Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1894-05-31
MIR. CAVES GRAFTON.

At the unwilling of the monument to
the Confederate soldiers and sailors in
Richmond yesterday Rev. R. c. Cave,
the orator, said:
II am not one of those who, clinging
to the old superstition that the will of
heaven is revealed in the immediate
results of trial by combat, fancy that
right must always be on the side of
might, ard speak of Appomottax as Il
Judgment of God. do not forget
that Suwaroh' triumphed and Kos
ciusko fell; that a Nero welded the
sceptre of empire and 4 Paul was be-
headed; that Herod was crowned and
a Christ crucilied and, instead of &C
cepting the defeat Of the south as a
divine verdict against her, | regard it
as but another instance OF truth on the
scaiIold and wrong on the throne
Appomottax was a triumph OF the ply
sically stronger in Il conflict between
the representatives of two essentially
different civilizations and antagonistic
ideas of government.
"At AppomattoX, Puritanism,
backed by overwhelming numbers and
unlimited resorces, prevailed. But
brute force canuot settle questions of
right and wrong. Thinking men do
not Judge the merits Of Il cause by the
measure OF its success that the south
was in the right; that her cause was
lust; that the men who took up arms
in her defense were patriots who had
even better reason for what they did
than had the men who fought at Con-
cord, Lexington and Bunker Hill and
that her coercion, whatever good may
have resulted or may hereafter result
from it, was an outrage on liberty.
"The impartial student of American
history will find that the sons of the
South were always among the foremost
in the battles of the union against for
eign foes, and that they were ever read
lest to make sacrifices in the interest of
harmony between the sections.
For the sake of maintaining the union
the South made concession after con-
cession surrendered right after right:
submitted to unjust taxation consent
ed to compromises, every one of which
tended to weaken herself and strength
en- the North, and for more than forty
wears chung to the national compact, in
spite of fragrant violations Of its spirit
and letter by northern men. If history
affords an instance of loyalty to an es-
tablished form OF government more I'M
swerving and self-sacrifcing than that
of the southern people to the union, J
fail to recall it.
"Not as passion-swept mob rising
in mad rebellion against constituted au-
thority, but as an intelligent and order
ly people, acting in accordance with
due forms of law, and within the limit
of what they believed to be their con-
stitutional right, the men Of the South
withdrew from the union in which they
had lived for three-fourths of century,
and the welfare and glory of which
thew had ever been foremost in pro-
noting.
"They did not desire war; nor did
they commence the war. 1t is true that
they fred the first gun, but every one
who is familiar with the history Of those
stormy days knows that the North
committed the first overt act Of war,
which justified and necessitated the fir
ing of that gun. They made every effort
consistent with their safety, self-re
spect and manhood to avert war. They
parted from their northern brethren in
the spirit in which old Abraham said to
Lot: Let there be no strife, l pray
thee. between me and thee. But the
North would not have it so. Every
proposal looking to peace was rejected
by those in power at Washington.
From the Potomac to the Gulf, from
the Atlantic to the Rio Grande, the
sons of the South sprang to arms.
From stately mansions and from hum
BILE cottages, from the workshops and
from the farms, from the storeroom and
from the study, from every neighbor-
hood and from every vocation of life,
with unanimity almost unparalleled,
they rallied for the defense of the land
they loved, and of what in their inmost
souls they felt to be their sacred and
inalienable birthright.
Traitors and rebels verify they were
not. They were true-hearted patriots
worthy to rank with the noblest souls
that ever battled for freedom. They
fought for home and country and to
maintain the fundamental principle of
all free government-thatt the right TO
govern arises from and is coexistent
with the consent of the governed.
"And if patient self-denial, and cheer
FIJI .,,lf n,i on1 ,pDnnal inny forti
tude and unfaltering devotion to coun-
try, and unwaveriug loyalty to duty,
and dauntless courage in defense of the
right make heroism, the men whom we
honor to-day, and whom we would not
have our children forget, were sublime
heroes. Applause. History has no
more illustrious page than that which
tells of their achievements Poorly
equipped, poorly clad, poorly fed, and
without pay, they confronted
ut least three times their number of as
well-equipped, well clothed, well-fed
and well-paid soldiers as ever marched
to battle wrested from them series
of victories unsurpassed in brilliancy;
and for four years, stormy with the red
blasts of war, successfully resisted all
their power. In dangers and hardships
that tried mems souls the defenders of
the South were tried and always found
true as tempered steel Laboring I'M
der disadvantages which even their
friends can never fully appreciate; sup
plementing their scanty rations with
weeds and grasses; their bare feet often
times pressing the frozen ground or
blistercd on the burning highway, their