The leader., 1903-07-01

non0r. he united In himself many or the
distinguishing characteristics of Americas
grand senatorial triumvirate. Websterian in
his masterful grasp Of great constitutional
principles, and as, profound and unerring
as Calhoun in the stately and steady march
of his logical processes, he could at will
command the imperial eloquence of Henry
Clay In the illustration and enforcement
Of mighty argument: He was the first
Southern representative after the war to
rift the darkness of our national skies and
bring light into the despairing parallels.
The voice that spoke over the dead Sum-
ner, like another prophet In the wilderness,
proclaimed the day dawn of our national
peace-the cloudless sunburst of our Fed.
eral Immortality. Well has he been called
the inspired pacifcator."
But time would fail me to tell of David
Holmes Mississippi's first and one of her
greatest governors of Maj. Thomas Kinds,
for whom this capitol county was named,
who was as confidently trusted in civil life
as he was proudly followed by his brave
dragons OF George Poindexter, the first
codifer of Mississippi's laws, a great gov
ernor and greater senator, a figure of
massive and majestic mould, the hero of
Chapultepec, an accomplished gentleman
and capable general of armies of William
II. Sharkey, the Chief Justice Marshall of
5s Edward C.
Southwest, brilliant cavalry commander
and an ideal senator of Ethelbert Banks
dale, the Sir Robert Peel of Mississippi,
leader in any host, premier in any cabi-
net, peer In any realm, who in all his con-
spicuous political career never compro-
missed a principle betrayed a cause or
fed field or deserted friend; Of James
z. George. the great commoner and able
senator the Trainer and expounder of con-
stitutions; of John Marshall Stone, whose
councils of peace as in the storm of war ;;
and hundreds of others, in church and
State, who are worthy to be held in high
and everlasting honor. Theirs are the
deeds which should not pass away, and
names that must not wither though the
earth forget her empires.
r1dh oil f1AN fol
history Mississippi manhood has stood
many severe tests and indicated every
high confidence. AS another is to speak
which began with the bugle blast of 1861,
| am only permitted to say that the brill
liant courage of our heroic legions was the
ton of the other. And for the brave souls
who bore the flag of their faith, with I'M
faltering steps, over every beleaguered
height of battle plain, we have reverence
that is little less than alteration. Veterans
of the grandest battalion in all history,
now War-worn and growing old, we uncover
in your august presence and crave from
each hero's blessing.
The final test of Southern character was
not displayed in laying the broad founda-
ton of a new civilian ton not in the sol
emn but tumultuous councils out of which
was evolved our great system of govern
ment not in the historic halls of State
where TitanS struggled for the mastery
in the splendid valor of her sons in the
storm and red rain of terrific battles not
In the military genus M f her cap
est marshals of modern times, but in their
serene fortitude and unyielding heroism
and unconquerable spirit after the storm
of battle had ceased and they were left
with only 1.-The SCARED and charred remains
of the fire and tempest" Surprising the
splendor of their courage in battle was the
grandeur of their fortitude in defeat The
sublimest hour in the Southern soldiers
life was the time of his pathetic home
coming. l have seen paintings representing
the returned Confederate soldier, which, in
my Judgment is not true to the facts of
history. He stands in tattered garments
amid the ruin of his home, the gate fallen
from its hinges, weeds covering the door
step. leaning upon his old musket, with a
downcast look and broken heart. As a
matter of fact he only waited long enough
to greet the faithful wife whom he had
not seen for four stormy years and kiss
the dear children who had grown out of
his recollection, and then with grim deter
reconstructing his once beautiful home and
rebuilding his shattered fortunes on other
and broader foundations. Men of principle
never falter, though they, fall. They felt
the bitterness of defeat. but not the nor
rors of desnair. How these brave men, the
sons of aftiuence, addressed themselves
to the grinding condition of sudden and
humiliating poverty, can never be described
And oh those pitiiesss years of recon.
struction! Worse than the .calamities Of
war were 1.-THE desolating furies of peace"
No proud people ever suffered such indig
mites or endured such humiliation and
degradation. More heartleSs than the rob-
Der bands that infested Germany after the
Thirty Years War were the hordes of plum
derers and vultures who fed and fattened
Their ferocious greed knew no safety, and
their shameless rapacity sought to strip
us to the skin. AS Judge Jere Black, with
Their felonicus fingers were long enough
to reach into the pockets of posterity
They coined the industry of future genera
tions into cash and snatched the Inherit
ancc from children whose fathers are I'M
born. A con1agration sweeping over the
State, from one end to the other and de
of personal property. would have been a
visitation of mercy in comparison to the
curse of such a government"
But no brave people ever endured OPP
preston and poverty with such calm dig
nifty and splendid self-restraint. And by
dint of their own unconquerable spirit and
rise from the ashes into af1uence. The
South no longer speaks with pathoss or
signs the miserere." She has risen from
fire and tempest and baptism of blood our
State has come undaunted in spirit and IN
unfaltering faith in the future. 1t Is said
over over the he field Of Waterloo the summer after
ron, in his "ChiIde Harold" to exclaim ::
How this red rain has made the harvest
So every battle plain that was once fur
rowed by shot and shell and wet with the
blood of brothers, now waves with the album
dant harvests of new and larger life.
The refiuent wave has set In. After long
! and bitter night the morning dawns. 1T
is daybreak everywhere"
The total taxable property in Mississippi
is $241 900, 900, and the rate of increase
never had such an accelerated movement.
Even within the past three years the as
sens s. ana
priations for education in the same period
| advanced $642798. The bonded indebted
ness Of the State has decreased $500 000,
| 612 to 6 mills on the dollar. The total
amount, from State, county and city tag
ati0n, DEVOTED to education Is - lSS;d9S ~
| is worthy of the highest honor. DR. Mayo
of Boston, distinguished authority in
ment: mo other people in human history
have made an effort so remarkable as the
people of the. South in re-establishing their
speaRing anu as far back as 1855 these
| teen States paid nearly $1,000,00o each
for educational purposes, a. sum greater,
the amount now paid by most Of the New
| England States According to per capita
wealth, Mississippi ranks first among the
| States of this Union in her contributions
| to education, and in the amount devoted
! to this great cause, out of the States total
| appropriations, she has no equal in the
whole world Mississippi has been gen
| uine friend If sound learning from the
days of her territorial minority. Her first
| legislative act was to charter a college
| She built school houses in the footprints
! of the retreating savages, and has trained
| and sent out into the various walks Of
! life some Of the noblest names in our
| national history
And believing 1t vital to the very exist
| ence of democracy, there will never be
any abatement of patriotic laws, and work
| ing out the mighty problems Of a govern
| ment of the people, FOR the people and by
the people, From these basal and eternal
| principles let US never be severed or alien
| ated.