this republic as had never been done before. The wild doctrines
of Sumner and Thaddeus Stevens on these points are not our law. If the
Union is perpetual, equally so is each state. The republic is "an
indestructible Union of indestructible states." If this part of our law
had in 1861 received its present definition and emphasis, and if the
Southern States had then been sure, come what might, of the freedom they
actually now enjoy each to govern itself in its own way, even South
Carolina might never have voted secession. And inasmuch as the war,
better than aught else could have done, forced this phase of the
Constitution out into clear expression, General Lee did not fight in
vain. The essential good he wished has come, while the republic with its
priceless benedictions to us all remains intact. All Americans thus have
part in Robert Lee, not only as a peerless man and soldier, but as the
sturdy miner, sledge-hammering the rock of our liberties till it give
forth its gold. None are prouder of his record than those who fought
against him, who, while recognizing the purity of his motive, thought
him in error in going from under the stars and stripes. It is likely
that more American hearts day by day think lovingly of Lee than of any
other Civil War celebrity save Lincoln alone. And his praise will
increase.

OUR REUNITED COUNTRY

Speech of Clark Howell at the Peace Jubilee Banquet in Chicago,
October 19, 1898, in response to the toast "Our Reunited Country:
North and South."

MR. TOASTMASTER, AND MY FELLOW COUNTRYMEN:--In the mountains of my
state, in a county remote from the quickening touch of commerce, and
railroads and telegraphs--so far removed that the sincerity of its
rugged people flows unpolluted from the spring of nature--two
vine-covered mounds, nestling in the solemn silence of a country
churchyard, suggest the text of my response to the sentiment to which I
am to speak to-night. A serious text, Mr. Toastmaster, for an occasion
like this, and yet out of it there is life and peace and hope and
prosperity, for in the solemn sacrifice of the voiceless grave can the
chiefest lesson of the Republic be learned, and the destiny of its real
mission be unfolded. So, bear with me while I lead you to the
rust-stained slab, which for a third of a century--since
Chickamauga--has been kissed by the sun as it peeped over the Blue
Ridge, melting the tears with which the mourning night had bedewed th