The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1900-05-23


and. as | have stated, was im5edded n
me constitution and laws OF the country
long before thar war begun ana not BY
the generation which was made to suffer
and TO sacrifice so much on account o,
its existence.
We recognize that the war ended thirty
hve years ago. and that we have accepted
rs results in good faith and owe our al
legiance and duty TO the United States. II
slavery was a sin 1t was a National sia
and should have been abolished at the
expense Of the Nation. The slaves were
recognized as such and IS property BY the
constitution and laws and courts OF the
United States, and by every principle OF
justice and law, if the government found
II necessary to destroy this property 1t
should have paid for it. But those who
sought to free the slaves refused to con-
slider the question as to the duty OF tho
United States to pay for them.
President lincoln, In the Hampton
Roads conference with the Confederate
commissioners. said "he believed the peo-
pie Of the North were as responsible for
slavery as the people Of the SOUTH and
history ana the constitutions and laws,
Federal and state, show this to be true.
The facls show that the war largely grew
out Of revolution of piblic opinion on
the subject OF African slavery That we
only necessary to recall the facts that
General Washington. the commander in
chief of our Revolutionary armies, the
president Of the convention which formed
the constitution OF the United States, and
the first president under the constitu-
tional government, was an extensive slave
holder, and that Presidents Jefferson,
Madison, Monroe, Jackson. Polk and Tay-
Tor were all Shareholders. That revolution
~, kpn l..4p nd - at ph
Of American history has been closed. The
slaves have been made free; let us hope
for the best interest OF both races. Aud
We are again at peace, living under tho
same constitution. government, laws and
flag one OF the greatest Nations indus
trlally, commercially and in military
sense on the earth. While we rejoice in
this condition, we want posterity to under
stand that their ancestors were patriots,
that they fought for the preservation OF
the rights inherited and guaranteed 10
them by the constitution and laws ANA
that they VIII do their duty to the living
and dead by handing down 70 the future
The facts of history, which vindtcate the
course they felt compelled to pursue
Leaving now the subject OF the causes
OF the war, let us take hriet retrospect
of the Confederate conduct OF the war,
and Of tho actors in it,
without an organized government with
out an army or navy, and without a treas
lury. 1t had TO organize government,
create an army and navy, and to provide
treasury 1t had to meet the power
OF great government, which had an army,
a navy and 4 treasury and which haa IN
il nearly three times as many white peo-
pie as there were in the Southern States
and many valuable manufacturing estab-
lishments, while there we're but few in the
Southern States.
During the war the Confederacy muster
ed into the military service about six hum
bred thousand men, while the United States
mustered into the service two million.
eight hundred thousand, Including whites
negroes ara mercenaries. The Southern
ports were blockaded and our people cut
OFF from the outside world, except as TO
an occasional blockade runner, while our
adversaries commanded the high seas, with
open communication with the world. I'm
der these conditions in many great bat
ties the Confederates were victorious and
it required four eventtul years for the
United States TO overcome them This
! constitutes a record of which any nation
or people might be justly proud. The
great intellect and long and varied eX-
perience of jefferson Davis In public af-
/ fairs, and his wonderful power of or
ganzation, with the aid of the congress
and his cabinet, enabled him to organize
a good government and to create an army
never snr3assed in the courage of its
men and the skill of its officers which
for four years held the field against such
extraordinary odds; led by such generals
as Robert T.. Lee Stonewall Jackson. sid
/ ney Johnston. Joseph e. Johnston and 9th
ers. For much of the tins this army
was subject to as severe tests of its
/ consistency and endurance as even tried the
] .f-tt I'D f,f No Grrff ol ina
not well equipped, sometimes barefoot
and ragged, often without tents and FREE
qucntly, and especially during the latter
/ part OF the war, WA short rations and
/ the great need of medicines, they hure
all this cheerfully and fought on until
their officers found they could hope no
Il-nger for victory. Md a severer test
/ was the long separation from their fami-
/ lies, and the knowledge that they too
We're suffering for the necessities Of life.
| While the men thI5 occupied in
the field, the women, at their homes
! were, wheneve they could, sending cloth
! ing 20 those In the army, and supplying
them with lint and bandages Tor the
wounded. and with such delicacies as they
could for the sick; many of them attend
/ Ing the hospitals as nurses The suffering
( they underwent the moral courage they
displayed, ana the sacrifices they made,
furnished feature OF war experience un-
surpassed in Its grandeur, and should en-
balm their memories n every true heart
On more than one public occasion {
have urged that a monument should be
erected at some appropriate place which.
by its grandeur and beauty. would itting-
/ ly commemorate their virtues, their sacrj-
fees and their patriotic devotion to their
country's cause. Would it not be
well for this State assemblage or
United Confederate Veterans to ADOPT
measures TO call attention OF the
assenS5lage Of veterans soon 10 meet at
Louisville. KY, to the necessity OF rearing
such monument?
Wonderful and brilliant as the achieve
merits OF the Confederates we're during
the war. they were. II that be possible,
eclipsed by their condnst since and cs-
pecially during the dreadful years VI re-
1 construction Our armies oyTetrnrowp.
tens OF thousands OF our bsayest and besf
men killed, and the property OF the coun-
I try wasted and gone We were deprived
OF civil government and subjected TO arni-
trary military rule. the former alaves
clc.hed with all the rights OF free men
and the whites DISTINGUISHED No people
were ever found In moro deplorlp'e
condition. Under all these adverse condi-
tions rhe people went TO work rebuilding
their homes. righting up their farms aud
re- establishing business houses. They
! preserved the country from anarchy and
chl1os. they reorEaniZed society. they re-