Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 18.djvu/301

 The Confederate Dead of Mississippi. 301

creased by delay. After all efforts for peaceful solution had proved of no avail, and our great leaders' plea, "We ask only for the Con- stitution," had brought forth no response, and only when there was " no longer any room for hope," did we " appeal to arms and to the God of battles." Then, throughout the South, "We must fight" was sounded from the mountains to the sea and we did fight ; and to such a fight as our dead heroes and their comrades made there is no parallel in history, and never can be until some other people equal to ours in courage and endurance, with the same stimulus and the same spirit of devotion, shall shut their eyes to untold odds against them and close their ears to every warning of calculation or policy, and wage a great war upon a cherished sentiment and sincere con- viction.

It was the effort to establish the true boundary line between the constitutional authority of a State and the general government that brought the war upon us. It was to maintain the theory of govern- ment which Mr. Calhoun and those of his school taught us that six hundred thousand Southern soldiers went eagerly to the field, and they to whom we raise this monument freely gave up their lives.

It was not for power, nor for riches, nor for ambition's sake, but for a great governmental principle of right which was rooted and grounded in their faith and sanctioned by their judgments. Without altering or wavering our martyred dead stood by this principle with their lives, and while the great guns of war shook to its center this now peaceful and prosperous land; while men were slain by tens of thousands and hearts were stricken and homes were darkened; while the groans of the dying and the wails of those bereft burdened the very air from Maryland to the Rio Grande, inspired by their exam- ple those who survived stood to the very last by the teachings of Calhoun and Davis, and those who held the same political faith.

When the end came, and with disappointment and defeat, it seemed only natural that the losses and afflictions of those whose banners had gone down should engender bitterness toward those whose teaching and guidance had contributed to produce the disas- trous conflict. Here was a trying test of fidelity, sincerity and truth, and here the grandest characteristic of our noble Southern people finds beautiful and honorable illustration.

No citizen nor soldier, no man nor woman, of all the bereaved and disappointed sons and daughters of the South, ever cursed the memory or even impugned the statesmanship of Calhoun, for whose political doctrines they had risked all and lost all ; and for our grand