The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-05-10

mittee, My Fellow Countrymen of
South Carolina: The flood of emotions
which stirs the sensibilities of these
veterans today is their loving answer
to your gracious greeting. These emo
tOnS viii speak to you in language far
more impressive and eloquent than any
words that 1 could utter. The ringing
shouts from these thousands of Con-
federate throats are veritable echoes of
the inspiring resolutions of welcome
unanimously adopted by your general
assembly. While those resolutions have
cheered and thrilled every southern SOL
dier's heart, they were not needed to
tell US of the reception that awaited US
in South Carolina Her whole history
and that of her commercial capital
were the promise and guarantee of this
magnificent reality. For more than 200
years, made memora BILE by heroic strug-
giles in war and brilliant achievements
in peace, the names of South Carolina
and of Charleston have been the syn
OnymS of hospitality, of chivaIry, and
of valor.
What else could be expected of q
people in whose veins are commingIed
the blood of the proud English caval-
iers2 the blood of those devoted and
resoIute men, who protested against
the fmmoralities and grinding exactions
of the Stuarts; the blood of the stall
wart Dissenters and of the heroic High
landers of Scotland and of the sturdy
democratic Presbyterians of Ireland;
the blood of those defenders of free
dom who came to your shores from the
mountain battlements of Switzerland,
and lastly, but no less pure and sacred.
the blood of the high-souIed HuguenOts
of France, whose martyrs, by glOr-
ious fidelity, even unto death, have
made sweeter and richer the record of
human devotion to conscience and lib
erty.
NO resolutions, I repeat. by which
this great commonwealth extends It's
loving welcome were needed to assure
ran lylaT aT1rG of n inn
tai armies that the freedom of the
state was theirs, and that every heart
within her borders was a soldiers
shrine. We had but to remember that
South Carolina was the nursery of he
roes, as well as of statesmen and of
patriots-that no one state, except that
she be endowed with an almost bound
less affiuence of greatness, could in one
erty and the republic such a splendid
galaxy as South Carolina presents in
her Rutledge, her Sumter, her Moultrie,
her Middleton, and her Marion; in her
Butler her Pinckney, and her Pickens;
in her McDuffie and her Calhoun; in
her Hamilton, her Hayne, and her be-
loved Hampton
If we turn from this incomplete ar
ray Of her noble sons to the contempla-
tion of the scars upon her bosom. re-
ceived in her battles for American free
dom at Cowpens, at Camden, and
Charleston; at Eutaw Springs, Fort
Moultrie. and Kings Mountain, while
her Swamp Fox" with his ragged bri-
gade. roasted their rations of sweet
potatoes in her forests at night, and by
their sudden salIies, now from the
mountains and now from the marshes,
amazed and bewildered the British in
vaders; if We add to this survey of her
past the record of her princeIy Iberality
in the donation of her soil to the general
government, we shall gain a still better
conception of the lofty characteristics
and unchaIlenged patriotism of her peo-
pie
ITO me, personally whose associa-
tions with South Carolinians through
the civil war and the still more CALLING
period of reconstruction and reha bilita-
ton gave a clearer insight into their
motives and future aims, it is a proud
privilege vouchsafed to me today to
stand in your presence as the represen-
tative of these battle bruised veterans
and tell this people how fully rec
Ognize their worth and how gratefully
we acknowledge our Indebtedness to
them.
4 should esteem it a still higher honor
to stand here today as the herald of
both the host and guests in procIaiming
a message of good will to all our coun-
trymen and to send the fraternal
greeting of this people. of all COnfeder-
ates. and of their children. to all pa
triots 81 all sections; to unite with our
American brethren of every state in
ascribing to the guiding hand of God
the unparalleled victories of American
and lastly, by the memory of the faith
ers, whose spirits live in their sons. to
pledge the south's unfaiIng support to
every worthy cause for strengthening
the bonds of American unity and thus
accelerating the onward march of the
republic in its benign mission to hu-
manity."
HUGS MRS. DAVIS.
It was several minutes after he had
taken his seat before quiet could be re-
stored. When order was secured Gen.
Gordon said: Il want every comrade
to stand and sing Praise God from
Whom All Blessings Flow -
Mrs. Jefferson Davis was introduced
by Gen Gordon as the one whom JEFF
ferson Davis loved better than the Con-
federacy and better than his own life
As Mrs Davis appeared the veterans
went wild with enthusiasm
I am going to shake her hand. COM
rades," cried Gen. Gordon Il am GO
ing to hug her" and caught her in his
arms, and pressed her to his bosom.
Many distinguished officers and pri-
Yates were next introduced. The con-
vention then adjourned until tonight
10 nm OI0NO