The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-06-16

even consider secession. The gath of
the following June, by a still more
overwhelming majority, they gave their
assent to the Proclamation of the Gov
ernor dissolving their relations with
me Union and casting in their lot with
the Confederacy. Why a change of
public sentiment and opinion so sud-
fast and patriotic?
The reason needs no diagram to ex-
pain II; no casuistry to defend it. 1t
involved no regeneration. 1t implied
no lack of Intelligence, or of stability,
or of good faith. The debate was end
ed They had done their uttermost to
preserve the peace of the country. In
spite of them war was come Obliged
at last to take sides, they sided with
tho South and against tho North; de-
eision the more heroic since they clear
~ foresaw what was before them. They
were under no illusion as to the forces
about to be engaged Not merely had
they to stifie many convictions and SEN
mediate and incredible odds. They
counted not the cost; they consulted
none OF the text books of expediency;
they barred their breasts to the storm
hood against Tradition. It was the
aea5st All t right Of ,r self defense
Union. Wings who had followed Clay,
Democrats who had followed jackson,
the Browns. the Fosters and the Hat
tons equally with the Trousdales the
Guilds and the Carrolls the Coopers, the
Colyars and the Ewings-Henry and
Gentry Joining hands with Haynes and
Whitthorne-all rallied under the lead
ership of that born leader of men-that
soldier statesman in the
Senate, that hero on the battlefield, the
chivalric. the knightly, the incompar-
able Harris. Greece had her Marathon;
let Shiloh. Murfreesboro and Chicka-
manga tell the story of Tennessee.
These are the guarantees which the
men of the South give to the men of
the North; these the tokens by which
we assure ourselves of our fidelity to
the American Union.
New Birth of Freedom.
II 1t was the will of God that there
should be new birth of freedom; If
1t was the will of God that Govern
ment of the people. by the people and
for the people should not perish from
the earth; then 1t was the will of God
that there, should be a mighty sacrifice;
and let no man forget that the same
God which struck down myriads of
the best-beloved of the North struck
down myriads of the best-beloved Of
the South: that the doctrine of seces
sion was born at the North that the
sin of slavery, such as 1t 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 1T to probity. We build it In
glorious tribute to the men who fell
by our side. We build 1T to the spirit
assert-we gave four years of proof
that we fought for liberty. Millions o.
us loved the Union. Millions of us de-
tested slavery. Millions of us denied
the doctrine of secession. We may not
argue now who brought the battle on
it was battle-and the same Anglo
Saxon and Scotch-Irish blood which
welled up in the North welled up in us;
f0nphf W. 70 Anti
there is no smell of treason on our
garments, no faint of corruption in our
blood. Grant was the first peace
maker. Lee gave himself as hostage for
the rest of us. Two Confederate GEN
erals wear the blue again, and the gray
worshtps at its shrines. even as we
worship this day, without so much as
the suspicion of disloyalty; yet, with
the encouragement and sympathy OF
every true soldier of the North
Happy issue, happy we who have
lived to see 1t. Let us not wiring our
hearts by recalling the past-the drums
faces, nor the tones of the dead-but
let us the rather feel that they died notI
in vain. Let us rejoice that ont of the
wreck the Southland our beloved Ten
sister of my own beloved
both her racehood
and her manhood. Finally, let us re-
solve and declare that, II another DAY
of travail should oVertake the reunited
Union. the North shall find In the South
a shield and buckIer alike against tho
corruption of Mammon and |
the militant insanity of agrarianism,
forbidding a second "irrepressible con-
fict," forbidding the threatened COLL |
sion between Capital and Labor; for
bidding II in the name of the Consti-
tuition which assures us uniformity OF
laws: in the name of the Government, |
which, whilst enforcing those laws, will |
mete out exact justice and compeI
equality of opportunity!