OF the Confcdoracy, with the shouts o.
victorious lcgions in his cars, and tn,
glory of battle on his face, he was in tn,
. merldl@n blaze of his famc commanding
the unqualified confidence of his South
ern co'IntIymcn and the attention o
Christendom. Bnt aS II prisoner, STRIP
ped Of all power save the power to en-
dure, sustained by that majestic spiri
which no force but death could conuurr
awaiting his judicial trial and all it's con
sequences with n rcposc of mind, m
cquiposc and dignity of dcmcanor rarely
%1uallcd and never cxcelled, it was then
that he bound himself to ihc hearts OF
his people in dcathlcss affection and rose
TO the sublimcst height Of the morally
heroic. OF these two scenes, the ono in
the fortress was more profoundly i'm
pressive. Its lesson is of inestimablc
value to the. young men of our country.
1t teaches that no revulsion III political
fortunes, however sudden or extreme,
can ovcIWhclm or crush the man whose
aims are lofty md whose life is blamelcss.
10 my mind, great and grand as he was
IN the hour Of his most splendid triumph,
he was greater and grander still in the
noun OF his deepest humiliation. And
when alienation and bitter memories are
gone, when the crucial test of historical
analysis shall be fully, fairly and truth
fully made, then his name and his fame
his conspicuous services to the country
before the war, his unrivallcd State pa
pers and manly uttcraneos during tn,
war, and his moral elevation and patch
less fortitudc rs prisoner of State aftc!
the war, will command universal rcspco
and challenge unqualified admilntion. "
In alluding to the achievements of tn,
Northern and Southern armies, Genera
Gordon said:
81 acknowledge infcriority to no man
in admiration of the broad liberality
which prompted the efforts Of Charles
Sumner to strike from the flags of the
Union the names of the battles between
his cstrangcd and embittcred country
men; yet l subscribe neither to its policy
nor to its justice. All honor to the spirit
of the man who, facing n storm of politi-
cal wrath, could fise to the lofty purpose
of destroying all mcmentocs of Northern
triumph over his Southern countrymcn!
All honor to the eloquent utterances by
which he sought to make practical his
magnanimOuS COnppDTioni Rnt ,,fto,,