Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-06-01
TWO STRIKING SPEECHES
Grandson of the Southern Gen.
eraI Says That the South
Was Right Then and
Now.

| the confederate reunion here yesterday.
In a wonderfully eloquent speech, ring
| ing with the spirit of the old confederate
| soldiers, Senator Daniel fired the hearts
and stirred the souls of the thousands of
veterans who heard him and who were his
comrades in the war, as perhaps no other
| living man could do Speaking as one of
them, who had fought, bled and suffered
with them, what Senator Daniel said went
straight to their hearts.
His was no mere recitation of facts,
CLEANED from the reading of histories. There
were in it none of the glittering generali-
ties of the usual Memorial day orator. but
it was the talk of a man who had been
there. who had been through it, and who
will bear to his grave a constant reminder
of the awful conflict.
He recalled to them thrilling incidents
and he mentioned names which will be
found in no history, but which caused every
old soldier in the great Horse Show hall to
spring to his feet, swing his hat in the air
and yell with the full strength of his lungs
The widest and most indescrbable en-
greeted MN Wnp0 ne rose to
speak and fifty times he was interrupted
by old soldiers, who demanded that he tell
about the famous charge on that well-re-
membered raid, and he told them
In describing one wild charge. one of the
greatest. he said, the confederates ever
made, at Gaines Mills. Senator Daniel said:
1T seemed as if the skies above US were
made of sheetiron, and the fends of hell
were ripping them up and throwing them
about
Al this the enthusiasm broke all bounds
and the orator had to pause for many min
utes, while the thousands of grizzed vet
Grams exhausted themselves with cheering
Tribute to Marylanders
Incidentally, Senator Daniel paid a glow
ing tribute to the Maryland soldiers of the
confederacy, which was Justify cheered but
the demonstration of the day came when
with his saloW face aglow with enthusi-
asm and his long black hair disheveled by
his vigor, he ringingly declared in conclu-
sion:
Il trust that 1 will not be called a molly
coddle' when l make the statement that
| the most consoling thing to me about the
whole of that great struggle is that the war
is over and that so many of you are alive"
The whole convention rose and whooped
Then for many minutes the cheering con-
tinued and subsidized only when Mrs HAYES
the daughter of jefferson Davis with her
two children, We're presented to the con-
vention by Commander in-chef Stephen D.
Lee. Then, when the veterans realized who
they were, the demonstration occurred all
again and ft,I
accorded these descendants of the president
of the confederate states. Once again there
was unbridled enthusiasm when Commander
Lee presented, as the annual orator of the
reunion, Robert Z. Lee, jr, the grandson
of Gen Robert E. Lee, the most beloved
figure of the confederacy.
"a Fine, Healthy Boy"
"Ain't he fine, healthy boyr' shouted a
proud old man, who had followed ..Marse"
Robert, when the uproar had been uuelled: :
and when the assembled throng gazed upon
this 6-feet-2-inch and more than 2OO-pound
grandson of the old leader it broke loose
again. Mr.. Lee has voice which matches
his massive physique, and the speech which
he made aroused almost as much enthusi-
asm as that of Senator Daniel although
the two addresses were widely different
Mr.. Lee made an able defense of the south
ern attitude upon the questions of slavery
and secession prior to the war, and in Wig
orouS language he denounced the misren-
reservations and calumnies to which the
south and its people had been subjected on
these questions.
Politicians Responsible.
Il care not" he declared, 'how the At
rican slave first came to set his unhaloWed
foot upon this sacred soil, but suffice to
say that no southern shipowner or ship
master was responsible for the illicit trade
that brought this curse upon us. The ne
gro came here wild, shrieking, ash-be-
smeared, naked savage. He was thrust
upon the south and the south fed clothed
cared for and civilized him.
He went on TO show that years before
the civil war the south had taken stand
against slavery and the slave traffic and de-
clared that twenty-eight times had Virginia
petitoned King George to check the evil
practice of importing African slaves. and
tWenty-eight times these petitions were
ignored.
South Was Right.
Further, Mr.. Lee argued that had if not
been for the votes of the southern states
the fifteenth amendment to the Constitu-
ton would not have been ratified, as
eleven northern legislatures voted /: linst it
Thus, he said, 1.-The much-maligned
slave-torturing south became the liberator
and emancipation of the serf. slavery was
the south's calamity, not her crime
In the hearts not only of the veterans, but
of the thousands of others who listened
and whose sympathies are wholly with the
south and whose convictions as to the
righteousness of the lost cause are un-
shakable Again Mr.. Lee received a ire
mendous ovation when he declared Il am
| tired of this expression: That the confed-
crate soldier fought for what he believed
| to be right. He fought for what he knew
was right. It was right, right then, right
| now, and will be right as long as this land
| lives"
Mr.. Lees vindication of the south was
| in reality the striking feature of the pro-
| ceedings. After reciting the events that
| led up to the war he said: Let him who
| is without sin cast the first stone are the
| words of the Master, and if the people of
1 the north had followed this rule the peb-
| bles cast would not have furnished David
| with ammunition for his famous expedition
| against Goliath The African slave was
| brought TO this country largely by New
| England traders. and when this trade was
| made unlawful by Congress the leaders in
| the movement were southern men.
| From the earliest history of the United
/ States southern men have always led in
| the suppression of slavery, and the north
| ern traders always opposed them
Mr.. Lee then gave resume of the events