Virginia advocate. [volume] (Charlottesville, Va.) 1827-1860, 1829-07-24
common interest, and the common feeling deriv-
cd from il, or strengthened by it,

cd from 1t, or strengthened by il.
1t is with these sentiments, (ifI may be per-
mitted to allude TO my own public conduct, be-
fore company of gentlemen of opposite polit-
cal opinions, aEd on an occasion consecrated to
the oblivion of every topic of party strife } that
since have been a member of cong rcss, have
supported the policy, which aims to open or
pofect the communication between the distant
sections oil tie country, particularly by the ex-
tension and preservation of the national road.
INC state oil which l am citizen, has already
paid between l and 1000 dollars towards the
construction and repair of that road /; and
doubt not that she is prepared to contribute her
proportion towards its extension TO the place of
ITS destieton, we'll as toward the completion
OF the full design, by constructing n lateral
oIanch, through tins state, and the states soutl,
OF kentucky, To the gulf of Mexico The friends
OF internal Improvement in the Atlantic States
40 not pretend to be Indifferent to their interest
Ihey know that the national road is hiyh wav
Tor tho products of their facorics their fisheries.
and their commerce. But trust also thew act
upon higher principles regard To the national
Union: that they perceive, what Washinuton
perceived, and began TO inculcate, in the very
moment of cessation from war-almost before
lac hau put OIL his harness that nothing is more
essential TO the strengthening this Union than
an easy communication from east to west
subsidiary to this and every other measure of
legislative enactment aiming at the same end,
is 'hot interchange of the courtcsics of socia;
lie, by which kind feeling is to he awakened ar
fostered. As between individuals 81 he, v,oo w.
states which compose individuals there is n tenn
per ana feeling, rs important to be rightly d;
recteu rs the course of legislation or the public
poi'cy. On tins topic, although perhaps more
appropriate TO The occasion, L could not within
any reasonable limits, nor without goinr no.
yond the bounds of dc!iacy toward Tho o,,d;.no.
!, ADDRESS, express ali that feel: all that has
peeh inspired IN my bosom, by what have wit
hosSeu Oh inc courtesy, the cordiality the hos
pi'ahty oil the west. would not, to be sure. be
though. TO have been unnformed of any
Pc VI INC country, as to be wholly ignorant
VI Tue state of public sentiment prevailinD
IN IL on any Important point. But it will not,
nope; oe thought impertinent, if say, that it
has pcc!i, not without some SURPRISE MS wcll
as tue highest qualification, that have made a
Journey OF between three and four thousand
i ,Is III the west in the public conveyances bv
IT, u '"u water, always without companions
o',Gh unknown; and without having heard svl
laoie, winch could give pain To the FEELINGS of
WHAT trust l shall ever show myself) n duti-
iui son OF New England. cannot hut cherish
.ie nope, that improving means of communicn
l"n between the states, will put in the power of
iio.c's rg numbers of our brethren in other
parts oil the Union, to give as GOOD an account of
that portion OF 1t, to which belong, and from an
experience as agreeable.
Gentlemen, there is no place in the west
L
nave taken greater interest i'm VISITING than
your hosPilaoic town an interest strcnGthoncd
ny the former residence of beloved and Ia
n'enteu oro'ier among You, and his connection
WIN the University here established, which has
already done so much and is destined / am suro
to do so much more for the public rood in tbis
part OF the country. Every patriot every re-
hectihS man, who considers that useful knowl-
edge widely ditused, is the only sure basis of
eh'iS''tened freedom, sympathizes with you in
your regret for that disaster which has re-
duced its well provided apartments and state
~ waits ID melancholy ruins. The public spi-
rlt, which raised. will, l doubt not. speedily re-
store those walls, and infusc new energy into
an institution, justly ranked among the most
respectable In the country, an honor to this
town, and to the state, and public benefit To
the west. Indeed, in the early care, which in
,iis ana some OF the neighbourng states, has
been had Tor the esta biishment of places of cdu.
cation, though much is naturally still to he
done, recognize the spirit which animated the
pilgrim fathers Of New England, (never to he
mentioned by their descendants without praise
IN the same cause. You have had your Morri
son as we have had our Harvard. AS COM
munty, you have already given pledges, that
you are determined your posterity shall have
cause 10 bless yonr memory, as we have to- bless
tnc memory OF our ancestors. Let but the foun.
datI"ns be deeply laid in a liberal public and
private patronage. and the intellectual edificc-
the solid fabric of an enlightened community
VIII stand firm, though the bric' and marble NAV
lor time, sink beneath the dcvourinp flames
and the scientific treasures they contained. be
reduced to dust and ashes
There is one association recalled to mind in
visiting this place, TO which it would he unnar
d"nable were insensible an association which
has perpetuated in the name of YOUR civ. that Of
an ever-memorable village in the county Iinhabit.
a II IN the near nelghbourhood of my residence
" nf fl,o
the 18th of April l775, reached a party of hun.
ters assembled at the spring in this place, thew
resolved, In prophetic commemoration of that
event, TO give the name of Lexington to the
place oftheIr encampment, and to the town that
should there be fonnded5 Not more than fiftv
years, oeiieve, have passed away, since the ac-
tuai laying out OF this town and in that period
what monument have not you and vour fathers
reared TO The brave and good men, who, at that
doubtful Crisis OF the countrys fate, on the morn
OF her independence, offered up their lives in
her sacred cause They were not of vour kim
dred, except in the kindred of struggling liberty
and by the blood which they shed for vour frce
dom as for their own They lie in their hmm.
bic graves, in the beautiful village where thew
fell; and simple stone marks the scene of their
costly sacrifice woithily in the remote west.
has Their pous self-devoion been commemorate
ed, III the ample streets, the slightly dwellings,
.he SuostahIiai pubic edIhccs, in the charitable
the literary, the religious foundations of this i'm
portant town.
Meantime, in the astonishing progress of our
country this state, then almost painless will
derness mali explored, untitled or TILED oulv bv
the bold hunter who went to field with shade in
one hand and the rifle in the other has become
itself the parent Of other rising states. Beyond
the Wabasf-beyond the Mississippi-there are
now large communities who look to these ma.
tive fields with the same feelings, with which
your fathers looked back to their native homes
In virginia. have myself, within week or
two, heard individual, who had been 10 ex.
Plore for himselfa home in Illinois, and was on
his return to take out his family to the chosen
spot, even while commencing the abundance
and fertility of the vast prairies in that region
check himself, as we were passing by some OF
prosperous settlements, the comfortable houses,