The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1919-05-26

IL M 4sar - 49, 49, ~ 4 -.
4sases& 81 an ~ i4tAert(y q - s1eit
bit for the sake IT these Others ~
brethren ol kindrsd efvitisation 10
refused the bribe. embraced the crcss.
ana takes his place In history - per-
haps the most magnanimous ana un-
seaAsh soul IN the annals Of his c0un-
try. There II nothing nt once grand
% and yet more pathetic than his at
titude when the war was over. To no
one IN all the South could II have been
harder to take advantage OF the
Amnesty Proclamation than to Gen.
eral Lee. Had he consulted his own
interests and feelings he would.
think, never have taken 1t. He need
not have done It. He gained nothing
personally BY. doing It He did not
care whether he was pardoned by the
Federal authorities or not But he
the Southern people depended upon
the frank acceptance Of a situation
which they could not alter; and that
he might make the act easier for other
proud spirits like his own, who were
compelled. unlike himself. TO obtain
the restoration of their civil rights so
al to retrieve their own and their
to Washington though he well knew
that he, was thus exposing himself to
the censure Of many Of his old COM
rades-in-srms. Never were nobler
words uttered by mortal man than
these: III my Acknowledgement and
privation Of civil rights would secure
to the citizens Of Virginia the enjoy
ment OF civil liberty and equal rights
under the constitution. would WILL
ingly accept them In her stead" 1t Is
the very spirit Of ST. Paul when he
said: II could wish that myself were
Rnathema from Christ for my breth-
ien's sake. my kinsmen according to
tho flesh" Having eaten with his peo-
pie the bread of privation and danger.
the cup Of humiliation also.
What. then. we ask. is the message
OF the war to the men and women Of
today? What legacy have your
fathers handed down to You from that
desperate four-year struggle against
overwhelming odds? That message,
that legacy. as see It. Is twofold.
First. that Of devotion to principle.
There can be nothing higher and
holier than that, and can think of
no reminder more needed in these
days OF ours when seif-interest so
often takes the place of conscience
by the standard OF expediency rather
than that Of right and wrong. 1t
ought to be, II II IL not--and some
times fear II h not--a standing, re-
Duke to the petty politics. and loose
business methods, and greedy scram
bling after material gain that char
acterizes 30 much OF our modern life.
that for four long and bitter years
your fathers were willing to sacrifice
all that they held dear-tn bloody
and unsuccessful war for the sake of
what they believed to be right. Our
enemies today are not armies of flesh
and blood. but the far more dan
gerous enemies OF the weak piping
times Of peace''-selfshness, cowar-
dice eiHxuryH and the softness of sttn-
heroic lives They are within our
selves. They are th,ndering at the
gates of our souls as the army of the
Potomac Numbered at the gates of
Richmond. Are we breathing out
defiance against them p Are-we
throwing UP the entertainments of
conscience and right living against
them?
Not a Pacif1cist
I am no advocate of war but, on
the other hand, | am no pacificist
There are worse things than war--in-
justice. dishonor. falsity and the
SNUG complacency Of ignoblc minds
II may be true that they that take
titC SNcLN Fst s'S tAe S~otof
but what IL the sword be forced into
our hands? War may be an evil: but
as between war and dishonor who.
worthy of the name of man. would
hesitate to choose II war Is not ex
actly as Bernard Shaw says, a biolo-
gical necessity. II II at time neces-
sity of our moral natures the strong,
stern protest of AL that is within us"
against wrongs that have passed the
limit nf and will not he
settled save by the arhitraHient of
the sword.
There have been wars that were or
ganized murder. but there have been
also wars that were birth-throes OF
all that we hold most dear. OF lib
erty. Of truth. Of justice, OF human
hrothe, hood. Wars of that kind liber-
ate, eanohle. justify. sanctify. They
purge the gold from the dross. They
for sacrifice in people and raise
them permanently to higher levels OF
national thought and action.
You remember what Tennyson says
about war. in Maud" Thinking of
the corruption and materialism OF his
day~-its low ideals, It's selfish cor
mercialism. its dishonesty in high
places and in low--he Is driven to
voice the wish that foreign foe
land, so that in its defense some
heroic quality might be struck from
the soul Of his people as the steel
strikes its spark from the flint:
Peace sitting under her olive. and
slurring the days gone by;
When the poor are hoveIfd and nus
tied together, each sex like
swine:
When only the ledger lives. and when
only not all men lie;
Peace In her ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS a
company FORCES the wine.