The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1911-08-20
tFrom lac confederate Veteranl

tion, made an address in Nashville
both remarkable and Interesting He
admitted some wholesome facts to a
great gathering OF negroes at Fisk
University Prominent on the plat
form was Booker Washington. He
said in part:
Abraham Lincoln in his celebrated
Gettysburg address spoke OF our ma
tica as conceived in liberty and dedi-
Gated to the proposition. All men are
created equal This is the great
vague. central, germinant IDEA which
lies at the very hear. OF our national
Institutions. The fathers OF our re-
public. who propounded this great
principle. were neither utoplsns nor
Socialists, but men of profound poll
tcal wisdom acting under sobsr
stnte OF political responsibility They.
di1 not mean 10 obliterate the past
nor 10 abolish human nature. They
simply meant 10 declare that in our
nston there should he a fair chance
FOR every man to develop the best
thar there is In him, Irrespective OF
race. color. or nationality. The idea
was new and untried. II was an ex-
0erlment 1t vas not something that
rou!d lie realized at once. but must
9e the slow growth OF ages.
mis- much must be conceded. that
the Northern States were Just as re-
sppns!ble for tho existence OF slavery
as were the Southern states. and that
slavery ceased 10 exist in the North
ern states because u was for them
sn economic failure. and IL grew
stronger in the Southern states after
,he invention Of Eli Whiiney's cotton
gin, slmrly because II was enormous
y profitable, and property and slaves
correspondtngly valuable. AS re-
suit the two sections OF the country
grew MP on two utterly irreconc!la hi e
and hopelessly antagonistic economic
ouses that OF slave and free labor
The North with free lrbor, was in
harmony with the most enlightened
Intelligence OF the age as to slavery.
and advanced rapidly toward con,
--ptton Of national democratic re.
cubic In which tho individual should
9e the unit, while the South. holding
30 the institution OF slavery when IT
had become an anachronism ana the
whole enlightened intelligence of the
world was armed against it. was put
npon the defensive shut up within
from the rest of the world as in China
to-day.
Now slaves were property, ac-
:ording TO law. any attack upon this
form NJ property was an attack in
directly upon all forms OF property.
and an attack also upon the Constitu-
zion OF the United States. In the
minds, therefore. OF pious. church go
Ing, orthodox Shareholders. and many
such there were. the aoolitionists OF
he North were looked upon as we to-
hnr ht
ehists OF Chicago or the most radical
wins OF the Socialist party-as the
enemies of society and the enemies
Of Gcd' and His hold word. the Bible.
in which the pious STAKEHOLDER OF the
South found abundant authority for
His beloved institution.
SO along these two points the con :
met ragged. and slavery when 1t was
attacked. intrenched itsolf more and
more within the doctrine OF State
rights. so that at the last the two be-
came identical. and to attack one was
10 attack the other. to defend one was
TO defend the other Consequently
when 1t came 10 the outbreak of the
civil War. many patriotic Southern
men who cared little or nothing about
slavery were stirred with the deepes,
indignation at the suggestion of tn.
national government subduing a SOW
creiSn state by force of arms, and
said that Union that could only ba
held together by bayonets had better
be dissoved and for the principle OF
State rights and State sovereignty the
Southern men fought with holy ardor
and self-denying patriotism that have
covered even defeat with imperishable
glory
And let US look at the matter from
the Southern standpoint. The party
that elected abraham Lincoln was a
party avowedly hostile to the insti-
tuition of slavery. and elected a man
TO the presidency who also avowed
his hostility to the institution to
slavery, who had been known to say
that the Union could not exist both
slave and free. waS bound ultimately
to become all slave or all free, and
who in his Cooper Union address said
that the enti-slavery sentiment had
already caused more than million
votes. which could havo seemed TO the
Southern States nothing more nor less
than danger and a menace Con-
sequently, when they drew the sword
10 defend the doctrine Of State rights
and the institution of slavery they
certainly had on their side the Consti-
tuition and law OF the land, for
strict Interpretation Of the national
Constitution gave a certain justifca-
tIon to the doctrine OF State rights
AS to the Institution of slavery, even
the abolitionists had made the discovery
that the Constitution legalized It, and
consequently they denounced the Con-
stitution of the United States a lea
que with death and covenant with
hell and maintained that no moral or
Christian man could find or hold of.
Ace under such an accursed govern
ment as ours, and gave all their en-
ersies to proving that secession was
the duty of the fellow States.
rs 1t not perfectly evident thai thers