Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 30.djvu/340

 332 Company G, R. C. W. Radford, Bedford county. Company H, Joel W. Flood, Appomattox county. Company I, J. D. Alexander, Campbell county. Company K, Eugene Davis, Albemarle county.

Some years ago a clergyman of Washington, who had been a brave Confederate soldier, made an address in Alexandria, Va., to the Camp of Confederate Veterans, an audience consisting mainly of Virginia people. He referred to the war between the States and said that he supposed that there was no one within the sound of his voice who would now wish that the result had been different. Like sentiments have come from other men of note in the South, and very lately General Alexander, a soldier distinguished in the war between the States, said the like at West Point, where he was serving on the board of the Military Academy.

If this is the right view to take of the result of the late struggle between North and South, let us consider carefully what it means and what an honest man's duty is in the premises. If he believes this, I hold that he must say as follows: "I am glad that we failed in our efforts in 1861-1865 to establish a government separate from and independent of the Government of the United States, because if we had succeeded and won the political independence we were fighting for our conditions as a people would have been worse than it is now. Having been compelled to come to this conclusion what must I, in consequence, further conclude about the good and brave men who in 1861 led us in asserting and maintaining our cause?

"Were they right or wrong, in the broadest sense of those terms; not merely did they have a right, but were they wise in exercising that right? Granted that the Southern States had a right to secede,