Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1909-10-01
STONEWALL JACRSON CAMP
SPEAKS.

ST0NEWALL JACRSON CAMP
SPEAKS.
On the report of special committee,
Stonewall Jackson Camp, Confederate
Veterans adopted the following pream-
BILE and resolutions on Tuesday, 21st of
Sept. last.
The attention of this camp has sew
eral times been called by members to
the prominence being given by maya
zine writers and the press to certain ut
terances of the Secretary Of War, Hon.
Jacob M. Dickinson, in recent dedica-
tory address at Gettysburg, the Ian
guage being
'sTime has brought clearer vision
of the tremendous evils to all the states
which would certainly and immediate
ly have followed upon the establish
ment of the Southern Confederacy. X
There are in the South but few
if any who would not turn swiftly, with
sentiments of adherence from any sug-
gestion that it would have better for
the South if it had succeeded in estab-
fishing an Independent government"
And the Camp being urged to express
itself on the subject:
1t is therefore resolved: That lest the
speaker, as Southern born man might
be supposed to speak for that class, and
for the Confederate soldier, we would
say for the three hundred members of
this camp:
First: That the mellowing influence
of time has not yet so cleared our vision
as to altar our views in the least as to
the propriety of what we did in the
sixties. And under the like circum-
stances we would take the same pride
in doing it again. We simply fail to
see how any true Confederate soldier of
that time could entertain doubts about
the justice and right, in the sight of
God, Of the cause for which we fought.
We took up arms in Virginia with an
intelligent understanding of our rea-
sons and our purposes, and the vindi-
cation of our motives may be left to the
verdict of history. The clearer our
vision, in the retrospect, the more dis
tinctly we see that the war forced upon
us was one of naked aggression, inva-
sion and conquest, and waged less fol
patriotic than commercial considera-
tions. We would have our children
taught the truth of the case as it stood
in 1861, not that they may be less Loyal
to the Union but that they may pro
perly respect MS for what we did then
and are doing now, and may realize
that it is those who are loyal to the
memories Of the past who prove trues1
to the responsibilities of the present.
| We abide the issue of arms, but would
neither apologize for our course nor re
cant our faith, so doing dishonOr tt
heroic leaders and brave comrades whit
died for it.
i We think, therefore, the speaker took
too mnch upon himself when he as
sumed SO to voice the sentiment of tht
South.
Second: That, however, good gov
eminent established to maintained by
force may be, it must fall far short of {
government Of the people, by the PEG
pie and for the people, such as on
ancestors fought for and won in 1776
1883 and we fought for so earnestly bu
unsuccessfully in 1S61-65.
Third: That we repudiate out ant
out the proposition that our attempt t.
establish an independent government
was folly from the outset, or that w
were incapable of maintaining it will
dignity and honor and making it a sue
cess and power among the nations
, Had the close of the war separated on
fortunes for time from those of tn
Northern states we should probably b.
, no less happy and no less prosperous
And as for the humber race, the sup
posed cause of the strife, gradual ant
) friendly emancipation would surel.
f have rewarded their fidelity while
lasted, and set us right with the world
Looking to the conditions which actu
: ally followed it, our civilization ruth
/: lessly subverted, society disorganized
legislatures dispersed, judges deposet
by the military and the law of the bay
onet substituted, and vice and ignor
t ance and malice turned loose to rul
until despair Swallowed every hearth
stone in the Southern land, if her pee
pie have risen from the ashes of thei
desolation and carved out for themselve
new destiny, it is due we think, tt
the unconquerable spirit of Southern
ex-Confederates, to their determines
resistance to wrong and oppression il
every form, and to their masterfu
struggle to rebuild their homes and for
tunes, rather than to any beneficenc
of the Federal Government that we ow
the better conditions enjoyed today.
In our judgment the recognized fact
of industrial and commercial develop
ment and progress, and that capacit.
for affairs which has surmounted ever.
difficulty thus far confronting them
carry their own demonstration that tn
Southern people would have held thei
own as we'll in the fields of statesman
ship and government, and given to tn,
world not dissoIving Confederacy
but lasting CONF act of free states, I'm