The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920, 1894-05-11
GENERAL LEES SPEECH
DELIVERED BEFORE THE CON.
FEDERATE VETERANS AT
BIRMINGHAM, ALA.
FEELING THAT We WERE RICHT WE
STlkED ALL.
Statistics fer the Yeung Men and Women
Of the South to Remember -Cen.
federate Solder Heads List.

At the recent reunion in Birming-
ham, Gen. s. d. Lee, OF Mississippi,
delivered the following address on the
occasion of the laying Of the corner
stone Of the Confederate monument:
My FRIENDs-We have assembled
here to-day tn discharge Il glorious
and solemn duty-to lay the corner
stone OF a monument, which shall
commemorate the valor of the living
and the dead. We have met to keep
alive the memories OF our comrades
who fell in battle; that vast army Of
heroes and patriots, and to renew the
ties of friendship between the gray
haired survivors, who were their COM
rades in the four years struggle from
ls62to 1865. When we praise them
we glorify ourselves; when we speak
Of their invincible courage, Of their
heroic self-sacrilices, we feel Il thrill
OF pride that we shared the same pri-
vations and the same pcrils. We
moved in the same lines OF battle, and
braved the same showers of scrapnell
and minnie balls. We charged the
same breastworks. We heard the
echoes of the same artillery, and the
rattle Of the same muskctry. The
bullet that took one of them whistled
by us when it took him, and from our
throats went the same 'rebel yell"
that babe defiance to our foes. We
shared or went without the same
scanty rations, endured the same fa-
tiguing march, the same chilling rain.
We did all that they did, except 1t
was theirs to die for their country.
Loyalty to the past is duty. Feel.
ing that we were right, we stakcd all
on the uncertain chances of battle,
and we lost. We were overpOwered,
and we had to submit to the result,
but we cannot be otherwise than
proud of the history we made as a ma.
tion. We are here to-day not to praise
the victorious, but to claim imperish-
able renown for the vanQuished.
When we look backward from the
zenith of life, we see things with a
clearer vision. We see many causes
that brought on the struggle. Slav.
cry, the indirect cause Of the war, the
North was us much responsible for as
the South. As to the doctrine OF
Estates rights" the right OF q sover'
eign State to withdraw from the
Union, the question is decided forever
against us. II we are not convinced,
we are quieted, we accept the inevita'
BILE with such grace as we can, but VIC
cannot blot 1t from our recollcctiOns,
We cannet yield the belief In the prin'
ciples we inherited from our RevOlu
tionary forefxthers. We fought fol
what they did, but they had better
; luck and more outside help. War was
forced on US. Constitutional and sa
cred guarantees agreed on In our uni0f
Of sovereign States were trampled un
! der foot, under the theory pr0mul
gated by Mr.. Seward and accepted b!
the North, '0f higher law than tn
Constitution. We we're invaded. w,
were forced to defend. our hearth
stones and property, and the inher
tied rights Of local seli-governmen
bequeatbed to us by our forefathers
We deed no Justification - our con
duct. 1t Is universal lsw that maj
should protect hts own. We did tha
. and that only. We should have de
serves TO TO trampled on II We ha