Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1915-02-04

/ they loved peace -many of then
Il &pcefely loved the old Union, and
they had an intelligent apprehension
At what afterwards became horrible
4 realization -that Virginia. by reason
oE her border position would become
tie Flanders Of the South But they
h9lted not when It became evident
I thai they could remain in the Union
I1piy upon conditions the. most de
grading and intolerable to freemen.
Their convictions of honor, of man-
/ hood and duty left them no alterna-
i tive. These were the eloquent and
truthful words spoken in memorial,
j address at Lexington six years ago b.
one Of Lees paiadins, Major Robert
EW Hunter of the old Stonewall bri-
i gade yet surviving the most of his
cnntades ia arms and promisins,
s1EaSa God many more years in which
/ to Shoulder his crutches and show
how Beds were won when Ashby and
Sf1a and Jackson and your own i'm
noEt Chew stood fast for the faith
bf th2 fathers. and CLOTHED race OF
by the match1ess courage oil
q viii be pardoned am sure, for
still another quotation from the mueh
speaking of Major Hunter. Replyin
/ a few years ago to a statement made
Atlantic Monthly, that "in fighting for
slavery" Major Hunter sad, eighty
per cent of our Southern soldiers
| were non-slave holders. Il was not
| for slavery that Lee and his people of
Virginia took up arms. 1t was for the
fright of a State to solve its own do
nestle problems without impertinant
and ignorant interference by other
states or by the Federal Government.
| 1t was for the right to preserve our
superior civilization from alien and
debasing contamination. 1t was 70
our inherited rights under the Constf-
| tuition as framed by the Fathers of
the Republic and in resistance to the
invasion of our homes. And these
rights are as vital today as they have
ever been and as much SO to the
North as to the South The contro-
versy has simply been shifted from
| the arena of arms tosthe form lof Iea-
son, and if the Republic is to. be pre-
served and imperialism to b. escap
ed, it must be upon the principals To-
which the Confederacy so bravcly
fought. eve had" said Gen. Lee.
"at the close of war to Gen. ,Pendle-
| ton, we had, was satisfied sacred
| principals to maintain and rights to
defend, for which we were in duty
| bound to do our best, even il VI
persisted in the attempt"
1t is not necessary here, however,
| the causes of the war in. which YOU
Survivors and your deal comrades
| now gone to glory everlasting, bore
so conspicous part--this is rather
memorial occasion on which You
greet each other once more, and for
many of you the last time, alas! as
you march on to the eternal camping
| ground where your comrades arc wa
| ing for you with such tidings as you
| may bear with yon of how those thev
have left behind for a little snace are
keeping faith with themselves and
with the principles for which they
fought so valiantly in. the brave days
OF old,
1t cannot be that this is all, that
There is nothing worth while hereafter.
| that we run the full gamut of life
there, that we are less than the flow
ers of the field and the lilies of the
plant in rows and gather into our
L DoLtos 4&llS -ANpiONkdNtiSAAt AIiS
feternal. No man can think of himself
as not existing and so it is that in the
secret chambers of ourselves we PC
lieve that somewhere out on the table
land of the life that is to be we shall
| meet each other face to face march
| ing on to God. This is the faith which
sustained you and your followers in
| the privations of the camp, the ,weari
ness of the dusty ways your loyal feet
once trod, the blood and thunder OF
the battlefield, the utter loneliness of
| the night watch, the sorrows of death
and the hopelessnesS of defeat.
In one of the orations at the dedica-
| ton of the Soldiers Monument at
Pittsfield, Mass, in 1872, George c..
Curtis gave expression to this sent
ment. "What makes a State? MOI
laws, nor systems, nor institutions, nor
| traditions, nor vast extent, but men:
and men in the true sense, that is,
men oT moral nerve, of sobriety, OF
intelligence, of industry, Of honesty
The key of history is morality" Yet.
| it was the same eloquent speaker who
declared, "The South of the past will
never be reconciled or forgive its de.
feat, but the South of the future is
already reconciled with equality and
justice. We have only to be firm,
with malice towards none, with
charity for all, doing justice and matt
tanning equality, and the children of
| the graycoats will at last agree that
defeat was victory. THAT was the.
voice of prophecy that is even being
fulfilled before you have dropped out
of the ranks forever. Four years ago
at Gettysburg, field made immor
tai by the valor of your deeds one of
those children of the graycoats" now
fully restored to the Union detained
| in an outburst of unthinking speech,
"And this day there are in the South,
but few, if any, who would not turn
swiftly with sentiments of adherence
from any suggestion that it would
have been better for the South il il
had succeeded in establishing an indc-
pendent government. IF this were
true then our defeat was indeed more
hopeless than the surrender at .Ap.
lpomattox because by this test will The
South be judged this day to have
reached the last and most desperate
estate of conquered people, the loss
of self respect and the conquest of
opinion
In his history. of Lee, Dr.. Henry
ALEXANDER White says "On the
morning of the 9th Of April. whens,he
found Grants infantry in his front, a
great sadness fell upon Lee as he said:
/ There is nothing left but to go TO
General Grant, and Iwould rather die
a thousand deaths"
| No one would wish to renew the
difference that have been settled; no
ffone would call great armies into the
field again in this country to do bat
tie for any principle of government !;
but at least itsmight be expected thai
whatever The children of the Gray
coats would do, the graycoats them
selves would cherish to the end a dig
nified and lofty attitude, for the sake
of their dead comrades il moi from
considerations Of manly self-Tespect.