The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-04-27
UNWILLING OF THE MEMORIAL
Continued from Eighth Page.)

them, and to mark their last resting
place with a fitting memorial, would
speak of them as our friends and COM
rades. and do openly repel the false ac-
cusation, and declare to all the world
that they were true and faithful to the
land of their birth or of their adop-
ton, and loyal and steadfast in their
adherence to the principles of free gov
eminent and the sovereignty of the
states in a constitutional union. Which
cause they espoused and bravely main
tanned, and have. never surrendered.
We will not enter into argument to
vindicate them. The justice of the
cause for which they rSked their lives
and fortunes is best exemplified and
illustrated by the character of the
noble men who led it.
Consider the nobility and purity of
the life of jefferson Davis, undaunted
in defeat, during the long years of
strife he swerved not hairs breadth
in his devotion to the Confederacy;
neither insult and cruelty in prison, nor
even manacles could break his proud
consciousness of, right, nor could
obloquy and false accusation tarnish
his reputation, or weaken the love and
veneration in which his memory is held
by his followers Contemplate the he
roic courage, mastery strategy and
humble fervent piety of the Christian
warrior, StonewaH Jackson, where,
among all the host of his antagonists,
will there be found one to compare
with him?
1.-THE peerless Lee. The greatest
eXemplifying in his daily life the
highest elements and most magnificent
qualities of manhood. A grandeur ex-
ceiling the most august potentate and
a simplicity as lucid ana pure as the
limpid flow of a crystal fountain.
fright here, among us, for years
after the close of the ensanguined
struggle, we had the bright examples
of those brave and excelling masters of
honorable warfare-Joseph E. john
ston, Lafayette McLaws and Monkey
Sorrel-who retired from the conflict
with unsullied honor. and devote l
themselves to the repairing of the de-
structive waste of war. and the up
building of our grand old state. from
the ashes of ruthless invasion by a
cruel and relentless foe.
Time would fail me to call over the
names of the commanders of exalted
virtue and spotless fame, who, sup
ported by their valor and skill these
superb leaders in the cause; and these
were only the prominent actors In that
grim but grand array of gallant men,
who for four long years sustained the
impetuous assaults of fanaticism and
mercenary hirelings.
THE good that these men did lives
after them; their valor and their fame,
their heroisqn and devotion. is not in
TERED with their bones No, the MEM
DRY of their brave deeds are inefface-
, ably carved upon the tablets of the his
DRY of our country, indelibly engraved
hn Of
orever enshrined in our hearts. And
Ill over the confines of the Confedera-
" in marble, bronze, and iron, are
| reared the monuments that declare
their knightly prowess and brave en-
! durance, and keep alive in the sight
and memory of the nation, the love and
| respect for the true and eternal prin-
ciples of constitutional liberty for
which they battled even to the death.
To-day, in annual assembly, While
nature renews her youth and arrays
herself in fresh and gorgeous colors on
| her field of living green, we meet to
| renew our allegiance to the vital auS
enduring issues involved in that mighty
I conflict, and to repeat the story of the
brave days gone by, and to brighten up
and revive the recollections of our
dead heroes. The monument we now
| unveil decorates and marks the last
! resting place of some who survived the
conflict, who battle SCARED and MAIN
| ed came back to their homes to snatch
victory from defeat. To rebuild and
| repair the waste places and to obliter-
| ate the disasters of the long and bitter
struggle. and to restore the fabric of
free and constitutional government in
the face of our victorious foes, who
| have themselves been vanquished by
| their own success and would tamely
surrender the inalienable right of self
| government and state sovereignty,
/ handed down to us and to them by our
! forefathers, to the concentrated and