The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-05-31

Southern statesman, let fall from mis-
lips these words: There was south
OF slavery ana seceSsion-thaC South is
dead. 1nere is Il south OF union ana
freedonl,-that South, thank God, is
living, breathing, growing every
hour.
strange, perhaps, you think it is
that Tor my subject TO-DAY / have Ia
ken such "a theme. Yet il appears APP
proprlate. Hit to the occasion. BE
cause it brings To mind the conflict
that was Waged and is overpast ana
eXempilneS the harmony that now
prevails in ali sections OF our country.
Slavery and secession!" Topics That
take us back to the early history OF
this government. Topics that REMIND
us OF fierce debates IN the Consliuu-
tIonal convention. Recalling George
Mason OF Virginia, in the eXclafna iion
that slavery IS IA National sin, sooner
or later to De paid Tor by q National
calamity; the IanentatiOn OF THOMAS
jefferson when contemplating the sub
ject, L tremDie Tor my country when
1 reflect that God is just Bringing us
to later times when Calhoun, the
very Apostle Of Slavery, believing
with ali his soul, that slavery was
right, religiouSly, morally and poiti-
CaIIy right, debated, hotly ana con-
tentiously, with Webster OF the oppo-
site faith. Reminding US OF Clay, the
Great COMPROMISED ever forward
With oil for the troubled waters. Clay
forever crying COMPROMISED when
there could be no compromise be-
cause two strong forces neld opposite
views of a great moral question. Tie
South strong in the conviction tHat
slavery was right. The North II. m
in the faith that slavery was strong.
The whole country was agitated.
Reason was gone. Prejudice, haired,
luminosity, passion, everywhere. :; he
conflict WAS irrepressibe.' War was
inevitable. Then Acts Of Secession
claimed by the South as a c0nstitu-
| tional right; a denial Of the same by
the North. jefferson Davis, Senator
| from Mississippi, bidding the Senate
farewell to become president of the
! Southern Confederacy. Fort Sumter
| fired upon and war inevitable had be-
come war.
| And now what Il spectacle! Men,
| descendants of those who in the days
OF the revolution had stood together
| and fought with strong arm the in
| vading English hosts until freedom
and independence had been assured,
| stood in battles stern array father
| against son, brother against brother,
| to war against one another. For four
| long years the struggle went on, in
season and out of season. In and out
the tide of the deadliest, mightiest
struggle the world ever saw ebbed and
| flowed. From the reveille in April,
| 1860 to taps in April, 1865, it seems
| one long continuous combat.
II wish l could portray to you the
| dazzling brilliancy of those tremend-
| Gus battles. But there lies a field for
the poets, if they, like Vergil would
| sing of men and of arms. If North
| ern valor were represented in Grant
and Sheridan; Southern courage found
| it's application in Jackson and Robert
| e. Lee If the titantic struggle finally
| terminated in the triumph of those
! arms that stood for the perpetuation
| of these United States: the Southern
| Confederacy was something more than
| a name. 1t was the embodiment of q
| people satisfied with the righteous
ness of their cause. 1t was the riS-
| ing sun of a peoples hope. 1t set, at
| length, when human nature could en-
| dure no more, amidst q rolling sea of
| blood and the War Between the States
was over.
THE two armies went home again.
| One, the conqueror; the other, the
conquered. All heroes going home to
| learn that Peace hath her victories no
| less renowned than war. Men went
| to work Glad TO think of war no
more There was no idleness any
where The battlefelds that for so
long had 'volleyed and numbered
| soon fairly hummed with the wheels
| of industry The War Between the
| States WAS indeed over.
"'Union and freedom When Lin
| coin with the din of battle yet in his
| ears and the smoke of powder still in
| his nostriIs stretched forth his hands
| Il c..1i6 a "a
| friends;' and Lee told an American
woman. DO not teach your children
| to hate; teach them that they are
| Americans. / thought that we were
| better off as one nation than as two,
and | think so now; and Grant suffer-
| ing the agonieS of a mortal malady
| gave his dying message to the ma
ton, Let us have peace, methinks
| they were dipping eyes into the flu
| ture' these piping days of peace,
| when the war drums throb no longer
| and the battle flags are furled.' Me
| thinks | can see Lee and Lincoln and
| Grant, 'exult, rejoice and be exceeding
glad that recent events have shown
that we are,
cone flag, one land one heart, one
One nation eVermore.'
Assembled today as we are upon
| the sleeping ground Of the Union dead
| we can sing no praise to them that
| does not reflect the glory of the South
| ern soldier. The glory of the one is
the glory of the other. Decoration
Day means rot that we should debate
again the old questions, because hap
PLY for us all, in the providence of
God they are settled Decoration
Day means that we should remember
in the crucial moments of the nation
life we have had men strong enough
to stand for their convictions: to ad-
here to principles; to battle for the
right as they saw the right even lat
the risk of their lives, their fortunes
and their sacs ed honor
"Then today as we decorate the
graves of those heroes asleep here in
this "Sweet Auburn" where the mag.
nolias bloom and the hooking birds
warble-'forever mustered outlet us
resolve to entertain no more such mar
row thoughts as the bravery of Yam
KEGS or the courage of Rebels; rather
let us cherish, and forever cherish,
that broad, deep sentiment, worthy of
a great people-the courage of Ameri-
cans, our common heritage.
The Graves Decorated.
Then came the decoration of the