The Southern Cause Vindicated. 319
They Wore the Gray. The Southern Cause Vindicated.
An Address by Hon. PETER TURNKY, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
of Tennessee, before the Tennessee Association of Confederate
Veterans, at Nashville, August 8th, 1888.
" The objects of this association being social, historical and benevo- lent, and its labors being directed to cultivating the ties of friendship between the survivors of the armies and navies of the late Confederate States, to keeping fresh the memories of our comrades who gave up their lives for the cause they deemed right, to the perpetuation of the records of their deeds of heroism, to the collection and disposition, in the manner it deems best, of all materials," etc. , we cannot and must not in anywise in the least sympathize with that spirit of seem- ing apology we sometimes meet.
We retract nothing, and believe the cause in which our comrades fell was just ; that they and we were not traitors or rebels against the authorized action of that government from which we seceded; other- wise it would be unlawful and immoral to attempt to keep alive and perpetuate the memories of those who fell, or to preserve for history the records of their deeds of heroism. Nothing unpatriotic, immoral, unlawful or treasonable should be the basis of any association. It would be unpardonable in us to perpetuate, by positive activity, that cause of ours which would brand us as rebels against law, and teach our children that we have violated morals, order and social and politi- cal obligation.
We are proposing to do none of these things. A conviction of right and duty impelled us to enter the service of the Confederate States as soldiers ; our comrades who gave up their lives, did so in obedience to love of country and its constitutional foundation. The Confederate States were not and are not responsible, morally, legally or politically, for any drop of blood spilled in the late war between the States. Under the principles of the Union, as it then existed, the right of secession was clear. In support of this right, I will say but little else than cite authority. The agitation of the slavery question in its several aspects, with centralization for its great purpose, was a main cause of trouble and separation. The words of the Constitu- tion were : " No person held to service or labor in one State under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor is due."
