Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 23.djvu/24

 18 Southern Historical Society Papers.

all true patriots now assert that there must be no Eastern, no West- ern, no Northern, no Southern supremacy of any kind, but a Union of One People of the many States, equally and honestly governed, without favoritism for special States, sections, classes or conditions. That was the burning question as the South saw it, and all conten- tion focused there. Upon that vital issue, involving the good char- acter of the Union, the honor of the States, and the individual liberties of the people, peaceable secession was sought as the right way of relief and coercion by arms confronted the plan. We with- stood the bloody Mortmain with all our might, at the cost of all we had, and literally bled to death.

The fealty of the Southern people to the Union is ever self-respect- ing, as it should be, and is as sincere as the flawless virtues of a vestal. It is right to have it understood that the South is stung to the quick by the insult which pretends to suspect its honorable devo- tion to the Union, the Constitution and the flag. Its proud lip curls in scornful contempt for the man whose soul is so paupered of senti- ment and leprous with prejudice that he cannot trust the honor of the South. The Southern people meet their Northern countrymen not half way, but all the way. In the use and occupation of this realm, dedicated to freedom, we hold per my et per tout, where each is for all and all is for each. We are ready for a full and equal divis- ion of the gravest duties and the highest privileges including our part of all civil, military and naval advantages, together with a fair share of National offices, from postmaster to President. We have come back, as Senator Hill said, to our father's house, and I may be allowed to add, we are ready to break merrily into the fatted ring and kill the golden calf.

V.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO INDUSTRIAL GREATNESS.

I have reserved for conclusion a restricted glance at the industrial history of the South, and its present brightening promise of future additions to all those things which will increase our Country's great- ness. True as this section has been to the original ideas of the fore- fathers, its record does not consist alone of mere chivalric sentiment. Its footprints are well marked in the pathway of the world's pro- gress, and it as willingly unfolds its old career as its present resource- ful prospects to the scrutiny of the age. In the infancy of the Union, after a hundred years of competition, it stood foremost in industrial and commercial power, and then saw without envy the