The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1908-06-10
VETERANS HEAR
GREAT ADDRESS
PREPARED BY LATE STEPHEN D.
LEE, READ AT BIRMINGHAM
REUNION.
SOUTHERN STATESMAN
In All His Antc-BclIum Activity VIII
Come Adsin is Beiief Expressed
Bv Dead Commander OF
the Gray.


nual reunion Of the United Confed-
crate Veterans began here tcday.
There is $4,000 vis'tcrs In the city.
Little was done today the tim ;
being given over to organization and
welcome addresses.
Dead Co nnanda,'s Address.
I The address pr parei BY Com
manderln-Chief Stephen p. Lee,
which. by reason of his death on the
cvet of the reunion, he was destined
never to deliver. was read today be
fore the largest gathering of Cen
foderate Veterans In recent years, and
is in part nv follows
1t is now fourteen years since the
Confederate Veterans enjoyed the hos
pitality of this magic city. We re.
member gratefully the courtesy of our
former unsurpassed welcome, but to-
day we are ready to believe that Birm
ingham can surpass itself Then there
was with us the incompatible Gordon
soldier, statesman and orator, who
along with the valorous Longstreet
and the gallant Wheeler were Ala
bama's Paladins In the armies of the
Confedcracy. 1t was from Alabama
that Yaneey's voice, like silver trum.
pet, called the South to Arms, With
an eloquence more potent than Clan
Alpines fiery cross. Alabama was the
cradle Of the Confederacy. Here was
installed the Provisional Government
of the new nation, and here her Illus
trious chief took the oath of office
1 which no man but himself should ever
take. And from Alabama came the
great Admiral who floated the stars
and bars upon every sea, and single.
lhandcd swept the nations commerce
from the waves.
Since the war, ! have heard many
addresses to Confederate Veterans.
Our orators have been rich in argu
of States Rights views, and the sound
ness Of the Interpretation of the Con
stitution held by Southern statesmen
They have displayed the firm historic
basis of our political faith They have
spoken in comforting words OF uueX
pected beneficent results of the war,
of the preservation of the rights of the
states in the Union. of the discipline
OF adversity which prepared us to
inject the terrible race problem with
iunfiinching courage, indefatigable pa
tience and united strength. They have
taught us that the Lost Cause was not
wholly lest. that the best fruits of the
great conflict came TO the South when
the master was freed from the slave
land the old ice -bergs of sectional hate
were set adrift in the warm gulf
Istream of new national patriotism
Nevertheless II has not seemed the
! whole truth to me that the Confeder
, ate soldier went into battle to yindj
, cate a constitutional argument. III
, went to war because he loved hi'
. people, because his country was i'm
= vaded because his heart was throb
bing for his hearth stone. Here was
the land which gave him birth. Here
was the church. .spire where he had
learned 1t was not all of life TO live
or all Of death to die. No hostile foot
shall ever tread this consecrated
ground except over his dead body. u
was the prospect of invasion that
made the border states with bleeding
hearts try to cast their lot with the
Confederacy. He who could have ex
pected Lee to do battle against Vir
ginia, or a Hampton to draw his sword
against South Carolina. has never
learned the language of the human
heart. Nothing but the most devoted
love of country could ever have sss
tained the Confederate soldier In his
unequal and terrible struggle.
Neither do | consider il necessar,
to find reward for the Confederate
soldier in unexpected good results o.
the great conflict The reward of noble
actions lies in the capacity to do them
The Confederate soldier who fought
with unfiinching courage had the re
ward of being a brave man. He who
loved his country had the reward o
=. being a true patriot. He who face
. the cannon's mouth for those he love,
, dearer than life had the reward of be
ing a hero. He who was faithful unt'
death had the reward of a stainless
honor. What other course could ;
Souiherner have taken?
Behind him were the great tradi
tions of his English race-where were
, Hastings and Cressy and Agincourt
> there were Naseby. Blenheim and Que
r bec. there were Kings Mountain an'
: Valley RorEe In his veins flowed th'
blood of thousand years Of chivalry