The Marlboro democrat. [volume] (Bennettsville, S.C.) 1882-1908, 1903-05-22
voked prolonged applause.
BUSINESS MEMS WELCOME.

70 Gne Guy IN behalf of the business
men of the city. Mr.. Clark said:
Mr.. Chairman and Veterans: 1t af-
fords me real pleasure, fellow veterans,
speaking for the chamber OF commerce
and for the good people Of this city, to
extend to you most cordial welcome
and to wish you q happy and pleasant
reunion. Our doors are thrown wide
open and by their authority and repre-
sentative 1 invite you to enter and be
our guest.
In extending you this invitation al
low me, friends and fellow veterans.
to say that any community should
esteem 1t privilege to be your host
and we, assure you, SO esteem it..
| AS the surviving heroes OF the Lost
Cause you are rightfully entitled to
our esteem, admiration and gratitude,
for veterans indeed you are, veterans
In age, veterans in experience, vet
cranS III war and veterans in peace
Few OF you there be who have not
already passed the SiXticth mile post
in the journey Of life and can now look
back with experiences pregnant with
great issues. 1t has fallen to the lot
| or few TO have borne such vicissitudcs
as you.
You arc the remnant Of Il war al
most wi thout Il parallel in history,
and yet the peace that followed i'm
p0sscd trials even more severe than
| the cruclticS OF war itself. These
| trials you have borne with more than
Spartan fortitude. This time las
been ctapart to celebrate the triumph
of your efforts and | speak no idle
words when L say, we esteem the
honor Of the OCCASION
HEROES OF a GREAT CAUSE
You are the heroes of IL great cause
You with your comrades, many Of
whom gave up their lives ON the field
of battle and many Of whom have since
met the last enemy and have come Off
more than conqucrors, made battle for
the cause OF right and principle.
The great war in which you were
the actors, unlike many others which
are called great, was altogether de-
fensivc, fought in defense Of rights
more dear than life itself History
records but few wagcd upon the same
plane or exalted principles. Iu tile
conQueStS OF Alexander the undcrly
my principles we the subjugation or
the world. In the campaigns OF the
Caesars The underlying principles
We're new and additional territory for
the Roman empire and the enslayc-
menG or entire communities Of civil
izcd peoples. In the war; Of The first
Napoleon the underlying principles
were nothing more elevated than a
selfish purpose to subordinate ali TO
| tlp inflnn,if i,ln ,pin -
ambition.
Not 50 with the war wagcd by your.
1t, like It's great forcrunncr, the
American revolution, had higher aims
and nobler aspirations.
| Constitutional rights and PERSONAL
liberties were the great questions at
Issue and over which the great battle
was joined.
The line was drawn and the battle
wagcd between the two distinctive peo-
pies who had settled in this country
and by whose intelligence, industry
ana courage it soon took its place
among the. .formOSt nations of the civil
LIED world. Peoples, each distin-
Euishcd for their intellectual vigor,
their high standard OF moral and re-
ligions aims, and their unbending
loyalty to the cause or truth and jus-
tlcc. The puritans' Uf New England
on the one hand and the cavaliers and
Scotch OF Virginia and the Carolinas
on the other: each fighting for consti-
Lutlonal libcrticS us they each for
themselves read and interpreted the
law
t was indeed Il battle Of principles,
%aged by giants. 1t was desperate e
and 1T was destructive. 1t also, from
The very nature Of the case, involved
the horrors OF fartricidal war. Frat
rlcldal not only in the broad sense
that we, while one people, were divd-
cd and lighting the one against the
othcr. But true in the narrow sense.
les, it not unfreuucntly happened
That those so near and dear as brothers
enlisted upon different sides, each ris-
ing to distinction and high rank in
the army Of his choice. 1t was indeed
the case of a divided house.
II has but recently been my privi-
iegc TO sec book OF the gencalogy of
one OF the distinguished families of
this country, who grew to greatness in
the great State or Kentucky.
FOR THE RIGHT.
The record shows that the family
furnished to both the federal army and
Confederate army soldiers Of dstinc-
llOn and Of unqucstioncd courage.
Ihc name appears among the major
generals in each army. From one
house hold alone of the name three
sons were soldiers in the federal army
and two sonS-in.law were soldiers in
the Confederate army Nor can either
be charged with being traitor to his
country. Each fought for the cause
us appeared unto him right; and as he
saw it, it was to him right.
For these as well as other reasons
1T was desperate war 1t was Il con
tllct between a great people and upon
great principles.
i ~ has been aptly called an ir-
rcpressible conllct.'' And so it was.
In The evolution Of this great country
and in It's rapid rise to greatness it
could not be otherwise than that great
issues would emerge Issues that
must be settled and settled quick, sc
that progress should not he retarded.
Such issues did in truth arise an6
could not be stopped short OF the great
issue which eliminated in that war IL
which you took SO prominent Il part
You, my friends, lave il lively rcmem.
brancc Of it and Of the result. Nol