The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-04-10


reach and sent file of soldiers, with
sergeant and an order of arrest to fetch
Gentry into camp. 1t was all real to the
imaginary captive. Brought into the
presence OF the Federal General, and
what appeared to be a drumhead court
martial, the old statesman drew him.
self to his full height and in sonorous
but broken tone he said: General Rous-
seau, you know that l loved the Union.
Upon the altars of the Union j poured
out the dearest aspirations of my young
manhood. 1 grew gray in the service.
Finally, the wheel steamboat Sc
cesson' came along l saw first one
neighbor, then another neighbor get
aboard, and, when all We're aboard ex-
cept me, and l stood alone upon the
shore, and they were about to haul in
the gang plank, l cried: Hold on, boys;
will go with you if you go to He'll!
/ chanced to be in Europe a little while
after the war Such trifling distinctions
as Federal and Confederate were un-
known. All of us were Yankees. Then
and there, took a bee line in the direc
tion of the bunting, and have been
smuggling beneath it's folds from that
day to this. l did not believe in slavery.
1 did not believe in Secession. Heavens,
if | had But what is the use specu-
lating about inconjectural possibilities?
The doctrine of Secession did not origi-
nate at the South, but at the North; it
was not the South that brought the ne
gro from Africa, but the North. In the
very beginning the seeds of dissolution
were sown. The makers of the Constitu
tion left the exact relations of the Fed
eral government to the States and of the
States to the Federal government open
to a double construction. In claiming
thence the right to secede Yancey fol-
lowed after Pickering, Jefferson Davis
after Gouveneur Morris Curiously
enough this right of secession, such as
it may be, stands yet in the Constitution
unchallenged and unabridged. You said
by act of Congress that the black man
should be white man. You conffscated
the debts and the money of the Con-
federacy. But you left in the Constitu-
tion that fatal double construction to
which, along with slavery, we owed all
our trouble, and there it is today, so
that if want to take Kentucky and go
out of the Union there is no statute to
hinder me, and though you may make 1t
uncomfortable for me, you cannot fnd
the law to hang me for treason. ! beg
that YOU will not be disturbed. / am not
going to do it.
THE FOLLY OF REORGANIZATION.
know that there are many Northern
statesmen, conscientious and learned, who
cannot assent to this view. They do not
think it best to accept so light an esti-
mate of what they regard as great
crime But why not? Recalling Burke's
aphorism touching his inability to draft
an Indictment of an entire people-even
though the subjects of King-how may
ten millions of free men be criminally
arraigned by twenty millions or their
fellow citizens because of the conse-
auences of an honest difference or Con-
stitutional construction. embracing some
of the foremost jurists, some OF the
purest patriots, from Josiah quincy ana
John C Calhoun to Alexander ii. Ste
phens and Salmon P. Chase! why
should the North want to draw such an
indictment Of the South? The North won
all. the South lost all No one OF the
principals survives. Millions OF stal-
wart Americans have been born and nave
reached manhood-many OF them mldole
age-since the last shot was flred IN thdI
conflict. Some of them serve IN lhe
army and some of them in the navy.
Some of them go the length Of descrlp-
ing themselves as "Veterans of the Span
ish War" All of them are ready, eager
to answer the call of their country. why
should any thoughtful, patriotic American
want 10 put a blot upon the family es-
cutcheon of these Americans? why
should any thought, patriotic American
seek to discriminate between any poay
of upright and brave Americans, VINO ol1
their duty as God gave them the llght 10
see it? What good reason can any
thoughtful, patriotic American give TOT
the wish to establish an historic me-
blacklisting the people of section, VINO
met defeat so manfully and have ta%eA
uron themselves the renwed obligations
of citizenship so loyalty?
AMERICAN HoMoGENEITY.
I did not come here tonight to exploit
myself, or to join in the exchange OF
imnaterial compliments, however agree
able. | came because l thought | might
contribute something to the common
stock of information touching the present
relations of the North and the South.
There is already peace between the sec
tions" Never since the creation OF the
government has there been a greater uni
formity, a deeper effusion OF national
sentiment. We are not merely united
people, we are a homogeneous people.
Mississippi and Massachusetts are con-
vertible terms, and it needs only Few
weeks and a change of raiment' to con-
vert a typical Vermonter into typical
Texan We used to hear good deai
about the Puritan and the Cavalier Dur
ing our sectional war the armies OF the
North were full of Cavalier soldiers, such
as Wadsworth and Kearney in the East
as Mcpherson and Custer in the West
whilst the one representative puritan
soldier. Stonewall Jackson, served the
Confederacy. Many of the greatest lan-
lilies in the South proudly trace their
origin back to the blood and loins OF
the Pilgrim Fathers. And yet are there
people at the North, newspapers at the
North that still assume for the North
yin