The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1902-07-04

The great Civil War was the most
stupendous Of all the ages. It did
not find its genesis in criminal con-
spiracy or reasonable design. The
Southern States in Withdrawing from
the Union were exercising power
which had been claimed from the
very adoption of the Federal Consti-
tuition. In tho early days of the
republic tho theory was recognized
by American statesmen with sub
stantial unanimity that the constitu-
ton was but q compact between
sovereign States entered into for their
mutual welfare; that because of this
sovereignty any State could lawfully
and peacefully withdraw from the
compact whenever in its judgment,
its interest required it to do so; that
the government created by the con-
stitution was a federation possessing
only delegated powers and that it did
not possess the power to coerce the
action Of the States, and that if a
State chose to withdraw from the
union it was entitled to do 80 with
ont control, question or molestation.
1t was our love for the institutions
our ancestors had founded, and under
which We had met with so much
prosperity which made manifest tho
form of government provided for the
Confederate States of America. The
Confederate constitution with few
exceptions, was the same as that of
the United States. The adninistra-
tive features Of the new government
were practically the same as that of
the old. No thought of dictatorship
or military rule on the one hand, or
of lawlessness on the other, entered
the minds of any. True to the prin-
ciples of the Revolution and the
Declaration of Independence, it pro.
vided safeguards for personal liberty
and local self-government. During
the whole of that desperate struggle,
and admidst hardships and privations
almost indescribable and without
parallel, law and order was every
where maintained. The Legisla-
lures of the States assembled and
enacted such laws as were from time
to time deemed necessary; courts of
justice were opened for the enforce
ment and maintenance of the rights
of person AMI property. An attempt
to describe with what valar, fortitpde
and heroic endeavor the armies of
the South maintained themselves
during that four years of strife and
bloodshed is altogether unnecessary.
We know, and ali the world knows
and admits, that the magnificent
leadership of our armies and the
splendid courage of opr soldiers haye
illustrated in the sublimest manner
possible the martial spirit of the
American people. The twenty.seven
hundred l2,700) battles that were
fought before our cause went down.;
the two million six hundred thousand
men who were needed to conquer US;
the pension rolls of the government,
which contains the names of nearly
one million benefciariesI the beauti.
full cemeteries where rest the dead
heroes of the Union armies; the mon
uments of marble and bronze erected
all over the land to perpetuate the
names and fame of their great cap
tains; all these 90 to make up me-
mortal Of the skill, prowess and un-
yielding courage of our people, to
which the history Of the ages panpat
find q parallel. The end came al
might have been expected, Our
resources we're so limited in compari-
son with these Of the Northern States
that only persistence on their part
was all that Twas necessary to bring
defeat and disaster to the Southern
Gause.
When 1t came we accepted the
settlement as final and "irrevocable
in 80 far as the further agitation or
advocacy of the right to secede was
concerned. No matter what may