The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1902-06-26

The address Of Gen. +. Porter Alex
ander, who spoke on The Confeder-
ate Veteran" at West Point, was lib
orally applauded by the large crowd
Of officers and graduates at the CEN
tennial celebration there recently
He said:
The Confederate army, which
sprang into existence almost out of
space and nothingness, and after a
career of four years. unsustained by
treasury or arsenal, but unsurpassed
for brilliant fighting and lavish out
pour Of blood, vanished from earth as
utterly as if had been a phantom Of
Imagination.
1T had followed faithfully as a
banner starry cross borne in the
the fire and smoke Of its battle line,
which had flown over its charging
columns on many fields and under
many leaders whose names proud his
tory will forever cherish, and then
in IA night it also had taken its flight
from earth, to be seen no more Of
men.
"A Federal historian wrote of this
army: Who can forget it that once
looked upon it-that army of tattered
uniforms and bright muskets, that
body Of Incompatible infantry, the
Army of Northern Virginia, which for
four years carried the revolt on its
bayonets, opposing constant front
to the mighty concentration of power
brought against it, which, receiving
terrible blows, did not fail to give the
like, and which, vital in all its parts,
died only with its humiliation?
And the whole people who had
created that annihilated army, and
had upheld that vanished flag, and in
their behalf had sacrificed its all,
now, with one consent, gave to the
cause for which they bad striven
vainly, but so well, the title The
! Lost Cause
And this people mourned over
their Lost Cause as the captive Is
raelites mourned over Zion. But
they buried their grief deep in theil
own hearts, and exchanging swords
and guns for implements of industry
set themselves to restoring their des
olated homes and rebuilding thel1
shattered fortunes.
I'VE believed, and still believe
that its sovereignty was intended tt
be reserved by each and every Stat
when it ratified the Constitution. |
was universally taught among u
that in this feature there was divine
" inspired wisdom. 1t may hav'
been wisdom for that century. Eacl
State was then an independent agri
cultural community. The railroad
the steamship, the telegraph, wsr
undreamed of then on earth. But,
in nature, whenever the climate ha
chauoed the faunaand fora have bee1
forced to change and adapt then
selves to new environments,
among mankind must modes OF GOV
eminent be modified to conform
new conditions.
The steamboat, railroad and tell
Graph by 1860 had made new plane
Of the one George Washington knew
! National commerce had been borI
: and it was realized that State sove
eighty was utterly Incompatible wit
its full development. The inspire
, wisdom of the previous century ha
now become but foolishness. Nature
divine law of evolution, again
which no constitution can prevail,
once brought into play to overtu1
i its forces as inevitable as a Volcan
But such Darwinian conceptions
IS those of political evolution had the
5. entered few mems minds. Patrl'
!, Henry had said: Give me liberty
l, Give me DEATH Sure it would not
liberty if we could not secede whe
ever we wished to. Holding the
7 views we should have been cowar
1, had we not resisted for all we we
= worth. And posterity should be gra
- full for our having forced the ISIS
- and fought it out to the bitter end.
\ Now for our bearing upon n
story. Let me speak briefly OF t,
matters cf history. Mr.. Char
q Francis Adams in recent adore
q has pointed out that it is due TO Ge
Il eral Lee, at AppOmattoN IN APP
q 1869. surrender of the Confeder;
b army was made instead of the str'
\ Gle being prolonged TO guerl
war. such AS has been recently ST
q in South Africa. This action do
4 indeed. place Lee upon an eNal
4 plane. And it fortunately happier
h that his rival actor in the great d
q ma was Grant, a brother graduate
s. the Military Academy.
d Our alma mater may cherish
4 record of that day, when two OF
n sons. having each written his ma
Fl so high in the annals OF war; Il
a united TO turn the nation into
4 father of peace; for General Gra
b who has been proudly called by ms
4 torious army L. S.-'uncondltlc
n Surrender now seemed G
4 to seek excuse to spare the Confe'
4 ates every possible mortiticalon
to save them from individual los:
a even at the expense OF his own
eminent.
L His example was Immediately
lowed by every man IN his a
down to the humblest teams
n Time fails me to describe the fri
illness, courtesy and generosity
which the whole victorious q
seemed filled. The news OF the
render and its liberal terms was
ceived everywhere with feeling
generous Cancellation. In proof
only necessary to refer to the
negotiations between Sherman
Johnston
+ president Lincoln also fully sh
these feelings and even planned
N the South's financial eompensa
for it's great loss of property ..