The National tribune., 1892-05-12
EILoGy OF THE LOST CAUSE.

Confederate Memorial Day was cele-
brated April &c, at Savannah, with great
pompand circumstance business suspended,
houses decorated, bells ringing, and a general
parade of military, Confederate survivors,
etc, Ex-senator Wade Hampton, of South
Carolina, General in the rebel
army, was the orator of the day, and deliv-
cred very scholarly speech, which was re-
ceived with unstinted applause. Much of
his speech was unobjeetionable, and he was
particular TO assure his audience that he,
and ex-rebel soldiers generally, were entirely
loyal to the Government of the United
States. But this seems difficult to reconcile
with the following portions Of his speech:
Do not allow yourselves my friends, to be mis-
led by that false doctriue-faIse TO your faith to
your country, and 10 your God-whch tells you
that your cause has failed, that the principles for
which YOU commended are forever obliterated. Any
human undertaking. how just soever IL may be,
may fail; but the everything principles OF right
and Of Justice never be buried. great truth.
like the Godhead whence it emanates, is eternal.
and it will live It'll the last syllable of recorded
time"
The evil times upon which we have fallen are
prolific of false teachings and dangerous heresies.
and ti,e public press in some portions of the coun-
| try offers, in many cases, ready and willing
medium for their PRONUNCIATION. You are told
| often, through this channel, that
submitted to the arbrament Of the sword, and that
! the verdict against which appeal lies WAS rem
dered against This doctrine is as perncious as
| Il is false; and If we accept il. shall brand
/ heroic dead well as the living. traitors,
| eriug all alike with deserved nfamy. VIII The
| living soldiers who fought under the starry
| ever consent 10 denounee their dead comrades?
VIII the sons of these men forget the sacrifices
the sufTeriugs. the heroism of their fathers? Will
| the women Of the South, who for a quarter of a
| century, have tenderly and reyerently cherished
the memory OF their dead, ever be willing TO brand
them as traitors? Ali! no; these things never
| happen rs long truth. patriotism. homer viz
| tue, and its synonym. courage. respected /;
as long as the fame of the men ia gray rolls sound
ing down the ages; as long as the page of history
is made lustrous by the names Of Lee aud OF
| Jaexsoni
| Who have fought the good fight
Who have held to their faith. unseduced by the
prize that the world holds high:
Who have dared for a high cause to suffer resist
dght-if need be to die.
Speak. History. Who LIES victors: Unroll
their annals and say!
Are they those whom the world called the victors-
who won tho success of day?
The Martyrs. or Nero? The Spnr;ans who fell a,
Thcrmopyle's tryst,
Or the Persians aud Xerxes2 His Judges or So
craies? Plate. Christ.
Now, if these words mean anything, what
do they mean? What is the "false doctrine
by which his hearers must not be "misled y:
He says that it is that their cause has failed
and the principles for which you contended
are forever obliteTated." If their cause has
not failed, then the attempt at secession j.
only playing 'possum," and may bs
Weakened into activity any day. The "prin
cples for which you contended" were III,
rights of State TO secede, and of one elias.
of men TO hold another class in slavery.
these principles are not robliterated,
: then those who fought for secession ant
slavery from lS6l TO 1865, and those VIII.
E applaud their course must still believe a
firmly as ever ia the righteousness Of seces