The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1908-12-08

1T was a true report I heard in my
own county. howbeit l believed not
until / came. and behold the one half
vas not told 10 me-" This great and
wise king amid his earthly glory for
sock his God and sinned. and in his
old age we find him exclaiming: "All
is vanity and vexatiOn OF spirit"
Alexander the Great after conquering
the whole world to crafty his ambi-
ton. is found weeping because moth
ing more was left for him TO con-
quer Caesar in the zenith OF his
greatness found himself surrounded
by assassins and when he saw his
friend in sympathy with Cassius, who
was about to thrust a dagger through
his heart, exclaimed. And thou too,
Brutus."
Napoleon whose military genius
caused him to rise as a great meteor,
but amid his seeming success met his
Waterloo" and died in exile on the
island of 81. Helena Washington,
after seven years of war led his army
to victory, which resulted in estab-
fishing these United States. now one
Of the greatest OF nations. In COM
ing down TO the war Of the sixties, l
desire to correct what / conceive to
be an error as to the cause Of that
war. The leading men of the South
have assumed that ii was secession.
The cause of the war was slavery.
Thirty years bfore that war a small
party known by US as 1.-THE black re-
publican party" sprang up in the
North. whose leading object was the
emancipation of slavery. from which
the republican party originated.
Bishop Andrew, of the N. E. church,
married a wife who owned slaves. The
\ rttern MethOdists demanded that
he emancipate them. The South as
sumed slavery was morally and relig-
iously right. The question came up in
the general conference of that church
in 1910, and after being ably discuss
ed by the great men of that church,
a plan Of separation was agreed to,
resulting in the establishment of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, South.
In 1860 when the counsels of the
great democratic party, like that of
"Ahithophal," was turned into fool
ishness" by split in the party, and
the nomination of two candidates for
douglass anu
which caused the election of Abra ham
Lincoln president by a majority of the
popular vote of the United States.
The South attempted to avoid a war
by secession as sovereign states. The
result was war, and after four years
of unprecedented valor heroism and
wise generalship of the people of the
South, they were crushed, not by
superior valor Or skilled generalship,
but by overwhelming numbers. which
resulted in the emancipation of slav-
cry. The federal government did not
press the war against US for the
emancipation of the slaves. but for
the preservation of the union of the
states. The South did not secede from
the union of states to create war but
as sovereign states to peaceably 'es-
tablish a COnfederacy under vested
authority in such states. How then
shall we reconcile the result? 1t can
only be done by recognizing the finger
of God as a guiding star through hui
man instrumentalities in establishing
slavery in the United States, taken
from the jungles of Africa and placed
among us upon a state of probation to
IA SpniC MN LOl lICCuOlIl, IIldl III
the councils of heaven the set time
had come for the negroes emancipa-
ton, which could only be done by and
through a bloody war. The negroes
in their subordination during the war.
and taking into consideration the
baleful influence of a hoard of carpet
baggers who swarmed among us dur
ing the days of reconstruction, have
done well. The negro problem is a
question that must be solved by the
people of the South. and if we remain
true to the principles of equity and
justice all will be we'll and the best
possible results will accrue to us and
the negro. Time will solve this prob
lem.
Daughters Of the Confederacy. we
have not assembled to pay homage to
our comrades for their sterling worth
as soldiers in the war of the sixties,
but to you and the women of the
South. When the tocsin of war was
sounded for soldiers to go TO the front,
you said to your fathers. husbands,
brothers. sons and sweethearts, go,
and may the God of our fathers
shield and defend you from the mis-
sles of death and disease and bring
you back in safety to us. With skill
full hands you made beautiful Con-
federate flags. and presented them to
companies and regiments when they
were leaving for the front. we'll
remember when the Ocala Guards
were about to leave for the front, that
Miss Jeffie Crutchfield. a splendid
specimen of Southern womanhood,
presented that company with a beau
tiful flag in behalf Of the ladies' OF