Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1860-11-13
Prince Of wales at the Tomb Of washington.

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History records few scenes more pregnant
with instruction than the visit of homage paid
by the Prince Of Wales to the tomb of Washing
ton. Eighty five years ago the man who ven
tnred to predict that before century should
have rolled by the heir to the British crown
would pay voluntary tribute of reverence to
the last resting place of the arch rebel who was
then bidding bold defiance to our armies, would
have been indebted to his condemnation as a
maniac for his escape from the condign punish
ment as traitor. The despot and his myrmi-
dons fancied in those days that the world was
made for their exclusive enjoyment, and that
it needed but an effort of their will to bend its
destinies according to their selfish fancy. They
might have imagined that some unexampled
good fortune might have secured for the remains
OF the insurgent general the shelter of an I'M
known grave; could they have had their way,
his bones would have bleached and ratified in
chains upon the Hottest gallows.
How would the obstinate and wrong headed
old monarch have greeted the prophecy that his
own great grandson would stand with uncovered
head before the sarcophagus which tie moulder-
ing dust OF the great rebel has converted into a
holy shrine2 What expressions of incredulOns
contempt would he have deemed strong enough
to give utterance to his feelings if any one had
dared to foretell that the federal provinces which
bad revolted against his rule would, almost in
the space OF a single generation, grow into q
mighty nation, rivalling the mother country in
all the arts of peace? To the men of those com
paratively recent time such presages would have
seemed mere idle raving; yet how brief space
of time has suffered to convert them into mere
statements of familiar truths.
When the noblest hero who had ever sprung
up among men buckled ON the sword with which
he had vowed to gain bis coqntrY's freedom, he
took the field as the champion OF a comparative
ly feeble brotherhood of struggling colonies; in
the ordinary course Of nature his son might now
be alive, yet already has the emancipated de-
tendency grown into the foremost of modern
empires, and receives as its guest the heir to the
English throne. Is there not in this, encourage
ment for faltering patriots, whose hopes long de-
terred, are clouded by that heart sickness which
is too often the forerunner of despair2 All no.
BILE aspirations after liberty may not be destined
to receive equally speedy satisfaction, but for the
persistent soldier OF freedom the victory, though
it may be slow, is sure
The Prince of Wales, in bowling before the
tomb of Washington, makes Silent confession
that the day OF autOcrats is at an end; for the
man to whose ashes he does homage was the
living incarnation of the truth that the will OF
the people Is Iue only rlgutiul eouIoo VI Po"oA'
We are quite conscious that such outward man
iestations of respect for great principles are not
always followed by consistent actions. Kings
have before now pYeiHded atrocious crimes by
solemn acts of devotion, just as Italian brigands
tell their beads before they murder the way
arer to secure bis patry store of gold. But still
we venture to cherish the hope that our young
Prince win bring away with him from the spot
which derives from the presence OF the dust OF
Washington a conservation more sublime than
astical rituals, some enduring impressions, whose
influence will be perceptible throughout his fu-
ture career-Loaadom Star (Liberal)