Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1895-03-21

would certainly i'll become us to admit
that neither justice nor right was on
our side, and every brave mar who met
were we to do so. No earthly tribunal
has the right to pronounce Judgment
upon the merits or the justice of the
cause which was submitted to the stern
arbitrament of war. The failure of a
cause does not prove that it was an I'M
just one. nor can the denial of a truth
establish a falsehOOd. When the tor
ture wrung a recantation of the truth
from Calico. did the earth cease to re-
volve on it's axis? Did the river which
swept the ashes of Huss to the sea bury
in its waves forever the truths he had
proclaimed? When our Divine Mas
ter persisted on the Gross, did the
graAd truths for which he died, die
with Him?
We acknowledge that the irrevoca-
BILE verdict pronounced by war was
against us; we recognize the suprema-
cy of the Constitution, as amended; we
claim to be loyal and honest citizens;
and we are bound in honor, the stain
less honor of Southern soldiers, by a
law more binding than any on the
statute books, to observe inviolate the
terms of our parole. But while recog-
nizing all these obligations, we are not
called on to abjure the settled convic-
tons of a lifetime, to turn our backs
on all the honorable, glorious memories
and traditions of the past, and to cover
ourselves with shame by defaming the
memory of u patriotic dead. We
have lost much; let US, at least, main
tain our self-respect and preserve our
honor. But we are told that we must
forget the past and all it holds sacred.
All! my friends, this is the hardest
task that could be imposed OF us, for l
know not where that Lethean stream
can be found on earth, whose waters
could bring to Us that sweet, oblivious
antidote which can give to US blessed
forgetfulness of our sufferings, our or-
rows and our wrongs, What are We to
forget? Can we forget as we look upon
the graves of our kindred that CORY sea
of blood which has deluged our land?
Can the mother forget the darling boy
who fills now perhaps some unknown
grave? Can the father forget his son,
struck down by his side, in all the
pride of manly strength and youthful
beauty? Can the wife forget the hus-
band who was the stay and Joy of her
life? Yet all these sad and sacred
memories must be forgotten if we prove
false to our faith and turn u backs on
all which made u past glorious.
Time may teach us to forgive, but it
can never make us forget.
But we should not indulge in vain
regret, nor in unmanly recrimination,
for to do this would be inconsistent
with our renewed allegiance to the re-
stored Union. Whatever faith has
been kept with us, and it has not been
an untarnished one, no blot must rest
on our 'scutcheon. nc charge of Pnnic
faith must stain u record. If we can
leave nothing else to our children, let
us, at least, bequeath to them a fair
name and an unblemished honor. But
while we accept all the results legiti-
mately following u defeat, we claim
the right to justify our cause, to vindi-
cate our motives and to homo" our
dead. To do this is not only our right.
but our sacred duty. We owe it to our
selves. to our children, to those who
died for US, that we should cling with
mistaken fidelity to what we believe to
be true. By no other means under
heaven can we preserve u own re-
spect or gain that of mankind, BY no
other means a we escape the doom
which awaits the people who sacrifice
principle to subservient expediency,
who abandon their ancient virtues to
adopt the vices of their nquerors and
who are content to barter freedom for
gilded servitude.
To the State which sells her birth
right no day of redemption can ever
dawn.
"She shall be bought
And sold, and be an appendage to
those
Who shall despise her.
She shall stoop to be
A promise for an empire:
Petty town,
In lieu of capital-with slaves for
Senates,
Beggars for nobles, panders for a
people:
Her sons are in the lowest scale OF
being,
Slaves turned over to the vanquished
by the victors,
Despised by towards for their great
er cowardice."
If we hope to escape this fate, which
surely comes to every people who
prove unworthy of liberty, we must
show ourselves worthy of that freedom
for which W. pray. If our faith in the
justice of our cause was SO strong that
we risked life, and all that made life
desirable, on the dread issue of war,
surely we should strive to justify our.
selves in the eyes Of the world. vii