Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1891-11-26
a SOUTHERN PATRIOT.
Words of Loyalty, Patriotism and Wis
dom From nm C,pfc,lcrnte Soldier.

hhuci i'll bnnb Suate, ldsb hoihoii di
day, May 30. That the Memorial day of
the G. A. II. should be celebrated there,
where o'e so, 600 Union volunteers suffer
ed starvation and unuttersble hardships,
and where more thnn 49, 0cc of them yield
cd their lives us martyrs to the cause of the
Union is not surprising The remarkable
thing is that an ex-confedsrate soldier should
have been selected as the orator of the day;
and that he should have delivered an ad-
dress, marked by free discussion of the
causes OF the war for the Union, frank ad-
mission that the rebellion was wrong, full
declaration OF loyalty to the restored Union,
distinct admission of the existing frauds up
on the ballot in the South. and earnest adj
vocacy of honest registration aud fair cleo
tons in the Southern States for white and
black.
The orator was Col j. +. Hanson of Ma
con, Ca, an old confederate soldier. In his
Introductory remarks he said:
1--WE should not meet as Northern mon or
southern men, us soldiers of the federal
or confederate armies, rs masters or slaves
as white men or blac; men, but citizens
OF common country, blessed with univer-
sal freedom and universal peace, seeking at
this shrine of patriotism, to learn from our
past history lessons of wisdom and duty for
the future.
did not suppose at the close Of the war,
that the time would ever come when could,
in full sympathy with federal soldiers who
survived it, bear an humble part i'll the ex-
ercses of a federal Memorial day but dur
ing the eventfui years that mark the period
from Appomattox in 1866 to Andersonyllle
in 1871, have learned much that dId not
previously know, have unearned much that
l had been wrongly taught, and have recall
ed many important historical facts that in
moments OF passion or despair, were forget
ten. In the light OF this experience | am
here to say 20 you, to the p'oplo of my
State, my section, my country and tho
world, that no longer regard the men who
fought to preserve the Union, whica sought
to destroy, or to destroy the contederacy
winch | sought to esl ablish, As my enemies.
On the contrary, | now regard them rs my
friends, my benefactors and my brethren,
and whatever honors my poor powers can
bestow upon them here anil now, or else
whore hereafter, shall be theirs, while my
citizenship is blessed by the Union which
God, in His providence, too wise to per
NIT us TO destroy.
This sentiment widely prevails in the South
and is not inconsistent with the devotion of
the Southern people to the me DRY of their
dead. We have lived to see the storms of
passions by which they were tossed subside.
We have lived to see our mistake with refer
ence to the value of an institution to which
they were unwisely attached. We have
lived to learn anew the blessings of Union
when many OF them appreciated aud loved
even unto DEATH and which they never
willingly opposed"
Col. Hanson went on to discuss the causes
of the war and the questions OF slavery and
secession. He said:
If the right of secession existed, which |
did not beeve then and do not believe now,
1t could not have been wisely invoked for the
protection OF slavery in the Save States.
BY reason OF extensive borders, it would
have been impossible for the Sou,hern CON
federacy, predicated on slavery, to have pro-
tected II against the people of the North
soliditied against it by the war, and domi-
mating the policies of a government SO pow
erful as that Of the United States. This
view OF the case was entertained by South
ern men in 1860, and, as many believe by a
majority OF Southern men. Furthermore,
the controversy within the Union was not
with reference to slavery in The slave States,
but over the right Of the South to introduce
it into the Territories. Ii Its defence and
prott ction in the slave States was impossible
inside of a Union of friendly States, and be-
tween which there was no controversy, ex-
cept wi h reference to its extension. 1t was
the height of folly to suppose that the States
opposed to its extension in the Territories of
the MON, would surrender any portion of
their territory to q foreign power for this
purpose. The South did not contemplate
the acquisition of any of the Ter tories by
conquest, nor that they would be peacefully
surrendered to her. and yet without them,
without the privilege of Introducing slavery
into new territory, she was wagn6 war for
less than nothing, If the Union, as | believe,
gaVo better guaran tees Tor the protection OF
slavery than the confederacy ever offered
or could have offered. In support of this
view OF the case, that tho ostensible purpose
to defend slavery in the slave States,
the South, through her foremost secession
leaders, announced, again and again, that
all she asked for was to be let alone. y
But even il the right OF the original States
to secede should be conceded, no such right,
Col. Hanson shows. could be claimed for the
{, Southern States formed out Of territory
purchased with money from tn, United States
treasury. The fact was, lie says, that many
of the Southern leaders, wanted not 80 much
to save slavery as to destroy the Union, and
to form cotton States confcderacy in
which they should bear rule. The ma iorty
of the southern people Was not secessionists:
The men OF the South dilnot all volun-
teer 10 fight for the coniederacy as tho peo-
pie Of to-day are led to suppose, by the num-
Der of surviving confederate soldiers who
are holding office and otherwise laying claim
to the consideration Of southern men, by
reason of their service in the armies OF the
confedercy. We have . great many more
soldiers now than we had in 1862 or IN 1864,
if the highest official authority in the con-
federacy at the time is to he credited. The
war had not been in progress year when
! Mr. Davis asked the confederate Congress
! to pass the now famous conscript l0W, which
was unnecessary if southern men were vol
unteerng to fight for the con,edcracy, and
wuich was reflection upon their PATRIOTISM
! if they were volunteering. This law was
remarkable also, in That 1T completely over
| turned the sovereignty OF the States, which
was the cardinal doctrine of secession In
the language of Mr.. stephens, IN his great
| speech at Savannah, after the confederate
constitution had been adopted, slavery was
the corner stone of tho confederacy.n The
war was wnged in the interest OF slavery
| and the couscript law not only ignored the