The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1891-04-17

y /
q az AN ancient palimpsest, in whlch
he writing that is read Is but mohklsli
legend, whilst underneath, unnoIlced
and effaced, lies the record OF eterhal
truth. 60, olo-
IT remains now to suggest few eIe-
rnents of the material from Whlch Ihe
onlv true history of the South ana OF
this nation is to be constructor.
One of the chief elements OF strength
in the old civilization of the south was
seIf-respect. Arrogant, as IL Is chaI 5eu
to have been, and as it may nave peeh;
nride lifted it above all meanness anu
elevated it into the reallh OF ltIt21,7
Its standard was so high that contenl,
nIation of it made men upright, ana
aspiration to it made them noble pc
long to the order of Southern life. am
new energies fill my heart; L THINK l
can see and admit the incalculaple
waste. the narrow limitations OF the olG' |
| give my loyal and enthusiastic ad-
berence TO the present, with all lIs lL ,ii
and glorious possibilities buI snaii
never forget that it is to the Ola S0utn
that the New South owes all That Is pesI
and noblest in It's being.
Can any good come fOrtn OF genera
ton which believes that its forefathers
were traitors.
Can we ever secure the respect of the
world if we have no self-respect?
Reverence for the greatness of its past,
pride of race, are two cardinal elements
in national strength,
They made the Greeksi they made the
Roman; they made the SaXonj they
made the Southerner.
We are the inheritors OF Thousand
wears of courage and OF devotion TO
principle. And without these two
things wa should deserve the contempt
of mankind and the Reproduction OF COD.
Contemporary history is, being re,
| to comprehend the action Of the South.
| 1t rests with the South whether she
will go down to posterity as they nave
pletured her-the breeder of tyrants
| the defender of slavery, the fomenter
| of treason.
Scripta ferunt amos.
We are not a race to pass and leave no
| memorial on our time. we i've WIN
more than Grecian energy. we must
| either leave our history to be written by
| those who do not understand it, or we
must write it ourselves.
| If we are willing to be handed down
| to coming time as race of slaYe-drlV
ers and traitors, il is as well to continue
| in our state of lethargy and acquies-
cenee, but if we retain the Instincts OF
| men and desire to transmit to our
| children the untarnished name ana
4potless fame which our torefathers
! be0ueathed to US, we must awake TO
! the exigencies OF the matter. we stand
charged at the judgment bar of history
| with these crimes. 1t IS useless 10 close
our eyes to tho tsct. We stand so IN
]
| shall try us. If we refuse to plead, the
opportunity will pass away, and the
verdict of time will be 'guilty." TO
! leave us perpetually bound under the
burden or guilt which some would
| bind on our shoulders, would be to
withdraw from the divine heritage OF
patriotism the best soil for its growth
| On this continent; to deDar from us IN
! nuences the best material for war that
! the Anglo-American race has produced.
| Whatever else may be said, of this
much are we sure that the South and
| its civilization produced "a race OF sol
diers the like OF Whiah has never peGh
! known, and possibly may never DC
| known again. Pre- ent history MAY
| multiply her numbers and magnlfy hen
| resources, but the original archives
| show with an elOqu-nCo which can no!
| he withstood, the splendid herOism OF
| the fight which, under the Inspiration OF
| what she doomed a sacred cause, she
! made not against tho Union, but
| against the world
! It was not for interest that she fought;
/ for war was not to her interest. 1t was
not to dissolve the Union that sh9 Sc
! ceded; for secession was rejected 10 the
( border States.
I 1t was only when war was declared
| and the Constitution was crushed i'll the
mailed hand of war that these States,
/ driven to their last resort, exercised
constitutional rights and withdrew
| from the Union.
A proof of the deep sincerity of their
| principle is the unanimity with which
! the South accepted the issue. From the
| moment that war was declared the
| whole people were in arms. 1t was not
merely the secessiOnist, but the stanch
| Union man; not simply the slave hol-
der, but the mOuntaineer; the poor
! white fought as vigorously as the great
land owner; the women fought as well
as the men for, whilst the men were in
| the field the women and children at
home waited and starved without
| murmur and without doubt.
| Some years ago was shown a worn
| and faded letter written on old Conted-
| crate paper with pale Confederate ink.
| 1t had been taken from the breast
! pocket of a dead private soldier OF
! Georgia regiment after one of the bat
! tle-tields around Richmond, 1t was
! from his sweetheart. They were plain
and illiterate people, for it was badly
written and badly spelled. In 1t she
! told him that she had loved him; that
! she had always loved him since they
had gone to school together in the little
/ log school-house i'll the woods; that she
| was sorry she had always treated him
so badly, and that now, if he would get
Il furlough and come home she would
Then, as ifEfearful that this temp
tation might make him forget his duty,
there was "a little postscript scrawled
! across the blue Confederate paper,
Don't come without a furlough, for if
you don't come honorable, L wont
marry YOU"
Was this the spirit of rebellion? A
whole people was in arms. A nation
had arisen. 1t was the apOtheOsis of a
race.
The deliberate and persistent en-
deavor to hold the people that could
produce so sublime a spectacle, in CON
tempt, to forbid them participation in
the Union is a greater wrong than was
seeeS 81 IN. 1t is an attempt to keep
alienated from The Union race that
has ever loved with passion and hated
| with ferVOr; of a race that withdrew
from the Union under belief in a
principle SO sincere, so deep that 1T was
almost idolatrOus; of a race that has
now turned to the Union all the deVo-
ton that under different teaching and
conditions was once given to the sew
eral States; devotion that when dI-
| rected against the Union shook 1t TO It's
foundation, and now l believe is dos
tined to guard 1t and preserve II
throughout its existence.
The North has every motive of inter
est for its adherence to the Union. The
prestige of its war-record is exclusively
sectional. The vast wealth which was
the outgrOwth of the war Is confined
within the limits of the "loyal States;
the extraordinary war taxes continue
to be levied after more than twenty
years of peace, and absorbing ike q
| sponge the income of the South is
poured into the North through its pen
! sion agencies. The applause of the
world and the gratitude of the Govern
ment are directed solely towards the
| North, aud wealth and prosperity reign
universally throughout its length and
| breadth.
The South! pause in sorrow at the
picture. Poverty, hunger, desolation.
The humiliation of its prosperity, the
giving il over to the SACK of herd Of
slaves and Indicators. Misrepresen-
talon and traduction with Vlrulence
that is inconceivable. And yet amid
il all-what is her history?
Has the voice of dislOyalty ever been
raised i'll her confines? Since Lee gave
his parole to Grant at AppomattoX, has
one single word of anything but the
truest loyalty ever fallen from the lips
of one citizen of the South? Let me il
lustrate by directing your attention to
that section OF the South, which If it
Sinned most deeply, has yet suffered
most deeply-SouJh Carolina. There,
perhaps, before the war, was the great
est wealth, as since there has Sbeen the
| yreatest poverty. Yet has any one
| ever heard so much as one complaint?
When Prometheus was chained to
the rock and a vulture tore his vitals,
he is represented by the poet as pour
ing forth groanS and lamentations. Not
so here. Bound by more calling
chain than bound he son, PROSTATE be-
meath more terrible curse, torn by a
more fearful vulture, never has a groan
, passed her lips.
Amid poverty uneXampled, amid