The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1903-02-26
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 30 /; 1905 ..
T
lE WE HAD SUCCEEDED.

y
trait OF General James L.. kempcr. have
received widespread notice by reason
Ss2 OF the speeches made there. In oil OF
(which wusI stern reprohation and re-
$ pudlation Of the absurd and ignobe
doctrine that we ought to be glad that
3the South did not succeed in her strug-
gle for independence.
3 Any such admission as that would be
3 MS much rs to say that the Confederates
a5flew to arms without knowing what they
were doing, and like q lot OF angry and
spoiled children, were demanding for
themselves a thing which would have
been hurtful to them had they been sue
4 cessfu in securing It.
1t would be also to concede that our
people, who more than any other people
have shown their capacity for self-gov-
y eminent, would have proved incapable
Il Of conducting a government all their
own when complete power was placed In
their hands.
Loyalty to our heroic dead and n rea-
u sonable faith in their wisdom and fore.
sight forbid any such idea as that in
4 dulged in by those Southerners who
say-thoughtlessly, we feel sure-that
1t IS "better that the war should have
ended as 1t did," 3siaHl
Il III the opinion Of tho Lee Camp ora
tors, and in our Judgment. neither SEN
tlment nor fact; neither experience of
y the past nor proper forecasting Of the
future, sustains that view. Ii the Con-
federacy had won in It's appeal to arms,
at would have been OPTIONAL with it to
maintain separate government or 10
propose reunion OF the States upon
those lines and with those safeguards
which experience had taught us were
necessary.
/ So far as slavery was concerned, It
was doomed anyway. The Southern
i people were unwilling that a gang of
meddling and murderous John Browns
should make" them do this or that.
thing, but, left to themselves. freed from
the nagsing ana tagging of abolitlonists,
n they would have provided for the grad
ual emancipation of their negroes. Then
we should have had none of the distress
IS OF reconstruction times, none OF thespo-
liation Of the post-bellum period. none
+ OF the horrors of negro acknowledgements
up a separate republic or to have made
terms for q reunion OF the States, all
those miserles and more we should have
escaped.
The suggestion Of q reunion after se-6
cession is no new idea born of the me-
cessities Of an argument; no, 1t was ad
3vanccd early and emphatically in the
& first days OF secession.
4 In that valuable repository of learning
and patient research, the "onicial report
Of the History Committee of the Grand
Camp Confederate Veterans, Depart
ment of Virginia" by Judge George u
christian,.nade October Il, 1900. we find
the follBwins:'
Ton the secession of Mississippi. her
convention sent a commissioner Gwom
that State TO Maryland, who. at that
time. it may be sure, expressed the real
Eobiects sought to be obtained by seces-
sion by the great body Of the Southern
people, He said:
~. Secession Is not intended to break
up the present government. but to per-
petuate 1t. We do not propose to go
out by way Of destroying the Union rs
our fathers gave 1t to us, but we 80 out
for the purpose of getting further guar
nntees and security for our rights etc,
.'And SO we believe, that with the sue
4 :ess Of the South, the Union OF our
fathers which the South was the prin-
cipal factor in forming, ana to whicl. shc
was far more attached than the North, |
would have been restored and rc-estab-
lished: that in this Union the South |
would have been again the dominant |
people. the controlling power, and that |
its administration OF the government in |
that Union would have been along cen
stltutiona and Just lines, and not
through military districts, attempted |
confscations, force bills, and other OPP
pressive and Illegal methods, such as
characterized the conduct of the North |
for four years after the war, IN its al
legged restoration Of a Union which II |
denied had ever been dissolved.
las to the abolition of slavery; Whilst |
we know of no one in the South who |
does not rejoice that this has been ac-
complished. We know Of no one any
where, SO lost to every sense OF right
and justice as not to condemn the iniqu!-
tous way IN which this was done. But
we feel confident that no matter how |
the war had ended, 1t would have re-
suited in The freedom Of the slave, and
as surely with the success of the South
as with that Of the North, although per,
haps not 50 promptly
NE arc warranted IN this conclusion
from several considerations 1t was
conclpslHely shown In our last report
that We ala not fight for the continua-
ton Of slavery and that a large ma
joFity Of or soldiers were non-siaye-
holders t2l That our great leader Gen.
erai iee had freed his slaves before
the var, whilst General Grant held ION
10 his until they were freed by the
Emancipation Proclamation: and tS,
Whilst Mr., Lincoln issued that procla.
nation, he said IN his FIRST Inaugural;
t'l have no purpose directly or indi.
(, rertly, to Interfere with IKE Institutions
OF slavery in the States where ii exista
~ believe ! have no lawful right to do
so, and have no inclnarion 10 do sa,'0
So We Insist that tn either syent-y5e.
tory or defeat for the confederates-
abolition of slavery was certain. ana
we shall ever maintain that tho south.
S$ern people would nave been as prudent