The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-11-05
THE REUNION.
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 in obedience to the instincts of self-pres- ervation and the teachings of a lofty courage, declared that he would depart in peace, and that denied him. would stake all upon the sword. That was denied him, and then came the gun at Sumter and then came the Confederate soldier.
 Tremendous Odds.
 sThe Confederate soldier was fighting for his home which give him a deeiued moral advantage. He operated generally in his own country, which gave him great military advantage, all the fruits of which he could not reap; since he fought men of the same race, speaking the same lan- guage, who often had men to the man. nor born in their ranks. He also had the advantage of moving on interior lines, which was largely neutralized by wretch ed transportation facilities, in his sparcely settled territory, and his opponents com mand of the sea- and some of our great rivers In all things else, the Confeder- ate was at a fearful disadvantage
 His government was new, without credit, and confronting an old. established power. In men, ships, and all that en- ters into the equipment, comfort and SUD- ply of armies and navies, the odds against him were appalling. The official records show that the north enlisted throughout the four years of the war two million, seven hundred and seventy-eigh thous- and men, while the south, according to the best estimate could not muster quite eight hundred thousand men, while it fur nished nearly four hundred thousand troops to the north. Of the three million five hundred thousand combatants en- gagged in the struggle. nearly two million more fought on the one side than on the other.
 "The exaltation which came to the Con- federate with the first passionate rush. ing to arms, and the delirium which fol- lowed the victory at Manassas, gave way to a higher consecration to duty during the fall and winter months, as there came to his ears notes of the gigantic prepara- tions of the invader, sounding every where along our borders.
 An enormous flotila and powerful army were gathering in the west, to re- possess the upper Mississippi and the Tennessee Another army and fleet were organizing for descent on the coast of North Carolina. Still another powerful army and fleet were being collected to assault New Orleans. Nearly 100000 men, superby equipped and disciplined, lay around Washington, ready to spring upon Richmond when the roads hardened, while auxiliary armies threatened 1t from over the mountains and up the valley. Other forces and fleets were in readiness to move on Savannah and Charleston-while all the energy of the powerful north reinforced it's armies in Missouri and Arkansas to aid In the descent on Mississippi. The Confectionery was to be cut in twain, and its capital and chief cities wrested from it, by simultaneous concentration of numbers and blows from every quarter. The giant Goliah not more despsed the shepherd boy David, with his sling and stone from the brook, than did the north the meager forces which the south could gather to oppose 1t.
 Other Lessons.
 ''There are some other lessons which his countrymen should draw from the life and character of the Confederate soldier. He was never brawler He deemed it cowardly unnecessarily to take human life. He never advocated or joined mobs. He respected law because 1t was the will of the people and essen- tial to their happiness. He deemed it the highest manhood 10 submit to au- thority and to set an example Of obedi- enee to law. He was not self-seeking but was self-reliant and he placed greater value upon his honor than riches He was not an intolerant man, ana knew how to do justice to the motives Of those opposed to him. As the long war pro- gressed which separated the true metal from the chaff, all personal hatred disar- peared and he began to respect the man who like himself, barred his bosom to the storm of battle in the defense of honest convictions.
 Every true American ought to shrink from any verdict upon the great conflict which involves the millions on the one side, or the millions on the other, In wrong or bad motive. or mere lust of conquest or power in the part they took in that strife. That there were grievious wrongs in such a struggle, no reflecting man can deny But making due allow ance for the unparalleled proportions of the contest, the length of time it con- tinued and the violence with which it was waged, history will say of the gener- ation which engaged in it, and that it has less to deplore than in any other great war of ancient or modern times In drawing lessons from it, let us blot out the memory of the evil things that were done. and look to the noble and he- roic and virtuous deeds it called forth.
 Let us follow the illustrious examples of Grant and God-lil<e Lee The chivalry of the successful soldier which forebore to mock his countrymen with the use less ceremonial Of surrender, and the God-like bearing in diversity of the de- feated chief, whose whole life and deeds illustrated his immortal declaration that human virtue should equal human ca- lamity." Let us delight in the heroic