The Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1822-1829, 1826-07-10

LYNCHBUR3, JULY 10. ,s.8.
Thomas Jfferson@-We publi4h with

Thomas Jefsrson~-We publish, with /.
which ". shall not attempt to
'"neeal. the proceedings Of The meeting nf
Sths ciIlzens of Lynchburg, held las, Fri-
5day' to devise means Of paying suitable
+ nohnrs To the memory the LAT. Thomas
$Jetersou. No man that ever lived. d,
Xserved more lasting asd atfecticnats re-.
+ msmhrhncp, at thr hands of his codntrv-
kmen, than does Mr. jefferson. From his
youth until bis death, his .xertions werp
'n"eafI"d'y aud undeyiatngly directed 10
tue accomplishment of one great object
the security of the rights of man. This
desire of personal aggrandlzem.nt never
sull"d for moment the nobleness of his
purpose. II his countrywen elevated hin,
To office, II MAS not because he had stoop-
I'D from his" high estate" to buy their
Hsnhrages by hypocrticai pretences, or by
8the little arts with which denagogues
II know So well how TO please the popular
ear. But IT was because they were salts
= fled that he was honest. They were con-
WINGED, from the whole tenor of his pub.
lie life, that all the ends he aimed nj were
Truths, Code and lis & ttur a. Thai
h's tA'rhis, his patriotism, and his honesty
were duly appreciated by people whose
= rights he had 20 long and so earnestly ad !
rocatrd, and towards the establishment
nf whose government he had contributed
70 small portion of his honorable life, in
certainly not surprising. Aud it, in the in !
justice of an intolerant spirit OF party, the
consequences ofthis appreciation, 30 ho-
norable to the discernment and to the
sense of justice of his coun.rymen, were
made the weapons with which to assault
bis reputation, and to throw a doubt over
The purity Of his motives, yet now that
the narrow spirit ofhsated pariizans has
become nsllowed by ti,ne, and its efforts
rendered Intellectual by their own recoil,
tho acknowledgement of former injustice
"a has wiped away its remembrance, and to
a sincere and universal peui,ence has been
accorded pardon equally extensive and
cordial. Time, which detects error. aud
does justice to the actions of men, long at.
ter the individuals themselves have sunk
to their last repose, has, in relation to Mr.
Jefferson, been more speedy in its justice
as tito comprnsat. for the more than usu.
al asper'ty with which the departed sagt
Was sssailed by tina inconsiderAte rashnrs:
OF his political foes. II MAS his peculiar
Sgratlhcstlon 10 witness, long before h.
Il" shut5ed of this mortal coil" the passing
away Of that TEN pestuous cloud which had
so often wasted its fury on his head. tie
had lived to--rU those by whom he been
had denounced aud vilfed, in the vigor oi
his manhood, and in the day ofhis power
making refeptant piig'images to his phi
losophic retreat, in the weakness of his
age, and boHinS with reverence and awe
before the keen glance Of that aye whose
lustrc it was not IN the power of age and
infrmity TO quench. It was the gIoriou,
boast Of the Philosopher that he had cons
quered the enemies Of the Politician
that he had conquered them, not with the
vulgar weapons Of elimination and recri-
mination but by the silent though steadily
Progressive march Of Truth, and the IN.
|tramUelled influence of Reason 1T wa,
still greater matter Of triumph. that, in
conquering them, he had illustrated the
truth OF one Of his own sublime maxims
that Error IS never dangerous uhert
Reason as leG free 10 combat At" Who
nov says aught against Thomas Jefferson;
Who, of all that host Of defamer., thai
once hung upon his skirts with unrelent-
ing grasp, e. pursued him with unfeeling
luminosity, who. of them all, will have tn,
tenerity to follow him 10 the tomb with
their open hsse2 Who, Of them all, will
rake up the remembrance of his faults, and
search out his blemishes with micro
scope eye, to magnify and blazon them to
the world ? Not one. Thank God, there
IS no such Vampire spirit in the country
and, il there we're, its possessor would be
hooted from society, if he attempted To
ba,ten in its exercise. fit be true, in thr
general, that the grave, when It closes up
on all that is mortal Of its tenant, should
be the repository also Of the animosities
1of the lsing-that tho survivors should
cease to war with the inanlmatr c,od
whose neryeless arm shall no longer BE-
reused To action whose closed eye no
|Iiaht shall relumine :" and whose pallld