The National tribune., 1909-06-17
A BRUTAL SPEECH.

of the Jefferson Davis silver to the pat
t1eship Mississippi comes as brutal an
opthurst as has been made in a public
address since the close OF the war. we
are glad to say that it was not made py
a Confederate soldier, by no man VINO
knows from experience what real war
is. and had the courage to fight for MS
oonvictions. 1t was a speech such as
would have been impossible from the
Inns of anv man who had seen and felt
the awful terrors and sufferings OF
actual war Men who never felt
wound are proverbially calloused to the
sufferings of others, either frienos OF
enemies, and no barbarous Indian could
have shown such brutal Joy In the
death and suffering inflicted by the war
than Thomas Upton Sisson, in his speech
at the Reunion of the United Confeder-
ate Veterans of Memphis, Tenn, June
10. Mr.. Sisson, who represents one OF
the districts in the Yazoo country OF tne
| Mississippi, is young man, born IN
Mississippi four years after the war.
He is serving his second term in Con-
gress, where he has not attracted atten-
ton by his ability either as an orator.
thinker or an effective worker. In
his speech he said:
aThe principles you fought for were
right in '61 and are right to-day. You
were not conquered then; you are not
conquered now.
| And the greatest monuments In your
| honor are the millions of pensions the
| tO the WIDOWS
and orphans your valor made and the
900 graves in Arlington Cemetery
which the Federal Government deco
rates each 30th of May.
"As long as these monuments are
perpetuated to your honor you neeo
| erect no others.
( This simply passes any fitting COM
ment. A man who can.. As years after
the war, reveI in the death. wounds and
suffering inflicted by that war. and
point to them as the brightest monu-
ment to the men who fought on the
losing side is 80 lost to ordinary feelings
of humanity that words are wasted up
on him. He is not so dangerous. how
| ever, as his infiammatory utterances
would indicate. because they so over
step the bounds Of decency and reason
as to bring their own condemnation. AS
might have been expected from such
manly. brave, fighting men as the Con-
federate veterans whom he was ad-
dressing, they shouted their denuncia-
tion of his sentiments and called on him
to sit down. There came struggle
| between him and them. with deter.
mination on his part to make them lis
ten to his disgraceful utterances. A
great many of the Confederates left the
hall, refusing to listen longer to such g
barbarous TRADE. The only approval
that came seems to have been by some
of the vindictive women, who devote
their lives to hating the Yankees, and
one of them. Mrs. Moore Mudock, OF
Dallas. Tex, got so stirred up that she
sprang to her feet. secured the atten-
| ton of the meeting and shouted:
| I'VE have lived as rebels, we are still
rebels, and we will die as rebels"
This again aroused the assembly to 9
storm Of angry protests. mingled sc
with the vehement shouts of the unre.
constructed women and others that II
was hard to say which had the major.
;ity.
Mr.. Sisson's abilities are 80 meage,
that this is the first time that he ha!
succeeded in attracting any notice. II
Congress he has never secured the leas,
attention by anything that he has done
or said. either for his own people or fol
the country at large. He seems to bs
nothing but loud voice, an intemper
ate mind and q slender assortment o.
obsolete ideas. In the grand work o.
building up the prosperity Of the South
SO well employed, he has had no par
whatever. seemingly has taken no in
terest, and is only conspicuous, as in thu
present instance, when he has a chance
to do something which must be infinite
lily hurtful to the development of hit
section.
Contrast the viciousness Of thi!
speech with the address of Henry Wat
terson at tho unvailing of tho monu
ment to Gen. s. D. Lee at Vicksburg:
''Those of US who survive that dread
ordeal are old men now, and each an
nual roll call brings yet fewer of us to.
ESluci< IItScltiy IueEo Will
smong the living not one who fought
on either side. Happy those who hav'
been spared to look upon a land neve
again to be wet by fraternal blood ant
a people reunited forever in hand ant
heart. The mystic chords Of memory
stretching from every battlefield ant
} patriotic grave to every living heart ant
hearthstone,' touched long ago by 'tht
angels Of our better nature swell a
last the universal chorus OF the Union
the memory of deeds Of kindness ant
of yalor done; of a common blood an(
J race: for, impossible as the line of fir
lseemed, we were one people then ant
we are one people now, the war Of sec
tions a mutual and a blessed heritage
This is why we are assembled in {
National cemetery to rear a memoria
to a Confederate General. He was o
the best the South has to offer upol
the affairs of American manhood, al
, that the North could wish an American
, to be. I have ridden to battle will
him. and kneit by his side in prayer
and can truly say that what his grea
kinsman was to Virginia he was to Mis-
sissippi."