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 234 who, in the tide of time, have fought for their homes and firesides.

Historians on two continents are giving the Confederate soldier full credit for the honesty of his convictions, and the courage with which he defended them.

In due time they will tell of his achievements in peace that were not surpassed by his exploits in war. Worn out by the victories he had won over superior numbers, he yielded to those and the resources of the world, that supplied the men and material that at last compassed his defeat.

The territory that he defended with unsurpassed valor, containing one-third of our population, has for years contributed 40 per cent, of our exports to foreign lands. But for the cotton crop, produced on his land and through his enterprise, there would be no balance of trade in our favor. Receiving no pension, save a pittance from the Commonwealth that has been despoiled by war and robbed by Reconstruction laws, he has, with the toil and enterprise of himself and the sons sprung from his loins, furnished from his taxable values fully one-third of the revenue that has gone to pension the survivors of the Federal army, and the widows of those who sleep in the well-kept cemeteries of the nation. The principles for which he contends are recognized everywhere as the underlying fundamental principles of government to-day.

He sees one of his own comrades, the Chief Justice of the United States, and one of his associates, an ex-Confederate. The legislative branch of government is in control of the men and their sons who are in sympathy with him. Under no other form of government could such a situation obtain. The safety of the nation is the safety of the States.

No summary, however brief, of the record and services of the Confederate would be complete without mention of the part he has played in helping shape the legislation of this country for the past forty years. In the Fifty-fifth, Fifty-sixth and Fifty-seventh Congresses there were thirty-two ex-Confederate soldiers in the House and sixteen in the Senate. The constructive legislation they initiated and enacted into law has been of incalculable benefit to the nation, while the undesirable legislation