Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1907-05-30


Army of the Republic; Murat Halstead
and others hurled their vituperation.
The then governor Of Ohio wrote a let.
ter, which Senator John Sherman In.
dorsed, In which he emphatically re.
fused to surrender the flags, saying,
"No rebel flags shall be returned while
I am governor" General Fairchild
said: MAY God palsy the hand that
wrote the order. May God palsy the
brain that conceived 1t. and may God
palsy the tongue that dictated it." 81
overwhelming was the public bitter
ness at the thought OF giving back the
captured flags that the president had
10 rescind the order to deliver up to
the southern states their flags on the
ground that the hags were the proper
ty OF the United States, and therefore
the United states alone had the right
to return them.
Beginning Of the End,
Oh. the sectional bitterness which
was ranking in the human hearts
north and south in 1887. But in spite
of that fact that letter OF X. G. Drums
proved TO be the beginning of the end
Rapidly and surely the last fires OF
sectional strife died away. In 1898 the
very men who had most vehemently
opposed the returning of the Confcdcr
nte flags were most anxious to see Ma
ior Mckinley do what President Clevc
land had failed to accomplish. On Feb.
"a, 1893. congress passed the bill au.
tborizng the war department to return
all the Confederate flags captured in
battle. Governor Foraker. who had
fought the movement before. was then
senator, and he was the most enthusi'
astic advocate of the bill. Yes, yes. at
last the civil war was ended At last
by the voluntary return of the blood
soaked battleilags the United States
| congress declared there was no north,
no south, no east, no west, no conquer
ors and no vanQuishcd. The Confeder.
nte battleflags were given back to the
men whose comrades had baptized
them with their llfe's blood.
Why did the north return those old
battleiags Of the southern army:
| First, tho northerners realized that the
southerners were honest men and hal
been honest in their advocacy of the
state rights principle all through the
war. The northerners realized that the
same fidelity to principle which made
Massachusetts and Illinois and Wis
consin and California fight for the cen
tralization Of government drove Geor
gia and Alabama and South Carolina
70 fight for state rights. These men
born below the Mason and Dixon line
were not dishonest or mercenary. They
/ were fighting for principle, because
they believed the principle was Just
And for that principle they were ready
! to sacrifice their lives.
The Work Of Years.
But some years had to pass before
| the boys In blue and the boys in gray
could meet and fellowship together an(
recognize each others honesty. 1t II
almost impossible for a man who Il
fighting to believe that his opponent
whose doubled fist is pummeing an,
beating him. has an honest heart or
straig ht hair in his head. But afte
the battle Is over. after time has cooled
the blood, after our adversary ma!
have been laid away in his silent grave
then we are able to look at our pas
actions and those of our enemies a
through another's eyes. Then we Sc,
that both Of us may have been homes
in our ideas, but both or one of us ma.
have been mistaken in our judgment.
| If those southerners were not homes
in their advocacy of state rights how
can you account for the actions o
Robert E. Lee? Study the history o
the man any way you will, and yol
will find him noble true hero through
and through. He certainly did not en-
ter the southern army for fame. Ha,
he stayed in the northern army III
might have been commander of all thu
United States forces. He knew he wa
slated as the successor of Winfield
| Scott. Surely that was fame enough
for any man. He did not enter tn,
southern army for mercenary motives
He was already wealthy in his owl
right. and Arlington Heights, his home
was Just across the Potomac. lie knew
! that if he entered the southern caus'
his property might be coniscated ant
his homestead demolished Yet with
out hesitation he sacrificed an honora
BILE position, land, family, homestead
and money, and threw them all int
the southern cause. Then study tn
life Of Robert f. Lee after the civi
war. Even amid poverty, after hi
great pillared mansion had been ex
changed for an old tumbledown negr
hut, not fit for an clubhouse or cattl
pen, he was brave enough to refuse t
take position Offering great finan
cial income. because he did not wan
to do another an injustice.
Accepted tho Decision.
These flags were returned TO tn
southern states for another reason
not only did the north realize that tn
southerners We're honest men, but the.
found that they were reconstructed
men. The southern leaders loyalty ant
gracefully accepted the decision of IN
sword and regarded 1t as decided for
ever. They were willing to confes
that under no conditions would the,
ever attempt to get their slaves bacl
again. These great facts were tn
mighty means of welding the hearts o
the American people together eve
more strongly than they were unite'
| hefora