Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1895-05-28
RICHMOND'S CLAIMS.
GEN. wIsE's ELOQUENT rnEsENTA.
TloN OF THEM AT HOUSTON.
why the Next Meeting of the Grand
Camp of Confederate Veterans
should he Held Here-Promised

| Richmond as the next pace iVi "S'N's
the annual meeting Of the United Con
fedefate Veterans. The Houston CORE
spondent OF the Galveston News says
General Gordon pronounced Genera
Wise's speech the Gem Of the session
THE SPEECH.
General Grand Commander Of United
Confederate Veterans. Comrades, Lau'ss'
and Gentlemen OF Houston'-At'er b'V'
miles OF weary journey l rejoice TO be az
las, upon the soil OF Texas rejoice still
more that while / am here for the nrs'
time. and at the end OF so long an inter-
val from my mother State. am as mucn
AT home here as there. | rejoice most OF
all that am here veteran among Vele-
rams OF the best army that ever troo ihe
earth. Ny wife Is veteran too-veterah
| in every fibre Of her except her years one
NUT nv badges upon me and smoothed the
WRINKLES out of my Lee Camp UNIFORM
and bade me come hither upon the plea
that these encampments must, IN sense
! soon cease, and that the NUMBER OF thoss
who attend them will be fewer ana le"1
mill as the years roll b., they ell become
a tale that has been told. Not so! tola
her. with little tear over the constahcy,
the fortitude, the devotion, the pluck OF
the women. / stand here to-day In the
midst Of ranks that never were or VIII
he broken bv the loss OF q single man true
10 hts cause and to his home. All TINS
clods OF all the valleys, with all their rest
breathing daisies, nay, Ossa piled upon
Hellon OF superintendent burial couid
never keep away from his roll-call ana
his bivouac single brave heart that ever
stood for honor upon the Held OF hohor:
Lee and Jackson, the Johnstons' anu
Hood, Stuart, and Forrest are just as real
as the splendid soldier who holds your
baton to-day. The choir which raised the
rebel veil never lost a single note. All It's
music in highest register. goes sounding
down the ages because 1t is the paean or
glory. The Confederate flag was never
folded. II never grew weary, although the
patriot Ryan told US so. because IL al
WAYS symboled, and will always symbol
immortal liberties, whose fitting nome IS
its stars It will float forever upon every
heaven-kissing breeze.
/ am at home here. because l am tne
brother Of every man who went 10 I'M
mortal glory az the bidding or MIN VINO
once led Hoods Division: Of all those
who offered the Sterling Price of un-
wearying constancy and devotion for the
safety and honor Of the common heritage;
OF every man who DOTTED the priestly
,,or,,ert and rallied round him the
creole and the Anglo-Saxon, the chiloren
OF the civil and the common law, alike,
TO be i'm serried ranks In the van OF IL
berty; Of every Mississipplan VINO foi-
lowed the lead of that Le, who. IN war;
emuTated the highest glories OF a name
which seems TO nave been associated al
WAYS with what is best and tru2st III
arms. and has survived in peace 10
Illustrate that the genSeness Of woman
il always the companion Of the braVest
hearts: I am the brother Of those who
never became restless in doing their
hearts work, II only fighting Joe Wheeler
was I'm the lead. who never stayed Whi'e
the soil Of his country was encountered
by a foe; of every man who ever doSed
under a palmetto tree, TO be more alert
when HAMPTON rescued from the red
field of carnage the white plume or
Stuart. and kept II always stainless IN
his heart and upon his head; OF every
man Of the land OF Macon, who found
new inspiration in the name OF one OF
the modest Romans OF them aip'-that
of d. II. Hll-upon whose countenance
dwelt I'm comeliest fashion the light and
smile of battle. because the Tarheel path
way was the road to duty; OF every coun-
trvman Of him who made the held OF
Shiloh tale 10 be- told forever. because
the ablest tactician, the most princey
form. sat upon his horse in the very
forefront OF the fight, calmly sat ana
smiled. dealing triumph TO his men until
the last rehuence Of his hearts blood
surged upon his spurs. whose Watch'
wherever Il may be to-day, whether IN
worthy or unworthy hands, will tell the
time of day only to the highest man
hood. TO the most Christian knight; OF
every follower of him who was the hero
of the common people, and an Example
Of the fact that, in the FORESTS as IN
courts. are to be found The Napoleons
with a star; and Of every cOmrade OF to-
day, who hangs upon the lips or MIN VINO
was the bow of promise TO every man IN
the southern army, who feared mat can
ger might come too close TO Lee, ana
who has lived to show how man sur
charged with the most loving memories
of past filled with the gl0ries and the
liberties of his section may be the most
orderly, the most faithful, the most de
voted servant of the whole country. God
bless Gordon. and keep fong his Scared
face that holy women might kiss as
the seal OF a heavenly cOnsecrauon) Ana,
finally, you are my brothers, ana VIZ
ginia is your very own-you, who ever
saw the q am OF the best and bluest ana
truest sabre that ever flashed athwart
the sky of war, who fattened her soil
with your blood, and made her illusirlous
forever by your immortal valor. Amen
and amen!
THE INVITATION
I come to invite you TO make your next
encampment in our city; TO sound the
bugle-can for another and different "On
TO Richmond" to those who have right
to be there. with or without invitation,
because they shed their blood 10 save ana
not TO win her. Her Official bodies, ner
Council, and her Chamber OF Commerce
greet you through Us, and bid you 10 come
and stand upon her hills and by her flow
ing river; to see how the city OF your
love. which is your very own, the chosen
seat of your Confederacy; has Jared as a
trust in their hands; how they have built
her up in forms of beauty and things OF
life TO be worthy of your renewed adOp-
ton Her women, not less true because
some men have, faint-hearted. fallen by
the wayside and care no longer FOR the
goal; not less sweet because they no
longer feed upon the sorghum OF those
times; not less gorgeously apparelled, be-
cause they do not now endue themselves
in the homespun and the makeshifts OF
the halcyon days, but always wearing
the true cclors and their hearts upon their I
sleeves, whether balloon or shn-tight.
ask you with all their might and main
and with all their dear hearts to come.
Fifty thousand OF your dead, who sleep
in Hollywood ard lakewood, who are the
children Of every State In the Confede-
racy, ask to have you commune with |
them, TO catch the inspiration. which Will !
make the new south II may be. In fairer |
flowers. in more fields, In fatter cattle /
upon larger hills, in buster hum OF more |
varied industries but continue the old |
South always in all that tends to the |
high manhood and makes 10 the real /
glory.
The very stones OF her streets cry aloud |
10 be trodden again by those who ira |
versed them on their way 10 her battle |
fronts-to every field wfere charged TO |
victory the Army OF Northern Virginia |
and where swelled upon the air the chorus |
OF the rebel yen.
Her monuments maiestically summon /
you TO come. In her eastern section, upon
the hill OF the church where broke from /
Henry's frenzled lips the cry of Liberty
or Death" glands. in human form, the |
echo of that cry-the private soldier OF the /
Confederate States. the soldier that mu,-
tiplied. whether hungry or tentless, or fed |
and sheltered; whether travel-stained and |
weary, or fresh from slumber upon the
bosom OF mother earth, made the best
army that the world ever knew. The
earth cannot contain his glory because
N ascendS Ia Heaven and because no L.