Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1894-05-31
MARY CURTIS.


: csusA was iust; that the men who TOOK
80 arms IN her defence were patriots
Who had even better reason for what
thew ala than had the men who fought
81 Concord, Lexington, and Bunker liiil
and that her coercion, whatever good
NAV have resulted or may hereafter re-
anti from It, was an outrage on hperIy'
| Applause)
THE SLAVERY QUESTION.
7 cannot here discuss at length the
merits Of the southern cause, but in JUS
,Ice TO the memory OF those VINO
died in the struggle TO haih'ai"
In. wish to protest against the
asperslon that they fought 70 up
| hold and perpetuate the institution OF
| slavery Slavery was heritage hahded
down 10 the South from time Wheh the
moral consciousness OF mankind Regarded
It as right--a time when even the pious
. sons Of New England were slave
] owners and deferred by no con
/ scientious scruples from plying the
slave trade with proyerbial Yankee
| enterprise II became peculiarly
southern institution, not because the
rights Of others were fearer 70 the north
ern than to the southern heart but be-
cause conditions OF soil and climate made
negro labor Improbable in the northern
States and led the northern slaye-owner
to sell his slaves down South"
With slavery thus fastened upon them
by the force Of circumstances, the south
ern people sought to deal with ii In the
! wisest and most humane way. They be-
lieved that the immediate and wholesale
emancipation OF the slaves would be
ruinous to the whites and blacks alike;
and that, under the then existing condi-
tons the highest interests OF both them
selves and the coloTed wards committed
10 their keeping demanded that the re-
laliun OF master and servant should con-
tlnGe.
But It was not to perpetuate slavery
that they fought. The impartial student
OF the events leading up 10 the civil war
cannot fai to perceive that, in the words
| of blr. Davis, ito whatever extent the
question Of slavery may have served as
an occasion, 1t was far from being
the Cause OF the conflict" That con-
nict was the bloody elimination OF a
controversy which had been raging for
more than a generation, and the tlta
issue in which, as lar as II pertaiued 10
slavery, was sharply stated by the Hon.
Samuel a Foot, OF Connecticut when,
rcferrInE 70 the debate on the admission
OF Missouri 10 the slsteThoOd OF States
he said: "The Missouri question did not
involve the question OF freedom or slave
ry but merely whether slaves now in
the country might be permitted to re-
side in the proposed new State, and
whether Congress or Missouri possessed
the power to decide"
THE REAL QUESTION INVOLVED.
And from that day down to 1861, when
the war-cloud bust in fury upon our land,
| the real question in regard TO slavery
was not whether II should continue
in the South, but whether the southern
man should be permitted TO take his
slaves, originally purchased almost ex-
clusiyely from nnrthern slayc-tradeTs,
into the territory which was the common
property Of the country, and there. with
out interference from the General Govern
ment, have an equal voice with his north
ern brother in determining the domestic
| policy of the new State The question
was not whether the negro should be
| freed or held in seryitude, but whether
the white man OF the South should have
the same privileges enjoyed by the white
man Of the North. II was not the desire
10 hold others in bondage. bat the desire
10 maintain their own rights that actu.
ated the southern people throughout the
conflict; and II bchOOycs us to insist on
this, that the memory OF those who wore
the gray may be handed down to nos.
terity freed from the slanderous accuse.
tons that they were the enemies of I!ber.
~ and champions Of slavery who plunged
the country into bloody war that they
might the more firmly fasten letters on
human limbs.
And II also behooves us, IN justice l.
o the men who served under the banner OF
Z the Confederacy, 10 insist that they were
10 not rebels, fighting against lawful aU
:, thority and seeking 10 destroy the Unior
I formed by our fathers Of American inde
II pendence. That Union was dear 10 The
y hearts OF the southern people. They re
garded it az II fraternal federation. found
cd IN wisdom and patriotism, aud IN NJ
case were they disloyal 10 the obligation.
which it imposed upon them
The impartial student Of American his
tory Will find that the sons OF the Soutl
were always among the foremost IN Tn.
battles OF the Union against foreign foes
/. ana that they were ever readicst TO max,
y, sacrifices in the interest OF harmony be
. tween the sections.
For the sake of maintaining the Union
. the South made concession after conces
. sion; surrendered right after right; sub
A United TO unjust taxation; consented I,
:, compromises, every one Of which tende,
% to weaken herself and strengthen IN
= North, and for more than forty wear
"a chung 10 the national compact, in spite O
h fragrant violations OF its spirit and lette
A by northern men.
n THE SOUTH WAS LOYAL.
- II history affords an instance of loyalt,
= to an established form OF government
y more answering and self-sacriAclng tina
that OF the southern people to the Union
! fail TO recall It. Mr. Davis voiced III
feeling OF the South when he said IN IN
z Senate chamber: If envy and Jealous
n and sectional strife are eating like rus
10 INTO the bonds our fathers expecte
re TO bind US, they come from causes whic
I'd our southern atmosphere has never fur
nished. AS We have shared In the toll:
SO have We gloried in the triumphs Of on