Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 14.djvu/499

 Address of Hon. B. H. Rill. 493

with every fact of the Federal history, intimately familiar with every fact. in Confederate councils, trained in debate, learned in coivstitu- tional law, courteous in manner, accurate in statement, powerful in logic, and respected even by our enemies — I think it is time to des- pair of doing anything in this generation to lift the South to her for- mer position of influence and power in the Congress of the United States. To feed our people on frothy declamation now, however blown by procured newspaper puffs, is like feeding a starving multi- tude on unsubstantial snow-^akes, however piled up by capricious winds ! There was never such a field for real, profound, patriotic statesmanship. The very inferiority of Northern representatives, as compared with those they sent to Congress before the war, but in- creased the chances for Southern statesmen to remove, by proper debate in the national councils, the false theories and impressions which have been crowded into the minds of the Northern people, and thus return the general government to its constitutional limita- tions, restore to the States the free exercise of their reserved rights, and rescue from destruction for our enemies, as well as for ourselves, those great principles of constitutional government, which every pur- pose of the Confederates sought to maintain, and which every fea- ture of coercion must logically tend to destroy.

Thus, denied by our enemies the opportunity of silencing by the solemn judgments of their own courts, the fierce accusations of criminality in secession, and denied by our enemies, and the follies of our own people, the glorious chance of vindicating our cause in high debate, and face to face with the chosen champions of our ac- cusers, we have but one resource left us for defence or vindication. That resource is history— impartial and unpassioned, un-office-seek- ing history ! It is to secure a fair trial before this august tribunal that this Society has been organized to collect, prepare and perpet- uate the evidence. Our enemies are exceedingly active in their efforts to get a false presentation of the testimony for the judgment of his- tory. They are seeking to monopolize the possession of our own records. They readily pay more money for disjointed portions of Confederate archives than they did for the Madison papers, giving an account of the proceedings of the Convention that framed the Constitution. It is shameful to see how much assistance they are re ceiving in their efforts to pervert and falsify our history from those malcontents who kept up such restless assaults on the Confederate administration. The men who quarrelled more with their own side, than with the enemy during the struggle, are among the first after the