"The issue is clear cut and terrible in its simplicity--the South stands
on the faith of our fathers who created this Republic. The South stands
for Constitutional freedom under the forms of established law. The
North has lifted the red flag of revolution and proclaims the
irresponsible despotism of an enthroned mob!
"For a generation your school mistresses have been training your boys to
hate us and arming them to fight us. Make no mistake about this movement
to-day. We who go are but the servants of those who sent us. They now
recall their ambassadors, and we obey their sovereign will. Make no
mistake about it. They are not a brave and rash people, deluded by bad
men, who are attempting in an illegal way to wreck the Union. They seek
peace and safety outside driven by the Rebellion against Law and Order
within.
"Are we more or less than men? Can we love our enemies and bless them
that curse and revile us? Are we devoid of the sensibilities, the
sentiments, the passions, the reason, and the instincts of mankind? Have
we no pride, no honor, no sense of shame, no reverence for our
ancestors, no care for posterity, no love for home, or family or
friends? Must we quail before the onion breath of an enthroned mob,
confess our baseness, discredit the fame of our sires, degrade our
children, abandon our homes, flee from our country and dishonor
ourselves--all for the sake of a Union whose Constitution you have
publicly burned and whose Supreme Court you have spit upon?
"Shall we consent to live under an administration controlled by those
who not only deny us justice and equality and brand us as infamous, but
boldly proclaim their purpose to rob us of our property and destroy our
civilization?
"The freemen of Alabama have proclaimed to the world they will not.
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