The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1904-06-24
AN ELOQUENT OaAIiON.
Address of Henry watterson at
Nashville Reunion.

corner stone of the monument tn y
erected to the memory of the privat
confederate soldier at Centennial Parl
IN Nashville. The address was de
T llvered during the Reunion last weel
and is well worth preservation as ;
gem of oratory:
We are here today to lay the foun
datlon stone of a monument TO th,
Confederate dead. That monument
when 1t is completed. will forever
mark, will forever keep watch anC
guard over the memory of brave men
who died fighting against the national
| government. In the thoughts which
crowd our minds, in the emotions
winch NIL our hearts, in the words
which we shall utter, we are to make
no paltry admissions. no mean con
LESSONS. no dishonoIing renuncia-
tlons but standing uncovered in the
presence of Almighty God, proclaim
ing 10 the world the integrity of the
dead, signalling the cause for which
they died, renewing our fidelity to the
sacred compact of Brotherhood and
soldlershlp, we are to reconcile tits
act of pious homage with perfect
loyalty to the Union. to the flag, and
those of our countrymen who success
fully fought against us.
1t will never be known nor Muse
of history, nor genius of philosophy
will ever be able to tell whether
the war of sections could have been
averted. Two conflicting schools of
thought, two antagonistic systems of
labor, slowly but surely erected them
selves within certain too well defined
| geographic partitions. Seventy and
one years that which was in the be-
ginning built upon compromise was
held together by compromise. The
last thirty years of the struggle be-
tween irreconcilable conditions, be-
tween opposing ideas which would
down at no mans bidding, an ever
increasing intensity of feeling, an
ever widening area of conviction,
revealed in what had become long
before the guns of Beauregua1d opened
fire upon Fort Sumter little other
than two no t lie camps. The battle
field seemed the only court of last
resort. Into that dread tribunal each
litigant brought the best that was In
him. All minor differences, all doubts
and all fears were suken in the single |
issue of the Union ON the one side the |
Confederacy or the other. The law of |
force against force alone was to decide. |
1t did decide, and the decision, which |
was equally complete and final, left |
nothing to wish for by the North !
nothing to hope for by the South.
Tennessee. more than any other of |
the slave holding States-more even
than Virginia-was unprepared for the
crisis of 1861. Her dearest aspirations
had been for half century poured
out as rich lihations upon the altar of
the Union, her fondest traditions,
radiating from the Hermitage. in
splred and sustained the thorough
conservatism of her people. The 9th
of February, 1861, by an overwhelm
ing majority, they voted down prop
osition to assemble State convention.
They would not even consider seces-
sion. The 24th of the following June
by still more overwhelming majority
they gave their assent to the proclama-
tion of the governor dissolving their
with the Union and casting
in their lot with the Confederacy.
Why change of public sentiment and
opinion so sudden and startling in a
people, SO steadtast and patriotic?
The reason needs no diagram to
explain it. no casuistIy to defend it.
It involved no tergiversatlon. 1t inn
piled no lack of intelligence or of
or of good faith. The debate
was ended. They had done their best :
o preserve the peace of the country. I
IN spite of them war was come.
Obliged at last to take sides, they =
ided with the South and against the :,
North, q decision the more heroic
ince they clearly foresaw what was y
before them They were under no
80 La oh 10 10 |
Engaged. Not merely had they to stife L
many convictions and nslbilities, a
nut to meet the onset of immediate and
Incredible odds. They counted not the .
ost they consulted none of the text
looks of expediency; they barred their
reasts to the storm and went to the sa-
1ifce their eyes wide open. 1t WIS the
Tod given right Of self defense against
II theories of union or disunlon.
Wigs who had followed Clay, Demo
rats who had followed Jackson, the =
,rowns. the Fosters and the Hattons.
ouallv with the Trousdales, the Guilds
nd the CAROLS, the Coopers and the
,wings-Henry and Gentry joining
ands with HAYNES and Whitthorne-
II rallied under the leadership of that
orn leader of men-that soldier
ivilian-that salesman in the senate,
nat hero on the battlefield, the chiv-
Iric, the incompatible Harris. Greece
nd her Marathon let Shiloh. Muir
.eesboIo and Chicamauga tell the
DRY of Tennessee.
'These are the guarantees which the
zen of the South give to the men of
,e North these the tokens by which
g measure our fidelity to the Ameri-
IN Union. L
If il was the will of God that there \
,ould be a new birth of freedom; if
was the VIII Of God that government
the people, by the people and for the
,ople should not perish from the
nth. then 1t was the will of God that
ere should be mighty sacrifice;
id let no man forget that the same
cd which struck down myriads of
q best beloved of the North struck
wn myriads of the best beloved OF the
nth. that the doctrine of secession
as horn ut the North that the sin of
very. such as il may have been,
I.nad aouaIlv Tn both the North