The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-05-22
ROGERS, ADDRESS
Delivered Before the Confederate Re
union at New Orleans.

IN part:
Why are we here? No fanatical re-
lfgious crusade prompted this immense
cOncourse. Here are to be found all
creeds and faiths and beliefs in per
feet peace with each other, freed from
antagonists to excite the passions OF
men In yonder sky are no angry
clouds of pestilence or war. No impend-
Ing danger threatens our land demand
ing consultation and means of protec-
ton from enemies within and without.
Neither are we weary pilgrims to a holy
Mecca, seeking absolution of our sins.
Nor are we aspifants for social or po-
htlcal preferment This is no vast DO
/ sembled for purposes of considering
grave matters of state or seeking to
confer honOrs on favorite sons. Nay,
nay, none of these. What is it that has
brought US together2 This great as
sembly hall, fest0Oned with bunting and
flags, emblems of liberty and power its
ampitheater filled with the grave man
hood and lovely womanhood Of the
south, these venerable men the survi-
Vors of the tremendous conflict of the
sixties-all these tell of a feep. UNDER
lying cause. This great sea of upturned
faces glowing with life, intelligence and
sympathy-if not with joy unmingled
with sOrroW-proclaim that the purpose
OF our assembling has made a deep inn
preston upon our hearts. We need not
represS the deyoti0ns by which we are
/
reunions occur, we are standing amid
the sepulchers of our dead. Every foot
Of our beloved southland is distinguish
ed by their courage, their sublime forth
devotion and patriotism, and sanctified
by the shedding of their blood. Time
and nature have had their course in
diminishing the numbers of those who
surrendered at the close of the great
civil war; but neither time nor nature
can relieve those who survive of the
duties they owe to the memory of our
unrecOrded dead, to our pOSterity to our
beloved southland and to ourselves We
are here today to discharge as we may,
those duties, and to renew old friend
ships forged IN the white heat of COM
mon Sufferln8S ana ha1lOWed and sancti-
fed by the conscious conviction that in
the hour of trial and peril, we were true
to the constitution as it was framed and
handed down to US by Washington and
MS cOmpatrlOtS. We are here also to
pay tribute to the noble band Of south
ern women, the mothers and daughters
of the COnfederacy.
# we would not have our very chill
dren in the near future, if not ashamed
and apologizing for u.s. then unable to
defend US. we must not be idle in pre-
serving, recording and teaching the real
facts upon which the righteousness of
our actions must depend.
find no fault with the New Eng
land states that, from the moment the
Pilgrim Fathers touched foot on Ply
n
tinued day by day to record their own
deeds but it cannot be truthfuIIy said
that their writers and statesmen have
always been as just and faithful in
their Interpretation and treatment of
/ the actions OF others, as they have been
diligent in recording their own deeds
and afterwards escaping their respon-
sibility and logical consequences. 1t is
a misfortune to the south that her sons.
if not Indifferent then careleSSiy ne
he fcfn
/ like records The true record of the
south, if it can be related with historic
accuracy, is rich in patriotism, in in
lte1ectual force. in civic and military
achievements. IN heroism in honorable
and sagacious craftsmanship. of a
proper share in which no American can
afford to deprive himself So much
genius in legislation, in administra-
ton, in Jurisprudence, in war, such
great capabilities. should expel partisan
and sectional prejudices.
The south is reproached for dis-union
secession. It is the basis for the
charge of treason. of disrupting the
union, of violating the Constitution. of
rebellion, of making war on the United
States. 1t must not be forgotten that
there is a wide difference between Sc
cession and rebellion The south made
no war on the states remaining in the
union. Secession meant disunion so far
as the seeding states were concerned
but it neither meant war nor rebellion
1t meant a union intact, ana q ull1Ont
too. under the constitution. AS the
states entered the union, each under
acts of ratification of its own, 50 Sc
cession meant the resumption by each
state of its delegated powers.by repeal
ing the acts under which each seeding
state entered the compact; but the re-
peal of such acts did not and could not
affect the acts by which the remain
4 ing states entered into the cOnfederacy-
/ affirm if odium is to attach to the
for 70 secession
attach also TO the great north and east
where it was for political. economical
and Industrial reasons, sedulously a9f-
tated and inculcated up to the Mexican
war and the rights distinctly recog-
nized by its leading statesmen up to
1850 History ought not to allow them
to slip this odium, if odium it be, from
their shoulders, to the shoulders of the
south
our children should know that the
( confederate states. by the act of seces-
sion. made no war on the United
/ states: that the wax between the states
was not rebellion. 1t was the result or
! an effort by the United States to CO.
erce. states against their win to remain
in the union. a power not to be found
I in the Constitution power which all
tire earlier fathers believed did not eX-
/ isf. a power utterly inconsistent with
the right of secession, which 1t Is be-
liaved all parts of the country recOg-
nized when the Coz utfon vas rram~
ed and for many years thereafter
If the southern states had the power,
Notwithstanding the Constitution. to
withdraw from the union in 1903, in
1872 and in 1886. as New England states
men then affirmed they had the same
power in 1861 No change of the Con-
stitution had been made and the rela-
tions of the states to each other were
unaItered. If that power existed at all.
the expediency of withdrawing was one
solely for each state to deide for itself.
1t was not a question Of the control
of the government or an economical OF
industrial question: it was not ques-
ton of preserving the balance OF power
or the equilibrium of the sections. such
as was felt in New England when the
Louisiana and Florida purchases were
made. and Texas acquired It was a
question Of civilization of constitution
al liberty. of the preservation of the
principles of the constitution and the