The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1900-06-14
ECHOES OF THE
LOUISVILLE REUNION.
WHY STIR ASHES OF THE PAST?
because Our Dead Heroes Shall Not
Go without Their Fame.


Go without Their Fame.
Rev. B. Nj. Palmer, DID,, the annual
orator Of the Confederate reunion ir
Louisville, answered this question u.
! follows:
Accustomed through sixty years tc
address public assemblies, | am never
thclcss subdued with awe in your pres
cnce today; for we stand together un
der the shadow Of the past. 1t is the
solemn reverence one mig ht feel in the
gloom Of Westminster Abbey, sur.
rounded by Eng lands lllustrious dead
Indeed, we are hore the living repre-
sentatives OF countless comrades Who
sleep in lonely cemeteries throughout
the land; where pcrchance q single
monumental shaft Is the ghostly scnti,
mel keeping watch over the bivOuac OF
the dead.
IL Is five anu thirty years since the
Confederate war was closed, and about
thirty-nine years since it WAS begun;
and it is sometimes asked why we
should stir the ashes OF that ancient
fund, why we should not bury the past
in It's own grave, and turn to the living
issues OF the present and the future.
TO this question, comrades, we return
the answer with a voice loud 8S seven
thundGrs, because 1t is our history
and the history OF our dead heroes,
who shall not go without their
fame. AS long rs there are men who
year the gray, they will gather the
charrcd embcrs OF their old camp fires,
and in the blaze Of these reunions tell
the story OF tho martyrs who fell
In the defense OF country and OF truth
"Nay, moro than this: 1t is the story
OF u strife that marks an epoch in the
IL, ,f Il
known to every school boy in the land
that two parties existed at tho lorna,
tiOn Of our government who could not
agree In locating the paramount sover-
eighty which should decide upon all
issues arising between the States and
themselves. The kedpral,sts, as thcy
were termed, demanded a strong gov
crnmCnt, concentrating power in the
national administration; the tepubli-
cans, on the Otner hand, commended for
the distribution OF power among the
States, claiming their original sOvcr-
eiguity among their reserved rights
Both parties We're too strong TO allow
the question to be determined by arbi.
tratiUn or through forensic discussion.
1t was, therefore, permitted to slum Der
beneath certain antiquities OF ex-
preston in the constitution itself, to be
settled by the exigencies Of the future,
not rs an abSt act principle, but AS an
accomplished fast. need not
remind you how this issue Was
raised in 1872, and WAS postponed
through the conciliatory Legislation OF
that period. Such an issue could not,
however; sleep forever. The admis
sion Ui new States into the Union, with
their conflicting interests, must reopen
He question and compel discussion.
Thus 1t arose in our day, leading to the
establishment Of tho Southern COnfcd-
cracy and to the civil war that followed.
1t is simple folly to suppose that
such spontaneous uprising as that OF
our people in 1860 and 1861 could be
effected through the machina:ions of
politicians alone. n movement SO sud
den and so vast Instantly swallowing
up all minor contentious, would only
sprlng from some great faith deeply
planted in the human heart and for
which mon were willing to die. What.
ever mry have been the occasion
OF the w8r, its 'card0 cAusac,' the
hinge on which it turned, was this
old question OF State sovereignty as
against national supremacy. As there
could 60 no compromise between the
two, the only resort was an appeal to
the law Of force, the ultima ratio
regum." The surrender at Appomat-
tOX, when the tattered remnant Of
Lees great army stood guard for the
last time over Southern liberties and
rights, drew the equatorial line divid.
ing between the past and the future Of
American history. When the will OF
tho strongest instead OF the consent Of
tho governed became the base Of our
national structure, q radical transfor-
nation took place. The principle Of
confederation gave way to that Of con
sOlidation and the American nation
emerged out Of the American republic.