The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1865-12-20
Noble Defence OF Virginia and
Virginians.

Thank g cd, there are yet brave men
left in this degenerate land of trimming
time servers, who possess the moral cour.
age to speak plain words of truth aud
justice, as become:h the inheritors Of the
rich legacy bequeated by Washington
and his brother rebels. When it is so
much the fashion to tickle the ear of pop
ular prejudice with abuse and ridicule Of
the South, words of defense and eulogy,
of truth and justice, like the following,
uttered by Henry Clay Dean, Of Iowa, a
few days since, in New Jersey, deserve
to DO recorded and remembered. In a
speech Of great power and thrilling elo-
quence, peryaded by noble, manly senti.
ment, Mr.. Dean spoke as follows OF Vir-
ginia and Virgiuians /:
II dare not speak tor the oppressed in
the very teeth Of the oppressor. Since
Adam took possession CT Eden no part of
his heritage has given to man such a
hundred years Of history as that Of Vir-
ginia, beginning with the public life of
George Washington and ending with the
surrender Of the armies of General Rob.
ert' L. Lee. The great orator, Patrick
Henry, whose spirit lighted up the first
great Revolution, aud whose mild, sweet
voice called armies up the valley and
down the mountains to defend New York
New Jersey and Massachusetts, from the
invaders hoof, was a Virgiuian ; George
Washington, who led these armies, was a
Virginian ; Thomas Jefferson, whose
great soul encompassed the world and
lifted its light upon a benighted age to
teach it liberty, was a Virginian ; James
Madison, who eRvironed our rights by o
fame Of living FIRE which the most illus.
trious periods in the past and presen,
oensury preserved unhsrmed all that was
sacred in life and precious in hope-the
Constitution Of the United States-was a
Virginian John Marshall, whose lumin.
Gus mind, guided by immutable justice,
gave being to a most profound aud COM
prehensive judiciary, the tulwark of
American institutions, the marvel Of man
kind, was a virginian Henry Clay,
whose commanding majesty of soul drew
after him whithers6ever he went one full
half Of the whole moral and intellectual
power Of America, who did obeisance to
his name, was a Virginian ; the Lees,
Richard Henry, Arthur Francis Light,
foot, Light Horse Harry, and his illus.
trious son, Robert e. Lee, were Virgin.
ians; Thomas Jonathan Jackson, The
great military geniu, Of the Western
Hemisphere, was a Virginiau. The
courts and legislatures, and forums, and
pulpits Of every State in the Union, and
every government on the continent, have
been adorned by Virgiuians. Theil
blood shed in noble defense Of liberty
has fattened every valley, aud their bones
have bleached on every mountain from
Bunker Hill to the city OF Mexico. With
such a history and such a race Of free
men, Henry Wilson, Horace Greeley and
Charles Sumner would disfranchise this
illustrious people and place them under
the tutelagc Of negroes! Proud, gloriou,
old Virginia, what American, with Amer
lean pride, whether Abolitionist or Dem
ocrat, would moi. rather be Stonewal
Jackson. buried in the bosom Of Virgin
10, dead and immortal, than live and b,
Butler, lOathed by mankind