The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-05-11

| Office of the Grand Worthy Patriarch
of the knights Templar in North
Carolina. In fact, it might be said
without exaggeration that in all ac-
tivities of life General Vance was al
ways first and most useful. | think
it may be said Of him that in the
quality of practical usefulness to his
fellow men in his time and genera
ton, he was without a peer; and in
that country where these activities
We're most employed, his memory is
cherished with more love and venera-
ton than that of any man who has
gone before him. He was always dis
tinguished for his truthfulness his
integrity his universal love for hu-
mainly, for his simplicity of faith, and
for the purity of his life. l do not
hesitate to declare now that in my
opinion he came nearer to reaching
the highest standard possible to man
Of the perfect Christian gentleman.
at was my great privilege to be
closely associated with him in the
most important epochs of his life, in
peace and in war, and / can recall
no instance in which / ever witness
ed the slightest evidence of even the
suggestion of a departure from the
superb moral attributes which went
to make up the good man and the
brave soldier.
Miss Harriet McElroy in 1851, by
whom there were horn to him six chit
dren, four of nm are surviving
him. She died in SS7, and in 1892
he was married a second time to Miss
Lizzie r. Cook, who survives him.
~(Gen. Davidson here after showing
that how the Confederate soldier
fought is known of all men, deplored
the general lack of knowledge as to
why he fought In this connection
he urged the necessity of the consti-
tuition of our State and the United
States having a place in our school
curriculums).
'If the inquiry, What was the ORR
gin of the WARP should today be pro-
pounded to the average citizen of the
Union, seventy-five per cent. of those
of Southern birth or descent, and
min ety-nine of Northern birth or de-
scent would at once reply-Slavery.
And yet as a matter of fact slavery
had no more to do with the origin, or
the real fundamental causes of the
struggle than did tea in the causes
which produced the War of the ReVo-
luton. Slavery, like the tax on tea,
was one and only one of the matches
that exploded the magazine; but it
was not the magazine, nor did it in
any degree constitute an essential or
and yet, Notwithstanding this common
error there were no questions more
ably or extensively dis
cussed than these for seventy-fiVe
years; and / venture the assertion
that upon no other subject of public
interest has there ever been contribu-
ted, collected and now in accessible
form, such a mass of facts. speeches,
treaties, the work of the most learned,
able and patriotic men of the times.
what were the rights and powers
conferred upon the general govern
ment by the Constitution What
rights and powers were reserved to
the several States, which created that
general government: Who should be
the Judge of the rightful or wrong
full exercise or denial of those pow
ers? And what was the remedy there
for? The war says Mr.. Stephens in
his introduction to his mastery and
unanswerable work of The War Be
tween the States. had it's origin in
opposing principles.
"They lay in the organic structure
Of the government of the States. The
conflict in principle arose from differ
ent and opposing ideas as to the ma
ture of what is known as the National
government. The contest was between
those who held it to be strictly Fed
aral in it's character, and those who
maintained it to be thoroughly Ma
tional.
1T was a strife between the princi
pies of Federation on one side and
centralsm or consolidation on tho
other In other words: The true origin
and cause Of the conflict was the as
sertiOn by the people of the Southern
States of the right to defend and pro-
tect themselves against infractions OF
the National Constitution, by the Ma
tional government, and the denial of
that right by the Northern States.
But however, much the questions
which led to the war may be misrep-
resented or misunderstood by the peo-
pie of this generation. they We're thor
oughly understood by the people Of
the South when the appeal to arms
came. They clearly recognized that
the very fundamental principles of
their government were involved, and
upon the decision the form and spirit
Of the Constitution as framed by their
fathers, would be preserved in its in
tegritv. or that the whole system
would be revolutionized.
zone of the most significant proofs
of the fact that the status of the ne
gro was not at the South regarded as
the issue was the ardor with which
the non-slaveholding portion of the
population flew to arms at the call of
their respective States, and the fidelity
they exhibited for the cause through
four years Of struggle, self-denial, suf-
fering death and social destruction.
This fact has been often commented
upon with surprise by intelligent per-
sons in the North. How utterly they
fail to comprehend the real issue. or
the lofty and patriotic sense of duty
which animated the Southern people
of all classes.
ESPECIALLY was this true of the
North Carolina mOuntaineer. In the
greater portion of that section Of the
State extending from the eastern foot
hills of the Blue Ridge to the western
boundaries of Clay and Cherokee, the
slave-owners, in 1861. were so rare
that the institution of slavery may
be said, practically TO have had no
existence and yet that region sent
more than fifteen thousand fighting
men-volUnteers-in the field. The
Sixteenth, Twenty fifth, Twenty-ninth,
Thirty-ninth Fifty-eighth, Sixtieth,
SiXty-second, Sixty-fourth, SiXty-fifth
and Sixty-ninth regiments We're COM
posed exclusively of mountain men .