The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1902-10-26
ana It's continuance ass m isolated slave
holding country. issS


holding country. 49,
WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED:
What would have happened had the
Southern States that fought the war be-
come established as an independent coun-S
try based on slavery? Hemmed 10 by a
hostile and cver-growing country. With
Mexico for its southern border. an EN-,
rirc sustained by France and Austria;
hemmed in yet more closely and COM
pletely by the ever-increasing sentiment
OF the world against slavery. It stasgerss
me to think what we would have been.
Russia, Brazil, Cuba, would have al
scmancipatcd their slaves We should
have stood alone. We should have 1ound
it necessary to maintain stand
ing army out OF proportion to our white
nnnnla ton. The fugitive slave law alone
would have been sufficient to hold the
black cloud Of war ever in the sky. Cut
of from the outlet that we now have,
with a servile population increasing IN
vet more rapid ratio than it has increas-
Cd. we should probably have had by this
time II ,OOO, 900 OF blacks held In servttude-S
or had We set them free. We should
have had to pay their value to their
owners; and, in addition, should have mad
to cope with the negro question in some
FORM and cope with It alone. 1mmlgrA-*
tion would never have sought our region;
and shut off from the vitalizinE stream
that comes from the infusion Of fresh
blood and new ideas. we should have
seen the North and West fill with the
flood of new and vigorous life. while
we should have been left behind. isola ted.
Impoverished: possibly torn by factional
disorders. or rent to pieces by the right
Of secession which we had established.
w. n 1,,l1 S,r @1o= Ynrfh
and West-the West that we had won
aud given to the Union-growing ever
stronger. ever more prosperous. ever
more united. enriched more and more
by the inflowing stream3Sof new blood
Teuton, Saxon and Celt-and new ideas.
a. free union. abreast of the progress OF
the world while we. a slave-holding
Confederacy. should have been locked
within our borders. blockaded almost as
really as we were during the war.
z l.71ow that this is not the view Of
many whose knowledge and judgment I
highly esteem. but I believe it will be
the judgment of posterity. and I believe
the judgment will be correct.
THE SAME PRINCIPLE.
q And this brings me to another truth
that believe posterity will declare that
at the bottom. under different Names
both sides fought for the same principle;
the principle that has underlain the life
of the English-speaking race and espe-
cfa.ly the section of the race that has
lived away from courts and their debas-
ing influences throughout it long course
One side foughtato preserve the Union:
the other fought to preserve the essential
of that Union: one called II the
Union: the other termed it States rights
itut under both names lay the same thing
love of liberty. deathless devotion to
freedom
If it be true. as YOU and believe, that
the dead live hereafter. they must look
down on all questions that agitate us here
bn-nw with a widened and clarified vision
Contemplating from the standpoint Of
posterity the supreme self-sacrifice of
those men who died in prison, I am led to
ask myself what reward they would ask
Of us who remain. The answer seems 10
he pain-tfat we, with our enlarged ex-
perience, should read into their work n
larger meaning. and should cherish the
ideals for which they died.
WE OWE OUR DEAD.
They died for US. and We owe it to them
to live as they. with their widened vision,
would have US live: we should preserve
tie brthright of liberty, which our IA
Tiers beuucathed to them. and building
up the government. the ideal for which
they laid down their lives, should per-
p=tuate, SO far as in US lies, the history
not Of war and its rancors-but the his
tory of their self-sacriiicc, of their SUI
,,.en1e devotion and their glorious cour-
age, for the benefit and emulation Of all
tons
writing this history. it seems to me-
that one duty that we owe them is that
we should record their history with the
lines of faith-compelling truth. It appears
to me that the truth about them is in
danger of being lost. feel that am
within the limits when I say that they
have suffered almost equally at he hands
Of their detractors and their flattererS.
There is no argument so strong as the
trutll--the sheer truth. 1t possesses a
power which eloquence cannot give and
4 i1ich rhetoric only conceals.9 Detraction
and SANDER have spent themselves in |
clamorous fury: the sober second thought
of the people has got new light and !
a mind ready to receive the
truth. This is our opportunity. But if we
indulge in cheap rhetoric; if we over
look the impregnable strength OF our
position founded on the solid rock OF |
fact and make claim to what we are not
entitled to. We shall deceive only the ig-
norant: and sacrificing the priceless op-
portunity Of establishing the truth we
shall waste ourselves and belittle our
ca use.
MEET THE WORLD WITH FACTS.
Away with rhetoric;S give us the 1acts;
and armed with them we can meet the
world. Tell us how they fought from Shi-
loh to Appomattox; how they starved
through the long campaign; how they
tracked the frozen ground with blood
from their hare and bleeding feet: how
they endured the long and bitter months
of prison-life with a fortitude so univer-
sal that though a simple parole would
have set them free the instances Of its |
acceptance were almost unknown. Tell
us the Simple story of their deeds, and
bid eulogy stand with uncovered head.
One instance must rise on this occa-
sion in the mines of all vino knew him. l
never knew a better illustration of these
gracess than the man
whose name has been taken by the ladies
whose pious work we are here to honor !