Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1896-05-31

member Of Congress from Michigan He
delivered a beautiful address, in which
he took occasion to pay tribute 10 the
South of to-day
Mr.. Thomas said I'm part:
III Washington had never lived; If Jeffer-
son had never written; If Patrick Henry
had never spoken if the fame OF Virginia
had never gone abroad; II her Nalor'
her devotion. her inspiration had never
penetrated the North. the Union army
would not have been recruited in 1867
and these men would never have fol
lowed the Union flag TO battle and TO
death.
II was i'm the schools and academies
of this republic that these dead heroes
first learned that liberty and union were
Inseoarable terms. II was out OF our
national history and biography and cspe-
cially that of Virginia that they learned
that civil liberty was the first duty OF
patriotism. and that the Union of the
States was its supreme means to that
divine end Think OF this. We who were
In any way connected with the Coniede-
racy. That liberty which our Continental
fathers sought. you and ! and all our
countrymen both North and South, were
willing TO die for.
But you thought a divided union would
subserve that end. We thought that
government could not be maintained.
we looked upon this new republic on
the Western Hemisphere as the best and
only hope of mankind. We could not
diyest ourselves of this conviction. We
had sometimes thought Of increasing our
territory and power. but never OF de-
creasfng- It. National unity had been
taught-us from the days of Washington
10 The very hour the rebel guns opened
fire on Fort Sumter
Between those who fought for the
Union and those who fought against it,
there is one distinction never 20 be for
gotten: Those who fought for the Union
fought for the whole country and for all
the people Those who fought against the
Union fought for only part, and there
by espoused an inferior cause. As the
whole Is greater than any part and in
cludes H. so the cause of the Federal
army transcribed I'm grandeur all and
more than was symboliZcd by the Con-
federate flag Had that flag trumphed
IL would have waved over but eleven
States. The Confederacy would have
taken it, place among the lesser nations
OF the earth.
THE sOUTHs PROSPERITY.
The reviving Industries of the New
South have inauguratcd an era Of pros
perity which promises at no distant day
10 equal, il. indeed II does not surpass
that OF the North But. more than al
this. there is not a sorowing child OF
earth--in Siberia mines on Armenia;
plains. or in the chilly shadows of Eu
ropean thrones--who does not take new
courage and rekindle his hope at the fire
light OF our national history.
Such was the cause for which these
dead heroes fought. Had they and their
surviving comrades been vernal hirelings
had their motives been mercenary, anC
their ambition conquest: had they beer
like the Calls and Nandals. who swept
over Europe in the fifteenth century
the leaders OF the rebellion wopld haV,
been exned; their estates conhscated ans
divided among the c1nquerors: or. at
least. the entire expense of the war. "a:
well as the pensioning Of Union soldiers
would have been eXactod from the faller
foe But the Union soldiers were MOI
melcenary. Their ambition was not con
quest Rich az were the plantations OF
the South: more attractive than the sum,
lands OF Italy. which greeted the army OF
Napoleon as he descended from the Alps
a prize that transcribed IN magnlncenc,
that which awaited William the Con
queror. when he set foot ON England
shores; still II never awakened the Gu
pidity In the humblest soldier In the vast
army OF the North. The very moment
the supremacy Of the star spangled ban
ner was acknowledged. that army melted
away like the dew before the morninl
sun. Every man sought his home. anC
took his place again in the ranks of in
dustry. Universal amnesty was extended
10 the Confederate soldiers of every rank
and their colonels. and generals. and
commOdcrcs, and statesmen were wei
coined 10 our national councils, and in
stalled In places of trust and RESPONSE
bility. The vast war debt was made
common charge against the estates of thl
conquerors and conquered alike. and N,
pensions for disabled soldiers and thei
dependent families was levied not upol
the seeding States. but upon the Ma
tional Treasury. II the North not onl,
faced the perlls OF. war and gave TO IN,
Union cause her loyal sons: " the Nortl
gladly assumed her fair proportion Of tn
cost OF war; what, let me ask. has In,
North gained that Is not equally share
cy the South? And my answer Is no
thing-ahsoluteiy nothing. Whatever o
worth is TO be found in united nation
whatever Of honor belongs to an invinci
be flag: whatever Of hope Is klndled IL
the hearts OF mankind by the triumph o
government OF The people for the pee
pie. aud by the people. that worth tha'
honor, and that hope belongs 10 ever,
citizen Of the South. And that same fla,
that triamphed 81 Bunker Hill and York
town; AZ New Orleans. Chapultepec: a
GettysbDrg and chichamauga. Is pledge,
10 defend the humblest laborer OF Viz
ginIa. as well as the proudest magnate o.
Hew York