Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 16.djvu/301

 Southern Genius. 295

If I were to venture into the domain of criticism myself, I should be tempted to complain that all departments of the Confederate Government hewed too closely to constitutional lines for the most efficient results in times of revolution. But if this be true, it only shows how devoted they were to the principles of a government restrained by constitutional limitations.

The strategic and tactical talent of Confederate generals, their capacity to organize large armies, to discipline and supply them from scanty and constantly diminishing stores, their executive ability, their fertility in expedients ; in fine, their genius for war will not, I think, be questioned by any fair-minded critic. And the dash and elan of the private soldier, his aptitude for arms, his powers of endurance, his audacity and pluck in battle, his tenacity, his intelligent confor- mity to the rigid rules of discipline, will be readily admitted by the most hypercritical observer.

Our enemies of that day, in fact, the military students of all coun- tries, learned some valuable lessons in the art of war from Con- federate soldiers, and the former turned many of them upon us, and thereby compassed our discomfiture and ultimate defeat.

I think we may, therefore, safely claim, without the charge of vain- glory and boasting, that the Southern people, in their prolonged and desperate struggle for a separate existence, developed a wonderful civil, military and industrial genius, and may confidently rely upon the judgment of impartial history for their vindication in that behalf. The same elements exist with us to day, intensified in the crucible of adversity, and will exert themselves in bringing their section abreast with the foremost regions of the enlightened world, and thereby contribute, as they have always done, to the success and permanency of republican institutions in America ; and to the glory and great- ness of that Union to which they have, in good faith, renewed their allegiance.

On motion of William L. Royall, Esq., it was

Resolved, That the thanks of the Association be tendered General M. C. Butler for his able address, and that he be requested to furnish a copy of it for publication.

On motion of Hon. Theodore S. Garnett, of Norfolk, Virginia, it was