Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 1.djvu/601

Rh few days this picture settled the question. "The South lost all but honor, is therefore a phrase her orators can repeat with pride through all the ages. &quot; Fought to a frazzle &quot; was the graphic word Gordon sent to Lee, only a few hours before actual surrender, which determines the time when the proud spirit yields to physical force. "We wore ourselves out whipping you,&quot; said a Southerner in quick reply to a Northern inquirer as to the reasons why the cause was lost.

But aside from the necessity to preserve the self-respect of those valiant Americans of the South who were the equals of all others in the government to which they surrendered, it was not expedient to leave the readjustment of the Union to the sentimental liberality which political partisans might choose to affect. There was no partisan liberality needed and there was no ground nor call for magnanimity. The crushing of the gallant armies which had fought to the last left all the great principles of our government unsurrendered. Nothing passed away but slavery which itself was not a principle, but only a dispensable feature in the government of the United States and of the Confederate States. Nothing visible was surrendered except the worthless arms and worn out property of the Confederate army. Even slavery was extinguished by the civil process of Constitutional amendments by the States; and the right of secession, which New England people so early and fondly cherished, came to be denied to them even by the post-bellum action of the Southern people. The vast armies which invaded the South returned enriched only by relics gathered in their campaigns and the civil government of the Union had gained no power to oppress any section.

It is well that all this is true. It is best that no treaty stipulations immediately after Hampton Roads conference were entered into which could involve our free principles or betray the nation into reliance on that treaty as a supplement to the constitution. As the question stood at the