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assertion made above and in forming the Union these
rights were expressly reserved to the states, and with-
out this reservation the constitution could not, and
would not, have been adopted. That this was the
real question at issue, so far as the Confederates were
concerned, has come to be acknowledged by every
well informed citizen, both North and South, in this
country.
  In October, 1912, General Charles H. Grosvener,
of Ohio, who was a gallant soldier in the Federal
army, and for many years one of the leaders of the
Republican party in Congress, in a speech made to
his comrades of the Army of the Cumberland at
Chattanooga, Tenn., said: "The constitution of the
United States is almost the wisdom of the Almighty.
The greatest English statesmen have said that the
hand that wrote it must have been inspired. Now,
if there is a Confederate soldier in the house, I want
him to stand up. Figuratively speaking, I am go-
ing to defend him. You Confederate soldiers did
not believe that you were compelled to stay in the
Union. Lee, Jackson, Calhoun, and other great men
of the South, believed the same on that question.
They did what they believed to be right. They saw
the constitution as it was adopted. Who is here to
call them criminals Certainly not I."
  I might continue to quote you sayings of other
leaders among the men who fought against us in the
conflict who now, by open declaration, declare and
maintain that the Confederate soldier fought for
that great principle of government upon which
American liberty is founded, severeignty of the
citizen, and sovereignty of the State.
  It is contended that this law makes provision for