The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1852-07-20
a GOOD SUGGESTION.

gentleman who was educated at the Onf
Ligy Of Virginia, expressed to us, the otne'
y. the hope that the Alumni Of that insti'u'
on might be assigned place in the process
bon, in honor Of Mr.. Clay, which is TO come
! of on the 18th. We hope those having oo-
thority, will take the matter into consideration
We do not know that we can ourselves claim
any privilege under such regula''on' TOT
though ne studied at the University, they
.wera done taking in" about the time when
We ought to have graduated. We think "Atnn'-
nus" used by the Romans TO signify foster.
child, 10 College phrase, means graduate,
and therefore does not apply 10 such mere
step-son as we proved 10 be. Yet though we
shall derive neither advantage nor importance
from the proposed arrangement, We hope it
will be carried into effect, and thai it will be
extended to graduates of other Virginia Col
leges. There can be nothing more appropri-
ate than honor thus paid by men who have en-
joyed ali the advantages of q learned educa-
ton, to the memory of one who rose to the
highest eminence without them. They may
learn, 10 that procession, lesson of humility
which can never be learned too early, by those
who have SET their minds upon the honors
which even genius and patriotism can COM
mand. The bitter persecution which logged
the steps of Mr.. Clay while living, contrasted
with the late repentance which would give
worlds to have it undone, was not peculiarly
Lis fate. 1t has, in oil ages, been that of men
whose proportions were too gigantic for the
measurement of their contemporaries. 1t ban.
ished Arsiides the Just, it commended the
chalice of hemlock to the lips of Socrates, it
gave Cicero TO the sword of the assassin, il ex-
posed Machiavelli to torture and exile, it led
Russell to the block, and it made the blind old
Milton pass the evening of his days in poverty
and wretchedness. 1t is death, and death
alone, that sets the seal of Immortality upon
all that is truly great. 1t is posterty, and
posterity only, that can estimate, at their true
value, the claims of the mighty men of the
earth. For these reasons we neither wonder
AT, nor deplore, the cruel injustice which Mr..
Clay met, while living, at the hands of his con.
temporaries. He paid the penalty of his su
periority to those around him, and it is the
price which has been paid, in all time, for a
memory that cannot die. What would not
Athens have given TO have had reversed the
decree which consigned to felon's grave the
wisest and best of aer sons? What would not
Florence give,even at this day, for the bones of
her great bard, the prosecuted, the exiled, the
immortal Dante :? In all ages. there has been
atendency among nations, to revile and to per.
secute those who have been their most munf;
cent benefactors, and in this respect " e are no
worse than the rest of the world. 1t is only
after death has closed their ears and ewes TO the
sounds and sights Of this world that the s;vb
ofrepentance is heard-that we remember onlv
the virtues and services of the map-,bat we
offer oblations and build monuments to h.
memory. a sfz $3.50 sac :.
see na'ions, slowly wise, and ms.nlv inst y
40 buried merit raise the tardy bust
II is peculiarly appropriate, we repeat. ,b,,
the young aspirants after fame should m;nsl i
with the procession in body.