The sea coast echo. [volume] (Bay Saint Louis, Miss.) 1892-current, 1904-06-18
COL. HENRY wArTERsoNs ORA.
Tl0N.
Vh the Occasion Of the Laying OF q
eorner Stone OF . Confede-
rate Monument

l
AT Centennial Park Nashville. Tenn
on "Wednesday the cornerstone of a mo.
nument to the private soldiers Of In,
Coniederacy, the tribute Of the Nash.
uiie Veterans TO the enlisted men, wa,
iaid with impressive ceremonies undo,
tne direction Of the Masonic fraternity
state Grand Master James Sloan. pre.
sided. The orator OF the day was Hon
Henry Watterson, of Louisville.
y Mr. Watterson said In part:
i We are today 70 lay the foundation
stone OF a monument to the Confederate
dead. That monument when IL is com.
pleted viii forever mark, viii keen for.
ever watch and guard over the memory
Of brave men, who died fighting against
the National Government. In tn
thoughts which crowd our minds. in the
emotions which fill our hearts. in the
words which we shall utter, we are To
make no paitry admissions, no mean
confessions, no dishonoring renuncia-
LIONS, but standing uncovered in the
presence OF Almighty God, proclaiminp
70 the world the allegiance OF the dead
signalizing thecause for which they died,
renewing our fidelity to the sacred COM
pact OF brotherhood and soldiership. we
are TO reconcile this act Of pious homage
with perfect loyalty to the Union, TO the
nag and to those of our countrymen who
successfully fought against us.
twill never be known nor muse OF
history nor genius Of philosophy, will
ever be able to tell us-whether the war
OF sections could have been ayerted.
Two conflicting schools of thought, two
antagonistic systems of labor, slowly
outsurely erected themselves within cer-
tain well defined geographic partitions.
Seventy and one years that which was
IN the beginning built upon compro-
mise. The last thirty years OF the strug-
gle between irreconcilable conditions.
between opposing ideas which would
down at no mans bidding, revealed an
ever-increasing intensity of feeling, an
overwhelming area of conviction in what
had become, long before the guns of
Beauregard opened fire upon Fort Sum-
ter, little other than two hostile camps.
The battlefield seemed the only court Of
last resort Into that tribunal each liti-
giant brought the best that was in him.
All minor differences, all doubts and all
fears were sunk in thesingle issue of the
Union on the one side, the Confederacv
on the other.s The law OF force against
force along was Ia. decide. 1t did decide
and the decision, which was equally
complete and final, left nothing to wish
for by the North or to hope for by the
South,
II it was the will Of God that there
should be a new birth of freedom; II it
was the will of God that. government of
the people should not perish from the
earth; then it was the will OF God that
there should be mighty sacrifice and
let no man forge6 that the same God
which struck down myriads of the best
beloved OF the North struck down my
riads of the best beloved OF the South;
that the sin of slavery, such as it may
have been, belonged equally to both the
North and the South; and that the tale
of free, popular government is not yet
told.
We build this monument to valor. We
build it to probity. We build it to glo-
rious tribute to the men who fell by our
side. We build it to the spirit OF the
dead Confederacy. We need not assert
we gaue four years of proof-that we
| fought for liberty. Millions OF us loved
the Union. Millions OF us detested sla-
very; millions of us denied the doctrine
of secession. We may not argue now
who brought the battle OMIT was bat
tie - and the same Anglo-Saxon and
! Scoth Irish blood which welled up in the
North welled up in us; we fought and we
fought to finish; there is no taint of
| treason IN us--no corruption Of blood.
Grant was the first peacemaker.. Lee
gave himself as hostage for the rest of
/ uo. IWO NuhtSuDiduo oCHCIdto WbdI
the blue and the gray worships at its
shrine even as we worship this day with
out 80 much as the suspicion of disloyal-
! ty; yea with the encouragement and
sympathy OF every true soldier OF the
| North, t
Happy issue, happy we who have hv-
ed to see 1t. Let us not wiring our hearts
by .recalling the past--the drums and
tramplings OF the legions--nor the faces,
nor the tones OF the dead--but let us the
rather feel that they died not In vain.
Let US rejoice that out Of the wreck the
Southland our beloved Tennessee
twin sister OF my own beloved Kentucky
saved both her racehood and her man.
hood. Finally, let US resolve and de-
\ clare that, IL another day Of travail come
over the reunited the North shall fnd In
1.-THE South shield and buckler alike
taQainst the organized corruption OF
lmammon and the militant insanity OF ar
! grarianism forbidding second irrepres-
sible conflict forbidding the threatened
collision between capital and labori for
bidding it in the name Of the constitu-
tions:which assures us uniformity OF lawsi
in the name OF the Government, which,
whilst enforcing those laws, will mete out
exact justice and compel equality of op.
lpertunity. \, ~;
-T--~---------s-ss--
1t is now thought that Col. Bryan
4 oynreacad his fieroe preference for silver