The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1902-05-16

Valley of Virginia, let sharpsburg, Gel
tysburg, Fredericksburg and the Will
derness attest it.
And hundred ther fields might be
called where the boys who wore the
grey displayed spirit as high and a
courage as grim as ever animated
the Macedonian phalynx the legions of
Rome or the old Guard Of Napoleon.
digress here to say that on two great
occasions, when the fate Of a nation
j was trembling in the balance and bat
tie had reached its high tide Of carnage
at Cemetery Ridge and at the crisis in
the Wilderness, where John NJ Stone
held back Grants mighty advance and
saved Lee from destruction, regiments
of Missssippians were on the very crest
of wars surging pillows 1t should be
matter OF local pride that one Of them
the splendid 18th, was raised in this i'm
mediate section, some of them being
from your own beautiful city, and
that on these two occasions, as
on many others, it was led By
that splendid son of old Monroe
your late fellowtownsman, Reuben 0.
Reynolds. There was not in all the
ranks Of the Confederacy a more chiv-
alric gentleman and soldier, His body
lies in your quiet cemetery but his spir-
it is doubtless with us here to day.
But those who malign us may cry
enough" Their courage is conceded,
but courage Is not rare, man shares
it with the beasts. In every age and
among every people have been found
those who counted not their lives dear
unto them, but we're ready at all times
to offer them up to the grim Moloch of
war" And this is true, man is pre-
imently the fighting animal History
is but a record of his wars and battles
civilization itself seems to have been
evolved out of his victories and defeats.
Mere brute courage is not only not rare;
it is not even admirable. To success
fully challenge admiration and re-
verence, valor must be actuated by
right motives and sancti6ed by a just
cause. 1t is these which give it moral
quality, and entitle it to enduring fame
Let us see if there be any cause for
fear at this point Of our inquiry.
Our heroes fought not from sheer
joy of combat and lust of killing. as
have some; nor from desire for loot,
robbery and plunder as have 9TH
ers They preferred peace if they
could have it with honor, and
desired only those gains which the law
allowed and religion approved Nor
did they wage war for the conquest
and subjugatiOn OF others. The South
never had any such ambition. 1t was
at variance with the fundamentals of
her political creed, which counted
local self-governmeet the dearest Of the
rights of man, and proclaimed that no
people, capable of self-government
ought ever to be governed save by
their own consent.
And they did not fight for the des-
truction of the American Union. Far
from it, They loved the Union. Their
fathers had borne no mean part in es-
tablishing it. They themselves had
done much to extend its domain and
advance its glory. They were proud Of
its history, they were loyal to its institu-
tions. They were faithful and submis-
siye at all times to its constitution
They preferred to dwell under the
sheltering egis Of its power. But they
were convinced that they must choose
between the Union and and Constitu-
zion, beween Capitalization of power
and local self-government, between the
sovereignty of the union and the
sovereignty Of the states, ,and in the last
analysis, between despotism and free
dom Aud the choice was easy. Much
as they loved the union, they loved the
constitution upon which it was founded
more, they loved their own states more,
they loved the right of local self-govern-
ment more, they loved their liberties
more. They could have no love for a
union which must be pinned together
with beyonets; for union in which the
Constitution was come to be regarded
as league with death and covenant
with hell, to be supplanted by the ex-
travagant pretensions of so called
higher law; for a union IN which the
weaker section must hold its rights,
though guaranteed by the organic com