The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1868-06-26

war, first in peace, and first in the
hearts of his countrymen." These
mighty shades seem to adjure you to
be true to your stricken and desolate
mother, to cling to her with flial
reverence, and to- protect, to uphold
and to defend her against every ene-
my. Can you, lidare you, sons of
Virginia, with such examples and
such teaching before you, be false to
the land that gave you birth? Your
great countrymen who gave renown
to their State were inspired by an
ardent patriotism, and it is for the
purpose of keeping alive in your
hearts this sacred fire that / cite them
as examples for your imitation: Your
first duty as citizens is to cherish
constantly pure and fervent love
for your State, for without this you
can achieve nothing; great or good for
her. Ambition may kindle in the
heart Of its vots5y thirst for fame,
and rouse him to- the achievement of
glory, but it Is the holy love of coun-
try alone that inspires the patriots
heart and nerves his arm, that makes
him happy to suffer in her cause or
die in her defence; happier, indeed,
to give his life in the effort to make
her free, than to live to see her en-
slaved. N. 4.s ID
Napoleon, after conquering the
world, fell before the great soldie
whose sword was drawn only at the
call of his country, and who
fought, as he did everything else,
from a source of duty alone. 1t is
the crowning glory of Wellington,
not that he vanquished the greatest
captain the world ever saw, but that
he made duty the principle which
governed his whole life. He has
himself left upon record q sentiment
that shows how deeply this principle
was implanted in his nature, and
which I commend to you as one of
the noblest utterances ever made.
''Some Frenchman," he writes, "has
said that the word duty is to be
found in every page of my dispatches,
and the word glory not once. This
is meant, I am told, as reproach,
but the foolish fellow does not see
that if mere glory had been my
object, the doing of my duty must
have been the means" Thus spake
the hero of Waterloo; and you may
learn, from his example, no less than
his words, that the highest and
truest glory consists in the conscien-
tious discharge of every duty. Pa
triotism is the first duty of the citi-
zen, but, to fulfil the highest destiny
of man on earth, your lives must be
directed by, and devoted to, that
great truth announced by Lord Ba-
cCn, when he declares that "the
duties of life are more than life"
1t was this sublime truth that in
spired the heart of him whose
honored name your college bears
that sustained him in the darkest
hours of his country-that led him
on to triumph-and that has made
him revercd throughout the world as
one of its noblest and greatest bene-
factors. Follow rs closely as you
can in the footsteps of your great
countryman; and, though it may not
be given to you to reach that grand
height to which he scared, you can, at
least, like him, walk through life in
the path of duty, and be supported,
as he was, in the hour of death, by
that blessed faith which springs
alone from the faithful discharge of
every duty to ones country, to his
fellow man, and to God.
In these days, when justice is for
gotten, honor laughed to scorn, ana
truth scoffed at; when the founda-
tions of the great deep of morals are
shaken to their centre, and when
falsehood and perjury are disguised
under pleasant names, we may we'll
call on our young men, in whom lies
the future hope of the country, to
mould their being from the noble
model presented by his. Let them
learn, from the study of his history,
that truth was the firm basis on
which his great character was formed;
and let them remember that, if the
devil is the father of lies and liars,
no truo excellence Of character can
be attained where the CT ler-stones
are not truth and honor. When
Rome could apply the epithet "men-
dhc' to Greece, and speak of "lying
Greece" the land of Aristotle and
of Socrates was but subjugated
province, whose people were slaves