Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1898-07-28

| acclaim nave Dcen the nerltago OF
successful armies. Imperial Rome,
intoxicated with the glory of con-
quest, erected lofty arches to her
mighty warriors, only whom they
bore her proud eagles above the
ranks of conqucring lcgions. France
was united and exultant under the
great Corsican so long as he was VIC
torious but he, too, was defeated,
and at his fall, the Legislative assem-
bly, of his people abandoned and de-
manded tho abdication of this hith-
orto idolizcd leader. Nor do our
own brave countrymon, the brave
Veterans of the Union army, furnish
any parallel to tho conditions which
surround us. When they returned
from tho horrors of war it was to
homes of increased comfort, to aug
mcnted wealth and with arms in
their hands and victory on their
banners. They returned to an cstab-
lishcd and grateful government.
The return of the disarmed and
disbanded Confcdcrates, however,
was to people made poor; to land
made dcsolatc, covered with black
cncd ruins, where every home was in
mourning, every breath was sigh
and every breeze messenger of woe.
And yet, after a third of century
has passed, after the remnants of
those armies have grown gray, and
the government for which they
fought lives only as memory, these
grim Southern warriors gather in
annual reunion, and arc the recipients
of boundless hospitality dispensed
by this recently impoverished but
grateful people.
! On what page in history will you
find a similar history? In what age
or country have the shattered rem
nants of defeated armies, banded to-
gether in brotherhood 80 unique, a
purpose 80 unsclfish ? Among what
defeated people has ever been wit
messed such fidelity to the memories
of an unsuccessful army, coupled with
such unostcntatious, genuine and re-
sponsivc loyalty to the government
from which they so rcsolutcly and
conscicntiously sought separation {
challenge the world's annals to
furnish parallel.
In conclusion, let me inquire what
it all means. Simple justice to these
brave and patriotic men, who yielded
at last to overwhelming numbers and
resources; justice to the Southern
people, whose devotion to their cause
must be measured by the countless
sacrifices they made for it; Justice
to their present attitude toward tho
American republic, whose honor and
freedom and flag they are a.ways
ready to defend; justice to Two + If
respect and manhood of Southern
youth, who arc to stand for all time
with Northern youth in defence of
popular liberty; justice to the past
and justice to the future, all demand
that our own postcrity and all man.
kind shall know the meaning of these
phenomenal demonstrations over the
thinncd ranks of broken but proud
and once rcsistlcss army.
Our heroic brothers of the Union
army need no such care in guarding
themselves from misapprehcnsion !:
and for the reason that thcy arc, 40
to speak, the special wards of his
great nation. All of it's energies. all
Of its innue nee and large share of
its taxing power arc subject, when
required, to their demands. Besides,
40 rule, IL is true the world over
that victory itself vindicatcs, while
defeat dooms to misrepresentation
the cause of the vanquishcd.
Let us hope, however, that impair
tial history, secured through tho Ia