The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1896-02-25
GEN. BRADLEY JonNsoN,, ADDRESS.

GEN. BRADLEY JOHNsON's ADDRESS
1t was peculiarly agreeable TO the pco-
PIE Of Virginia. and Of Richmond os-
pecially. that General Bradley y. john
son should have been invited TO deliver
the address at tie opening OF cur Con
fcderate Museum. General Johnson's
services 10 Virginin have been Of
character to make the people Of the state
feel that he is really one of them. and
the people Of Richmond have never yet
owned TO themselves that he is not now
as much a citizen Of this city as he
was when he represented them so bril-
liantiy in the Senate OF the state. His
friends in Richmond are numerous, and
no man ever had a more loyal and de-
voted following than ne had when he
removed TO Baltimore.
General Johnsons address was noble
and an inspiring vindcation Of the risht
and tho justice Of the cause for which
the Southern States struggled 81 vain.
lie touched the keynote, and he was
right to touch it. with a firm and un-
wavering hand, when he said this was no
case in which we thought We were right
it was case in which We were right.
We hope we shall never again hear that
EXPIRE ssion, the Confederate soldier
thought he was right The Confederate
soldier knew he was right. He was right.
no is no less right to-day than he was
Ie
be spoken OF except as one in which
the Confederacy was right, and the war
that was made upon 1t was one OF ag-
erosion, invasion, and conquest. That
Is the way the case stands in Heavens
Court of Justice, and those men OF the
South prove themselves unworthy OF
their heroic age who consent TO blur
their record by yielding one jot or one
title upon the point. General Johnson
was right, therefore. to say;
1T is our highest obligation TO satisfy
the world Of the righteousness Of our
cause and the sound judgment with
which we defended il.
There never can be two rights nor
two Wrongs-Cnc side must be right, ana,
therefore. the other is. of course. wrong
This Is SO OF every question OF morals
and of conduct. and II must be pre-
eminently so of question which divid-
ed millions OF people, aud which cost a
million OF lives"
From the end OF the war until THIS day
those who sympathized with the Con-
federaoy's cause have resolutely resist
ed the application of the word rebellion
TO our struggle. and they have been
right 10 10 so. There was no REBELLION
+, the case. There was the exercise OF a
plain reserved right by number a
states and that was all that there was
in the case. We sometimes wonce"
whether our northern friends viii rit'-
mately succeed IN having history 20 afiN
the name OF rebellion to il, or whether
II will fail But so long as we never
consent 10 The name We feel very little
interest in hoN The struggle comes out.
"A rose will smell as sweet by any other
name. " People may call our struggle a.
rebellion as much as they please. but
II was. and will always stand in history
,. The greatest armed contest Tor liberty
and constitutional rights mat the world
has ever seen. ITS prototype was the re-
volt OF the people of England in the
Middle of the seventeenth century against
choir tyranical. false. and oppressive SOW
.ripr. Charles the F.rst. II there was
o,..r q movement on this earth entitled
- the name Of revolution. it was That.
The whole form of government was
changed the principles OF freedom and
equal justice to an were indelibiy grated
unon the English Constitution and yet.
with the return OF the English TO the
monarchical form of government, lie
term rebellion" was affixed 10 The move,
and IL stands recorded IN history to-
day as "the great rebellion" 1t was. in
fact. the great revolution FOR the rights
Of man. and the liberty Of the citizen
owes it more to-day than il owes TO all
other sources. and vet monarchical pride
and folly have succeeded in having IL
styled in history the great rebellion"
IT IS none the less the worlds great
revolution for all that, however. and it
will be so known and so reyered 20 the
end o. time.
II is a small matter therefore whether
our northern friends get historians to
call as rebels or whether they do not.
The fact will always exist just the same,
that we Were soldiers fighting for con-
stitutional rights.