The Marlboro democrat. [volume] (Bennettsville, S.C.) 1882-1908, 1903-05-22
voked prolonged applause.
BUSINESS MEMS WEI co>,E

10 the city in behalf of the business
men of the city. Mr.. Clark said:
Mr.. Chairman and, Veterans: 1t ar
fords me real pleasure, fellow veterans.
speaking for the chamber OF commerce
and for the good people Of this city, to
extend to you most cordial welcome
and to wish you q happy and pleasant
reunion. Our doors are thrown wide
open and by their authority and repre-
sentative invite you to enter and be
our guest.
In extending you this invitation al
low me, friends and fellow veterans,
to say that any community snoul d
esteem 1T a privilege to be your host
and we, l assure you, SO esteem it.
AS the surviving heroes Of the Lost
Cause you are rightfully entitled to
our esteem. admiration and gratitude,
for veterans indeed you are, veterans
in aye, veterans in experience, vet
Grams in war and veterans in peace.
Few or you there be who have not
already passed the SiAticth mile post
IL the journey Of life and can now look
i9%ck with experiences pregnant with
great issues. 1t has fallen to the lot
or few to have borne such vicissitudcs
as you.
You arc the remnant Of war al
most wi th0ut parallel in history,
ana yet the peace that followed i'm
posscd trials even more severe than
the crueltieS OF war itself. These
trials you have borne with more than
Spartan fortitnte. This time has
been set apart to celebrate the triumph
Of your efforts and l speak no lille
words when | say, we esteem the
honor Of the occasion.
HEROES OF a GREAT CAUSE.
You are The heroes of Il great cause
You with your comrades, many OF
whom gave up their lives on the field
of battle and many Of whom have since
met the last enemy and have come OFT
more than conqucrors, made battle for
the cause OF right and principle.
The great war i'll which you were
the actors, unlike many others which
arc called great, was altogether de-
fenSivc, fought i'm defense Of rights
more dear than life itself. History
records but few wagcd upnn the same
plane OF exalted principles LII the
conquests or Alexander the underly-
my principles were the subjugation or
The world. In the campaigns or the
Caesars the underlying principles
were new and additional territory for
the Roman empire and thc cnslave-
ment or entire communities Of civil
Izcd peoples. In the war, OF the first
Napoleon the underlying principles
were nothing more elevated than a
selfish purpose to subordinate ali TO
the indomitabc will OF IL rcmorsclrss
ambition
Not 50 with the war wagcd by your.
IL, like its great forcrunner, the
American revolution, had higher aims
and nobcr aspirations.
Constitutional rights and personal
Liberties were the great questions AZ
iHSuc and over which the great battle
was joined
The line was drawn and the battle
waged between the two distinctive peo-
pies who had settled in this country
and by whose intelligence, industry
and courage it soon took It's place
among the. formost nations of the civil
lizcd world. Peoples, each distin-
guishcd for their intellectual vicor,
their high standard of moral and re-
llglous aims, and their unbcnding
loyalty to the cause OF truth and JUS
ticc. The puritans' Of New England
ON the one hand and the cavali crs and
Scotch OF Virginia and the Carolinas
on the other; each fighting for conSti-
| L.llional liberties, as they each for
| themselves read and interpreted the
law
1t was indeed Il battle Of principles,
"agcd by giants. 1t was desperate
ana 1t was destructive. 1t also, from
The very nature Of the case, involved
the horrors OF fartrcidal war. Frat
ricidal not only in the broad sense
lilat we, while one people, were divid-
cd and lighting the one against the
oGhcr. But true in the narrow sense.
lcs, it not unfrcuucntly happened
that those SO near and dear as brothers
enlisted upon different sides, each ris-
ing TO distinction and high rank in
the army of his choice. TWAS indeed
the case Of a divided house.
1t has but recently been my privi-
lego TO sec book OF the gcncalogy Of
one OF the distinguished families OF
this country, who grew to greatness in
the great State or Kentucky.
| FOR THE RIGHT.
The record shows that the family
furnished to both the federal army and
Confederate army soldiers of distinc-
tion and Of unqucstioncd courage
The name appears among the ma ajor
generals in each army. From one
house hold alone OF the name three
sons were soldiers in the federal army
and two sons-in-iaw were soldiers in
the Confederate army. Nor can either
be charged with being traitor to his
country. Each fought for the cause
us appeared unto him right; and as he
saw IT, ii was to him right.
For these as well as other reasons
it was desperate war. It was Il con
ilict between a great people and upon
great principles.
III has been aptly called an Sir
rcprcssble conilct.'' And so it was.
In The evolution Of this great country
and in It's rapid rise to greatness it
could not be otherwise than that great
issues would emerge. Issues that
must be settled and settled quick, SO
that progress should not be retarded.
Such issues did in truth arise and
could not be stopped short of the great
issue which eliminated in that war in
which you took SO prominent part
You, my friends, have Il lively remcm-
brance Of it and of the result. Nor