Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1903-01-24
ROBERT EDWARD LEE.
Masterly Address by Major James f.
Hart, of YOrkville.

Hart, Of Yorkville.
The principal feature Of the celebra-
ton Of Gen. Robert E. Lees birthday
under the auspices Of the Charleston
Chapter Of. the. United Daughters OF
the Confederacy in Hibernian Hall
Charleston, last Monday night. was an
address by Major James F. Hart, OF
Yorkville. The News and Courier OF
Tuesday contains a full account Of the
proceedings and the following Is taken
from that paper:
Major James F. Hart was introduced
to the audience by Judge Simonton,
and he was given a most cordial re-
ception. His patriotic utterances were
frequently and heartily applauded and
his tribute to Lee evoked demonstra-
ton Of approval that continued for a
minute or more.
Major Hart said:
Major Harris Address.
dies of the Charleston Chapter Of Con-
federate Daughters, for permitting me
to bear a message to you from the past
on this anniversary Of the birth OF
Robert e. Lee.
The cause to which he gave the best
years of his illustrious life Is replete
with histories and sacrifices, and is as
dear to us in memory today as it was
in hope and promise when borne on the
points of our bayonets a generation
gone by.
The smoke Of battle had barely clear
ed away from our great civil war when
a distinguished English military biog-
rapher wrote: "The day will come
when the evil passion of the great civil
strife will sleep in oblivion and north
and south do justice to each others
motives and forget each others wrongs.
Then history will speak with clear
voice of the deeds done on either side,
and the citizens Of the whole Union do
justice to the memories of the dead and
will place above all others the name of
General Robert E. Lee"
These hearty, prophetic words were
but the repetition Of the history Of his
own people, our ancestry. They had
been the actors in many stormy con-
hicts through the years that had led
up to the middle Of the seventeenth
century. They had participated in the
battles between the Puritan and the
Roundhead on the one side, against
Royalist and Cavalier on the other;
had seen the Cavalier overthrown and
King Charles sent to his execution.
That same people twelve years later
had seen the Cavalier in the ascendant
and the bones of Cromwell, the execra-
ted Roundhead leader, dug from their
resting place among Kings in West
minister Abbey and hung in the admir-
ing gaze of Englishmen. Decades went
by and Englishmen gave their loyalty
to the successor Of the executed king,
and their hatred to the Puritan. Then
came time when truth outgrew pref
udice and untried opinions that had
been formulated into history were re-
cast, and all Englishmen were ready to
accord to Englishmen the honor Of just
motive. And little over two centuries
later, by resolution of that same Eng
lish parliament that had caused Crom-
wells dust to be scattered to the winds,
a monument to his memory now stands
at that same parliament house from
whence he sent King Charles to the
block.
All Englishmen have long since ad-
mitted that, the kingly violation of the
English constitution brought Charles
to a just retribution. And they admit
that the excesses of the Rump par
lament brought the cause Of the Pur-
itan leader to a deserved overthrow.
But this balancing up Of rights and
wrongs by the weight Of the sword was
at the cost Of all that is horrible In
civil war.
On a December night a little more
than forty-two years ago, there are
perhaps some in this audience who
witnessed the signing of the declara-
ton in this city by which South Caro-
lima, for cause she believed to be just,
annulled her membership with the
states Of the American Union. Other
states followed her example and thir-
teen sovereignties formed another un-
ion-the Southern Confederacy. When
a war Of coercion was waged the peo-
pie obeyed the command Of their states
and took up arms to resist invasion.
These people-the Confederate soldiers
and their leaders-were thenceforth
held up to the world as rebels and
traitors.
A sovereign state could not rebel and
this was not rebellion; sovereign state
could not commit treason, and these
acts were not reasonable. The crucial
test of state sovereignty came when 1t
had to be confessed that, even as
against Jefferson Davis, who in his own
great personality stood as the official
representative Of the rebellion" no in
dictment could be framed that would
secure conviction on a charge Of trea-
son against the government Of the
United States. An unsolicited dis
charge followed rather than have that
question tested by trial In the courts.
A respectable and intelligent list of
those Of our own countrymen opposed
to the south even now concede the
rightful principle, though the wagers OF
battle a generation since ended the ar
gument.
shall make no apology for this pre-
sentation of principles for several rea-
sons. At the recent convention Of the