346 Southern Histori<-<il Nor/r///
aged by the remorseless cruelty and unquenchable ambition of some of their leaders. Just think of the almost infinite distance between the places these leaders will occupy in history, and those already occu- pied by those immortal and imcomparable commanders, who sleep side by side at Lexington, and whose fame will grow brighter and brighter as the years roll by. As the conquerers of Hannibal, of Caesar, and Napoleon have been almost forgotten amid the effulgence which will forever cling to the names of these illustrious, though vanquished leaders, so in the ages to come, the fame of Lee, of Jackson, the Johnstons, Stuart, Ashby and others will outshine that of Grant, Sheridan and Sherman " like the Sun 'mid Moon and Stars."
In the few hours that I could spare from the cares and engage- ments of a busy life, I have thought it worth the while to gather up the fragments of testimony which I have given you to-day as to the justice of our cause, and the conduct of the defenders of that cause, not by way of presenting to you any arguments of mine on these all-important themes; but to show you some of the acts and confes- sions of our quondam enemies themselves, and of distinguished for- eigners. These constitute the highest and the best evidence which the law recognizes for the establishment of the truth of any fact. And I want you, and the young people here especially, to think on these things. Yes, my young friends, this cause, which is thus, as I think, established to be right, is the one for which a third of a cen- tury ago, your fathers fought, and your mothers worked and wept, and prayed. They thought they were right then, they know they were right now.
And I want to say, in conclusion, that to think and feel, as we think and feel about the Confederate cause, does not mean that we are disloyal citizens of our now united and common country. But on the contrary, it is just in proportion as we are true and loyal to the cause of the South, that we will be true and faithful citizens of our country to-day; because the principles for which the Confed- erate soldier fought, are the only ones, as I have already said, on which constitutional liberty can ever rest in this, or any other coun- try. Yes, my comrades and friends, be ye sure that
"The graves of our dead with the grass overgrown Will yet form the footstool of liberty's throne. And each single wreck in the war path of might Shall yet be a rock in the temple of right."
