Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1900-05-31
MEMORIAL SERVICES
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way we must not forget has added its
contingent to the list of heroes who
have died in the nations battles-has
marked the beginning of new era in
our internal history; for it has demon
strated the unfeigned loyalty of the
South:to country's flag. Its people have
not, indeed, as a matter of sentiment,
repudiated the cause for which they
fought in the Civil War. 1t would be
expect that. But all the more we must
admire and commend the strong, man.
ly. good sense which leads them to re-
gard their cause, however just from
their point of view, as irrevocably lost
and buried, and to turn their faces res
olutely to the present and future, ac-
cepting cheerfully their destiny as
citizens Of the great republic They
have given ample proof that they have
accepted the nations flag as their own,
and that Southern swords will leap as
quickly from their scabbards, as will
the swords of the North, when that
glorious flag is assailed. 1t is therefore
in no sectional spirit that we glorify
the cause for which you fought, and
for which so many Of your comrades
laid down their lives.
Much less do we glOrify that cause
in any spirit Of political partisanship.
No political party has q monopoly of
virtue and patriotism. The cause for
which you fought was not the cause of
q party; it was the cause of the nation.
No political party is divine; but the
nation, we hold is divine. And the
noble man and great statesman
who stood at the head of the govern
ment during that fearful crisis, whose
spirit inspired and dominated, whose
wisdom guided, whose strength upheld,
the nation-his name is the heritage,
not of a party alone, but much more of
the nation.
With this much of explanation we
need not make any apology for calling
attention to something of the higher
meaning of the victory which you
helped to win, in the most momentous
strife of the century.
In most of the war songs which had
their birth during the period of the
Civil War, the dominant note is the
note Of freedom. In "Marching
Through Georgia." in orally Round
the Flag" and in the "Battle Hymn of
the Republic" it is the note of freedom
that gives these songs their life and
power of inspiration. GAS Christ died
to make men holy, let us die to make
them free" And yet, the war, as
fought by the North, was not ostensi-
bly, or primarily Il war for liberty.
Rather it was the South that was pro-
fessedly fighting for liberty. The
Southerners asserted their independ-
ence of the Federal Government and
Constitution, and they fought to estab-
lish it. They thought that their cause
was the same sacred cause for which
the fathers of the Revolution had con-
tended in 1916. sympathies natur-
ally go out to people numerically
weak and of limited resources, who
make heroic struggle for independ-
ence i'll the face of overwhelming odds.
That is one reason why public senti-
ment in England was to a great extent
on the side Of the South during the
Civil War; Why should the liberty
loving people of the North have resist
ed the demands Of the South? And
how came it that the people of the
North, in compelling the South to re-
turn into the Union, should have been
inspired with the feeling and cOnvic-
ton, that instead of destroying free
dom, they were actually fighting to
maintain and spread the cause Of free
dom? How could those whom the
South denounced as tyrants and OPP
pressors, make use of the name of
Freedom as their rallying battle cry?
From the point of view Of our tradi-
tional love Of independence and liberty
there was much to be said on the side
Of the seeding states. They could
point to the undoubted fact that the
Union of 1897 was formed through the
free and unfOrced consent Of the states
which entered the union. When the
Union was first established, it was gen.
orally understood rs being of the ma
ture of confederation or partnership.
None Of the thirteen states were forced
into it; none entered it until they were
quite ready to do SO. This partnership,
said the South, was for the mutual ben
eft Of the parties contracting it, and if
ever the time should come when any
Of the parties to the compact should
become dissatisfied with the arrange
ment, they had a perfect and sovereign
right to withdraw from it. 1t is doubt
ful if any person in 1887 would have
called such Il statement into question.
Had any of the states chosen to remain
outside the Constitution, there would
have been no attempt on the part of
the other states to compel them to en-
ter the Union; or had any of the states
attempted to Withdraw from the Union
during the first few years after the
adoption of the Constitution, it is more
than probable that no forcible opposi-
ton would have been made to the at
tempt The whole tendency OF the
eighteenth century was to emphasize
the liberty and independence of men,
rather than the right Of governments
to coerco men against their wills. The
war for independence was q war to
throw of = tyrannOus yoke, and there
was not behind that wan any conscious
purpose to establish q new yoke in the
sense of a federal government which
should be compulsory upon all. The
prevailing political theory Of that time
was Rousseau's theory of the social
contract, the theory that men in an
ideal state of nature are not subject to
government at all; that each man by