The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1896-07-16
Homage to Jefferson Davis,
GEN. STEPHEN D. LEES MASTERIY ORA.
TON


AT the Reunion of the Confederat e
Veterans in Richmond July and
lie Pays an Eloquent and Merited
Tribute to the President of the
Southern Confederacy-Fun Text
of His Remarks Given Below.
We are here to-day to honor the
memory OF jefferson Davis; to lay the
cornerstone OF monument to one who
needs no monument in our generation
beyond that in the hearts of his coun-
trymen. But we think it due to erect
one that prosperity may know the rev.
erence felt for the great leader of a
cause that failed.
1t is fitting that he should rest here
IN Nlrginla-that greatest of all States.
the battle-scarred producer of warriors
and statesmen; fitting that he should
rest, among her immortals. But for
her generosity in ceding her vast terri
tory to the Union, Kentucky would
have still been hers, and he would have
been born her son. Many Presidents,
statesmen, soldiers, lie in Virginia soil
from Washington to the present time
hone greater than Davis, but more
fortunate.
Let Us glance backward. Thirtv-one
years ago, on the soil of this very Com
mOnwealth, the man to whom we erect
this monument lay manacled in case
mate OF strongly -garrisoned fortress,
charged with the most atrOcious crime
known to man-treasOn and murder.
lie mad been the unanimously chosen
leader OF true people, who, actuated
by pure and lofty patriotism, after ex-
haustins every effort at compromise,
made an attempt to establish a new
nation; and after a bitter struggle OF
four years, after nearly four million
soldiers had met in the shock of battle
| and over two thousand battlefields had
| blazed with glorious deeds, went down
III darkness and blood.
Success is the measure of merit ap-
piled alike to every map, to every cause,
and even i'll our moral judgment we
| IDLY erect monuments to lost causes.
Fame has no trumpet for failure. The
world hears not the voice Of the van
Quished. Yet history might teach us
| strange thing of men who fail and
causes that are lost. Genius did not
keep Hannibal or Napoleon from de-
! feat; hcroism went with Joan of Arc
to the stake, and Emmet to the scat.
fold. The eloquence of Demosthenes
did not save Greece, or Cato's virtue
| Rome. The courage of koscusko
| availed naught for Poland, and Hun
gary went down for all the patriotism
| of kossuth. Sometimes defeat gives a
tragic pathos which lifts the common
place into the immortal, and tenderly
preserves the memory of the van
| quished long after the victor has been
| forgotten.
Since the death Of Napoleon there
has been no career which illustrates
SO dramatically the vicisstudes of for
tune as that of jefferson Davis. Born
amid the rugged surroundings of a from.
| tier State, he lived to win the triple
| glory OF the soldier, the orator and the
statesman. He became the ruler O
| -p'c,'o ol-itCopIC. I1lS 9OfC ClutuClI \
was overwhelmed, his fortune swep
away. He was bound as a criminal
and prosecuted for his life. He became
an exile. He was denied the rights 0
citizenship. He was defrauded, de
ronnced, insulted, ridiculed, to thu
hour Of his death. And yet he died, by
millions more sincerely mourned ant
deeply beloved, than any other man in
the history of the nation. If his enc
mics had succeeded in putting him tt
death he would have been the mOst
CONSPICUOUS figure ar American history
! When the mists of passion and preju
dice have passed away the calm ligh
of Justice gives the right niche to eacl
figure in history. The descendants o
the men who burned Joan of Arc nov
regard her as character of heroism ant
beauty. The posterity of the men wht
hung witches in Salem as pOus duty
now hear the story with horror. Th
descendants Of the men who to-day look
on jefferson Davis with unkind ex
presslOns will see him as we dO-tht
stainless gentlemen, the gallant soldier
the devoted patriot, the pure and giftet
statesman.
| WILL NOT RECALL OUR WRONGS.
do not propose to discuss now thu
unhappy causes leading to the war be
tween the States. 1t is still too soon
eliminating and recriminating over ir-
rltatlng causes OF differences canno
readiust what the war has settled. We
! : i
and that will take another generation
1t does no good to recall our wrongs
real or taucied; it keeps up PARTISAN
feeling; it gives an excuse for i'll will
Others have ably treated the Southern
view of the controversy. their argu
ment Is submitted to impartial history
Suffice it to say on this occasion tha
the war has settled that secession i
impractical and the amendments t
the Constitution have adjusted all tn,
other differences. The Southern pee
. pie have fully accepted the results
they accept the present. and Loyalty
} commit themselves to the future
Neither shall attempt to recount hi
life, for it is a part Of history. Th
iCIoIu 10 LlaGe up, IL We piottCt IL lloi
Justification while we live the verdil
+ of history will not shame our posterit
4, when we are dead.
, To-day we meet and the past and til
present Join hands. Looking aroun
. me, viewing the faces Of the ia
r women aud brave men before me,
realize that the past is behind me, thu
this is the living present. l feel til
i influence of the new hopes, Of the ne
generation, to which you belong. o.
/ task is to commit into your hands VIII;
l. our failing hands cannot much longt
t. hold-the sacred rights for which yol
L fathers sacrificed their lives, their pro
i. erty, everything; these liberties a,
J" t'e land which was so dear to then
we commit to you. | will only say "