Birmingham state herald., 1896-07-01

"At this time," he continued, your
 presence here is especially grateful, as
 you come for the purpose of laying the
 cornerstone of a grand monument to the
 illustrious president of the Southern Com
 federacy. We are deeply thankful for
 this service, especially as our city is to
 be honored by this memorial of virtue,
 bravery and undying constancy.
 "We rejoice to see you here where Jeff
 ferson Davis lived and where his ashes
 rest. Again I welcome you to Rich
 mond.'
 At this juncture there were loud calls
 for Gordon" and after awhile the chair
 man had to respond. He said in part:
 General Gordon's Address.
 Governor, Mr. Mayor, General Wise, Ladies and My Confederate Comradesi You will not wonder that am literally overwhelmed by the flood of emotions which this scene evokes. As we look up- on the grizzled locks and furrowed brows of these stalwart men, who thirty years ago were soldiers of an army which they immortalized by their deeds; when their presence in Richmond so vividly recalls that heroic era in which they were the heroic actors; when we re- member the position of Richmond Of Virginia, throughout whose borders and over whose homes the tides of war swept from first to last with their widest and
 most destructive flood; when we recur to the dauntless prowess of her sons and to | tlic loItltuut anu dluOSl lIldIlJloOi OA her glorious women, who for our sakes stripped their homes of the simplest comforts-when I say all these death- less memories thrill us afresh when we gather again in this long beleaguered and ever loved city, how utterly inadequate are the words of our lips to express the emotion of our hearts," (Applause). He paid most eloquent and touching tribute to Virginia as the foster mother of American freedom, whose alarm bell paU no ci ba a arot1Sod the oOI0nteq whose sons gave us the bill of rights and the constitution, and who gave the revo- lution and the Confederacy their illus trious commanders in chief.
 Continuing, he said: With such his tory, therefore, who could doubt the character of the reception which Vir- ginia would accord to these battle scared veterans whenever and wherever convened upon her soil? (Applause) Profoundly impressed by its bound- less hospitality and keenly sensible of It's every meaning, should fall far short of my duty to the southern people and to the republic itself if I failed to analyze to some extent its import and purpose. I should fall far short of my duty to Virginia as our queenly hostess and to those brave Confederates as her noble guests if I failed to note the unselfish motives which prompt the one and the patriotic impulses which inspire the other.
 "Of all the public honors ever paid to the worlds heroes none have been so unique in character as these heartfelt tributes offered by the southern people. No popular assemblies of intelligent and high spirited citizens in the worlds history were ever free from partisan zeal or sinister spirit or ignoble jealousies or sinister intent; and the muse of history will yet embalm in one of her sweetest stories the absolutely unselfsh character and exalted aims of these Confederate gatherings. The pathos of thar recital will be deepened by its simplicity and the beauty heightened by the lesson which 1t will teach to humanity. That story will record the simple but sublime story that these reunion occurred year after year, and left behind them at every stage of their proceedings the indisput- able proofs that these broad minded men were neither embittered by disappoint- ments, nor dwarfed by ignoble passions, nor narrowed by sectional prejudice, nor blinded to the interests of the common country by selfish aims; but that, made unselfish through suffering, renned ana purified in the fires of affliction, they em- brace as brother every true lover of their country, acknowledged no su- periors in devotion to the common veal and in unfaltering support of the laws,
 the flag the honor and the freedom of this American republic. (Applause.)
 And now by the memory of that white
 robed army of comrades who have gone
 before us to the better land, but whose
 spirits are with us today and Vo1cing the
 sentiments of the thousands here assem-
 bled. and of the tens of thousa nds who
 long to be with us-in their name, and
 as their representative, lay at Virginia's s
 feet the sincerest tribute of our grateful
 hearts," Great applause and enthusl- asm)
 General Gordon introduced Hon. J. Taylor Ellison, chairman of the Davis Monument association, who announced that all who wore the gray and every
 |. 14 IO-t
 woman who sympathized with the iost cause would be welcome at the reception to Mrs Jefferson Davis at the Confeder- ate museum tonight
 The committee on credentials was then
 announced by a secretary as follows:
 Maryland James W. Owens; Virginia,
 Col. Thomas P. Elliott; North Car
 olina. Capt R. s. Belden; south Car olina, Irdell Jones; Georgia, Col: ". D. Shepherds: Florida, Gen. James E. Laws; Alabama, E. Troupe Randale; Mississp- nj J.B. Wadd Il; Missouri, w. H. Wood son; Texas, Gen. w. N. Bush; Tennessee, J. w S. Frierson; Louisiana, Gen. W. H.
 Behan; Arkansas, William F. Campbell; Indian territory, John l.. Gait; Kentucky, Bush w. Allen; Oklahoma, John L. Cass- Ter.
 The History Committees Report. Gen Stephen D. Lee, chairman, then read the report of the history committee, which set forth that great injustice had
 been done to the south by partisan hlsto- eS, adopted to have correct and trust worthy history of the Confederate side of the late war published. Somebody moved the postponement Of the reading of the report whereupon General Jack son of Tennessee made strong appeal that the reading be heard. Another vet eran in the audience renewed the mo- tion to postpone until tomorrow, and quite discussion ensued. Still another appeal for the reading was made. and General Gordon explained that this re- port was the most important ma atter that would be brought before the convention in the fact that it made plain the actual
 necessity of doing justice to the memo ries of Lee, of Jackson. of Davis and of all the southern leaders. The reading was proceeded with and the report ad- vocated a separate history for each state. and the compilation of all these by competent board at the University or the South, and invoked the aid and assist ance of all the southern universities and historical societies to this end. The re- port further referred to the several other reports to be made at previous Confeder- l ap p1 a i6