The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-01-23
IN WARM WORDS.
A Glowing Tribute of the
South to Mckinley.
Proposal to Care for the Confede-
rate Dead-Tender and
Glorious Memory.
New Orleans Times-Democrat.)

The utterance of President Mckinley |
in behalf of National custody of the
Confederate dead was one of the no
blest that ever came from the lips of
a public man. Indeed, history affords
no precedent for the assertion Of this
soldier of the Union, in the mightiest
of civil wars, that the Government of
which he is the official head should
take into its eternal keeping the sacred
dust of the men who fell beneath the
Stars and Bars. The great heart of
the South throbbed a quick response
TO the lofty sentiment of the Chief
Magistrate, and the grand work of re-
Cancellation wrought by the war with
Spain was thus touched with the bene-
diction of fraternal love.
The situation which confronts the
reunited sections in these waning
years of the century is one that calls
for the most subtle tact and the most
delicate sentiment. 1t is obvious to the
dullest that all overtures in the direc-
ton of the Presidents recommends
ton should come from across the line
which in the bygone years divided
brother from brother. 1t is therefore
with profound sorrow that one sees
the proprieties of the case violated by
Southern men who have introduced
bills looking to the admission of Con-
federates to the National soldiers
homes and to the pension roll Of the
Government. In such circumstances it
behooves the press and public men to
utter the sentiments of the people in
no uncertain tones.
There is a law of self-preservation
for nations as for individuals, and that
law will assuredly operate to prevent
any action such as that contemplated
in the bill of Senator Butler of North
Carolina. The South drew the sword
in defence of rights which, in the con-
ception of the people of this section,
lay at the very base of the Constitu-
ton itself That was an act of war
it was an exercise of the elemental So
vereignty of the people Success would
have meant the overthrow of the
L,
it was so understood when the South
staked all upon the hazard. 1t is on
the line of the highest public policy
to recognize the sincerity and patri-
otism of the South in that awful criss
of the Nations fate. 1t would be to
commit National suicide for the Gov
eminent to treat those who then war
red against it in the same way as it
treats the hundreds of thousands who
founght and died beneath it's stand
ards There are times when every .con-
sideration requires that the head
should rule the heart, and this is, as
suredly, one of those supreme occa-
sions
The most tender and the most glori-
Gus memory that belongs to the South
is interviewer with the pathetic story
of her dead and surviving heroes. The
| long record of faultless courage-cour-
age which will live so long as the his
toric page endures-was completed by
the surrender at Appomattox, and by
the silent heroism with which the men
of those incompatible armies took up
the work of political and industrial re-
Mobilization. The men who did these
things should never be placed in the
position of asking aims. Nor will the
present generation permit such
course to be taken. The South should
resolve to take care of the ashes of
her dead and to shelter those of her
surviving heroes who may stand IN
need of aid. Honor demands that there
action, how strong soever may be the
temptation.