Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1898-12-19

achieving the result, but it is to n
result and not to the factor
that the chief trend of speech
making and of enthusiasm has
lent itself. Political influences
SEEM TO PLAY NO PART
in the reception of President Mckinley.
On all sides there is eagerness to pub
licly express the loyalty of the South
ern States and to admit that the war
with Spain not only helped to weld the
compact OF the sections, but gave TO
the South the opportunity to express
sentiments of loyalty that have long
lived, but which have lacked oppor-
tunity of expression and this has been
done chiefly by Democrats, many OF
whom fought for the stars and bars
and to all of whom the name of Davis
is a sacred memory. The frank refer
ences to and the decision of the civil
war. have led to many delicate stu
ations that were only saved from be-
coming irritating dilemmas by the
tact of President who fought against
Southern troops or by the graceful
utterances of the Confederates, who
years ago opposed him on the pattle
field. The marvellous scenes OF an
audience in the old Confederate capltol
cheering the stars and stripes until
they grew hoarse, of Confederate vet
Grams struggling to grasp the mana
of a Northern President, OF General
Wheeler leading the people OF his state
in cheers for William Mckinley In the
place where Jefferson Davis once urged
the South to fight for separation, are
all redeemed from the suspicion or
fulsomeness or the faint praise or
politicians by the blunt fervent declar-
ations of loyalty. Governor Johnston,
of Alabama, said at Montgomery
1--WE of the South have nothing to
regret, except our dead" but he at once
went on to say that he rejoiced in the
United States, with a strong accent on
"United'' and that if any man now
said SIS Alabama loyal to the Union,
he asked an absurd question, because
Alabama's loyalty had been proven by
Wheeler and Hobson, and that there
were hundreds of other Wheelers and
Hobsons in Alabama ready to
GIVE EQUAL PROOF
of Alabama's glad fealty to the Union.
Such utterances as these have marked
the trip with more frequency than 1t
part of the former Confederates who
have made addresses of welcome to
President Mckinley, there has been no
eleventh hour of confession OF SIN. In
substance, they have all said that they
fought for what they then thought
was right, that they neither blame
themselves nor their dead fathers or
sons for enlisting in the cause OF the
Confederacy, but that they accept to-
day the changed conditions with
gladness and sincerity they never felt
until che war with Spain Knit the
nation in a common cause and until
Republican President urged the people
of the North and South TO honor the
Confederate dead. In the latter reason
lies the main incentive to the intense
and almost unexpected enthusiasm
with which the Presidential party has
been greeted since MIR. McKinley's first
speech in Atlanta. Scarcely a speaker
or a paper in Alabama or Georgia has
made reference to the President with
out mentioning on every occasion his
tribute to
THE CONFEDERATE DEAD.
A distinguished Southerner said to this
correspondent:
There have been many reunions of
North and South on paper and in
speeches. These were we'll meant but
they signified little, because neither
side had given in to the other on the
principles that they fought for. This
suggestion of the Presidents to care
for our dead is the first practicable
evidence given to the South that the
North really means what y, says, and
it has touched our hearts more than
we can say. Coming as it does upon
the heels of the war with Spain, which
gave to the South the choice to prove
her loyalty, this utterance of the Presi-
dents enables us to say not only that
we are true to the Union, but for the
first time that we love it"
This utterance represents a host of
public and private speeches that have
been made since the arrival of the
Presidential party in the South. 1t is
the consensus of various opinion ex-
pressed to this correspondent by State
officers and citizens of Georgia and
Alabama, nearly all of whom are OPP
posed to the President in politics but
who have welcomed him right gladly
in his capacity of Chief Executive and
who have given vent to void enthusi-
asm over his utterances regarding the
Confederate dead In this way what
was planned to be a celebration of the
peace with Spain has become almost
entirely genuine practical ratification
of the peace between North and South
epoch making in its significance, thrill
ing in it's details and pathetic in the
countless memories that it awakens.