The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-04-27

brought forward to take control or ar fairs in this great country.
 and continued between the z ignorant and the viicous on one hand, and the truly Southern men on the other. rms struggle in the good State of Alabama of 1874, when the people of Alabama, shaking off their lethargy, as mighty lion shakes the dew from his mane, arose and trampled the thraldom, attempted to be placed upon theln. un- der foot. and took possession of what rfghtfully belonged to them, the ad- ministration of public affairs.
 tory of the world which equalled that of. reconstruction. Nevertheless. we are still written up. and denounced as rebels and traitors. Possibly we were, in an open, manly and courageous man ner, the others having the right to re- sist 1t under blood and death, having the arms and equipments which placed us at a great disadvantage, while what they did in the matter of reconstruc- ton, was to take advantage of an un- armed people, and entering Into part nership with an ignorant race. they oppression of those who had never harmed them, and had been their best friends during their entire lives In America.
 s"Hne uk080y SMhEts
 Someone will be ready to say. put why bring this Into an occasion or this kind? and the answer Is simply De- cause 1t is history. 1t is truth. And may add. that for years and years atter ter wane, the dominant party In this coun. try continued to wave, as 1t was called during the times, The Bloody Shirt hatred and persecution of that party toward the people of the South.
 Andersonville, a prison for Federal soldiers, in the State of Georgia, dur time after time, and would have con- tinued to be so, together with other crimes with which we were charged, but for the fact, that Hon. Benjamin Hill, of the State of Georgia, in the United States Senate. meeting the Hon. James G. Blanc, himself a great man. but one of perverted feeling, in dis eussion upon the question. overwhelm- : ed him with the facts. and showed that the Northern people, with all the facili- ties and opportunities to care for prisoners treated our people in prison far worse, resulting in greater mortali- ty, than the Southern people did, who were hedged about without intercourse with the world, and dependent alone, upon our own resources. Since that time, the Bloody Shirt" has ceased to be waived by any man of ordinary responsibility.
 Tn what has been said, there is no purpose to create i'll feeling with our people against the men who met us boldly upon the field, the soldiers of the time, for t was not they that were guilty of the wickedness Of which l General Grant, to whom the im- mortal Lee surrendered, stood squarely by the terms of the surrender, and was willing and intended to see that we should have the benefit of those terms. Thousands and thousands of the Feder- al soldiers had nothing but feelings or generosity and sympathy for us, and in fact, but few of them ever exhibited any other feelings, but for those men who never barred their bosoms to danger upon the fields of carnage, put who sought at all times, to malign and misrepresent us, and persecute us, we can never have feelings other than that of regret, that such people should have power to wield the scepter of govern ment. - contend that there was anything but wrong and oppression in reconstruc- tion.
 But returning to our fallen heroes, let me say that. they who forget the heroes of the country. ought them selves to be forgotten. 1t cannot be said by any one acquainted with the history of the Southern people, that they ought to be forgotten. It fol- that our fallen braves will never be forgotten. and why ought they not to be forgotten? For thousand reasons, which might be enumerated but a few, and they sufficient. may bt | 1t may be said, that we are not as q general proposition the writers O, books and histories, so called, and there really seems to be an apparent pur- pose upon the part of those who write | to leave the Southern people with all | their patriotism. courage and chivalry out of the history of the times.
 | One high in authority in this coun | try, in the books which he has writ | ten, finds but few great men. Amonl l them George Washington and Abraham | the lines, himself. When he wrote, tn
 time had not qute come for leaving ou
 of the count, that grand and glorlou
 Southern man. Georgs gtrSes Wsshl9s61T Hs1pV
 who gave utterance to the expression
 Give me liberty or give me death: | That immortal statesman, Thomas Jef | of Independence, James Madison. in tn
 main, the author of our Constitution 1 and hundreds of others, all Southeri
 men. are but commonplace, strictly or
 dinary, in the estimation of those wh'
 would transmit to posterity, a histor!
 What would have been the result o
 the war of the Revolution against tn
 mother country, but for George Wash ington, Marion, Light Horse Harry Lee
 Sumter and the grand and gIorlou | galaxy of heroes and patriots, wh,
 and military genius of Andrew Jack | son, John Coffee, Sam Houston. Thomas H. Benton, Davie Crockett and score
 upon the soil of Alabama the allies o
 Great Britain in the. war of 1872, ant
 who won the glorious, victory ove | Rockingham at New Orleans, the wa l o$ h Henry ClaX nnf
 John c. Calhoun. is as just cause d | men ever fought for, would have term | mated in the disgrace of the American | armies. These were all southern men | with that of the South in indlssolubl | ties-men who saved the reputation O 1 our county. even when it had fallen st | far, that our capitol at Washington
 made 1t possible for our commissioner ! at Client, to secure treaty of moder ate fairness to the United States
 These were our men-men wiIn0u na | of this grand and glorious Unior | would have faded and passed away un I der the gloom of disappointment ant | dire disaster.
 Great SOutherners.
 Tn the war with Mexico, the chic generals, and the best soldiers, wer' | Southern men. Scott, Taylor, Bragg | Lee, Albert Sidney Johnston, Jefferson Davis, Joseph D. Johnson, and g hal score of general officers were all South ern men. These were ours, and 1t can l not be wondered at, that people whC have produced such specimens of hero ! ism should be q proud people. As { | result of that war, the United State! acquired an enormous territory, equa | in area to Germany, France and Spatr added together. which latter countries now support more than one hundre millions of population.
 CnVnfnu down to inc SnamlHf