Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1902-05-15
federate Veterans, Ladies and
Gentlemen:

l. 0OnD10lu0u.
When I received an invitation
some weeks ago to address you on
this Memorial Day, I felt that the
Goldsboro Chapter of the Daughters
of the Confederacy were honOring
me beyond my deserts. / thought
that some n ought to have been
: selected who fought in the cam
paigns of the East. Ny military SER
vice was in the West. The men
who stood by me in the shock of
battle are not here. The men who
rejoiced with me when the magnifi-
cent Cleburne ordered up Douglass
Battery and shattered Rosecran's
line at Chickamau9a are not here.
! My 5000 comrades in the battle Of
New Hope Church, where we al
/ most annihilated HOward's corps
are not here. The men who endured
with me in Camp Butler the out
RACES inflicted on is by the minions
of despotism are not here. They are
in the West and Southwest battling
with the evils of life, or they have
! passed over the dark river to join
that great encampment on the other
shore.
Hence I come before you as a
| stranger. My heart is not respon-
sive to glorious memories of Man
assas or Fredericksburg, nor is it
touched by any r~ecollections of the
trials and tribulations of the men
who fought under Lee. But [ could
not refuse to come; we all fought in
a common cause; we fought for the
personal and community rights
which had been the inspiration and
the guiding star of Our ancestors in
the mountains, plains and valleys Of
Europe during long, weary, dark
ages of oppression; and / could not
decline to bow to the command of
the Daughters of the Confederacy
who are giving expression to the
loveliest and noblest impulses of our
Incompatible Southern wOmanhoOd
in labOring to embalm in enduring
affection and honor the memories of
the heroes who for four long years,
without reward, faced the murder
Gus fire of hostile invadersnearly five
times as numerous as themselves,
and nearly n fourth Of whom were
hirelings from Europe and Africans,
the latter being a class of troops
which George III Gid not disgrace
himself by employing against our
ancestors.
CHOW many a glorious name for us,
How many a story Of fame for us
They left. Would it not be a
blame for us,
If their memories Dart .
From our land and heart;
AID a uv1.ono 40 4Inoo on1 a Oh01oo
for us?"
Who were these men? In what
school of morals had they been in
structed? Had their fathers and
mothers taught them that it was
wrong for the Spartan band at Their
mopylae to resist the Persian invad-
lers? Had their teachers told them
that the Scots were guilty of rebel
lion and treason when they resisted
proud Edwards power and drove
back his invading hosts at Bannock-
burn? Had they been instructed that
it was a crime to cOercean unwilling
king to affiX his seal to Magma Char
= ia, the sacred basis of English> lib.
erty?! Did they believe that their an
cestors were criminals when after
i ages of struggle they overthrow the
divine right OF kings, and transfer
red sovereignty to the peoples: Die
they believe that our ancestors were
5 mistaken when they declared tina
1 all just government rests on the con
, sent Of the governed? Had they beef
taught that after George Ill had &C
knowledged his reVolted province
, to be free, sovereign and independen
States, they were not free, Sovereign
, and independent States: Had the,
ever subscribed to the doctrine tina
one community a a right to i'm
: pose burdens on another: to fore,
n social, civil or political institution
on another: to levy tribute on an
other? To ask these questions is t
: answer them; and | 5 kthem simpl
to impress on your minds some car
Idinal truths which have been cas-
aside in our literature and in the ad
ministration Of the Federal govern
ment.
The men of the South had inhel
tied that eXhalted sense of iustic
which carried their ancestors, s'witl
= out the slightest particle of persona
e e interest" as Senator Hoar admItte
- the other day, to the defense
:, Massachusetts, wnan the British 90,
eminent sought to impose unju
~ burdens upon her. They had inhe
- tied that marvellous Wnselfshness
their Revolutionary sires manifesto
~ in the donation for the general we
70 fare of the United States ofover 200
g 900 square miles of public lands b.
~ - longing to their own States. The
~ inherited the glow of that larg
% patriotism which purchased tt
Louisiana Territory as a shield
70 the Western and SouthWestel
States against the dangers Of fc
" " eign aggression. They YER the SO
'e e and grandsons of the men who