Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 18.djvu/296

 296 Southern Historical Society Papers.

Thee to look down in love and mercy upon us, assembled here to render honor to our lamented brothers-in-arms who have fallen in the holy cause of right and justice.

Thou, O Lord, who wert falsely charged with being a traitor to Thy country and didst unjustly suffer a cruel death, Thou at least will sympathize with us in our lost cause, and we pray Thee to vin- dicate and to guard the memory of our comrades, who, likewise wrongfully accused and condemned, willingly aye, cheerfully laid down their lives on the consecrated altar of patriotism and liberty.

May the patriots of every nation unite with us to-day in weaving an imperishable garland to the fame of our gallant, true-hearted and brave Confederate soldiers, who stood undaunted, shoulder to shoulder, around their commanders though they were as one to a thousand, and who, when overpowered by numbers, fought to the end, handing from one to the other their blood-stained banner, until they fell dead on the battle-field with the patriotic cry upon their lips : " For the rights of our native land."

May this magnificent monument uplifting its head forever cry out to God and to man, not for pity, but for justice. But if, in the course of ages, the all- destroying hand of time should cause it to crumble into dust, grant, O Lord, that the remembrance of the knightly deeds of our Confederate heroes may never die out in the generous hearts of the Southern people, and that it may be a perennial foun- tain of lofty patriotism whereat our descendants may renew their vigor and admire with stimulating profit the achievements of so splendid an ancestry in behalf of right.

We thank Thee, O Lord, that amid all the selfishless and all the commonplace of this age, it has been given us to look upon a man of unswerving fidelity to duty and of uncompromising princi- ples a man who, in the midst of reverses and calamities that would have broken even a strong heart, remained as firm and immovable in his sincere convictions as the solitary rock in mid ocean against which the angry waves beat in vain ; a man who, for the sake of principle, lost all save honor our illustrious chieftain, Jefferson Davis !

We pray Thee, O Lord, bless ! oh, bless with Thy choicest gifts, the " Daughter of the Confederacy," the most precious legacy left to the lost cause, the dearest pledge of our leader's love to the com- panion of his glory and of his adverse fortunes. May she ever be the perfect embodiment of the righteous principles of the Southern people and prove herself the worthy daughter of so noble a sire.