Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1868-04-14
NUMBER XXXII,
Address of Hon Robert L. Montague to the
People of Essex County,

|
| People Of Essex County.
1t having been previously announced that
Hon. Robert l.. Montague would address the
citizens of Essex county, on their March court
day, in the Court at Tappahannock, the
county-seat, early in the day a large concourse
of people assembled to hear him. The attend
ance was unusually large, and the address was
listened to with profound attention, only inter-
rupted by repeated bursts Of applause. The
| address concludes as follows:
And now shall Virginians fold their arms in
apathy and make no effort to arrest the great
calamity which threatens them? When think
of Virginia, what she has heretofore done in
the great work of enlarging the human empire
and protecting human rights when remember
how she has given away great States, and from
the prolific store house OF her greatness has pre-
sented to the world its most gifted statesmen,
Its grandest orators, and most distinguished he
| roes, and then look upon her present condition
| as one OF her humblest sons am almost forced
to exclaim with the great English orator, Ed
| mund Burke, that Il feel the pride of power
sink and all presumption in the wisdom of hu-
| man contrlvances melt and die away within
me" But [ look around and turn to the his
tory OF other nations and see they have all pass
are SO slowly travelling, and then [ look up to
God and some feeling within tells me, be faith
ful to truth and justice, and all will yet be well,
and your beloved Virginia will again be clothed
with the beautiful garments of liberty, purified
by the fires of af1iction through which she so
nobly passed 1t is true that the rude hand of
agrarian despotism has despoiled her of por-
tion Of her territory. War, fiery, bloody war,
has rolled It's desolating waves over her borders.
1t was here that ''Red Battle stamped his foot,
and nations felt the shock Hupdreds of her
truest and most gifted sons sleep the quiet sleep
beneath the shadows of her mountains, beside
the still waters of her rivulets, amid her shady
groves, beautifed and adorned by the fair hands
and tender touch of her peerless and matchless
daughters and thousands repOse uncofhned IN
mother earth, with not even rude stones to mark
the spots where her jewels are buried, but she
Is still dear, blessed, proud old Virginia Not
as Macauly said Of Dante, too proud and sensi-
tive to be happy, but too proud to descend to
meanness and too noble to perpetrate injustice
upon the feeblest Oppressed she may be, but
not Inundated Man can Oppress and torture,
but man cannot humiliate. This belongs to
God alone The body may be cruelty torment
ed, but the spirit is God 5, and as long as that
Is selfcOnscious OF rectltude, the actions OF man,
however harsh and rigorous, can never humill-
ate! Virginia Inundated When the names
Of Washington, of Madison, of Mason, of JEFF
ferson, of Pendleton and Grayson, Of Giles, of
John Taylor, of Caroline, of Roane and Green,
of Tyler and Randolph, of Roanoke, of Robert
b. Lee and Stonewal jackson (great applause)
shall be torn from the rolls Of fame-when her
everlasting mountains shall bow their crests to
the level of the valleys beneath-when all vene-
ration for departed greatness and worth-when
all respect for heroic actions and admiration for
virtuous deeds shall have taken their eternal
flight from earth-when the inspiring charms
and fascinating graces of woman shall cease to
affect the conduct of man-when ignoble actions
and low purposes shall be admired and respect
ed by-a the ma ions of earth-tten, bit not till
then, a1W Virginia boao her head an shame and
humiliation!
The grand role she has played in the history
of the world can never be obliterated. 1t may
take years to regain her former position but
what is time in the lifetime of a State? 1t may
be that she will never again see such system
OF representative government as she aided in
creating in 1887. do not think she will. The
great principle of American public law, first
enunciated in authoritative tone by one of her
own illustrious sons, that governments insti-
tuted among men derive their Just powers from
the consent of the governed" has been discard
ed and set at naught, and may never be revived;
but no matter what may be the shape and form
of the system finally settled upon, if Virginia
will be true to herself, just to her past history,
and ever mindful of her pristine gories, she
will, In the new and untried experiments, be
looked to as the virtuous and wise, whose coun-
sells ought and will receive the respect of others.
Let us, then, sons of Virginia, make new
covenants with each other, and raise our VOWS
to Heaven that our future efforts shall be, as
they have been in the past, true to the ancient
glories and traditions of our State and character
of our people. That, instead Of despairlng, we
will take courage from our present grievances,
and bear them with no weak whining and obse-
quious complaints, but that with the spirit of
true greatness of SOUL we will rise above them
all and exemplify to the world with what pa
tience and courage true and brave people can
bear the ills of "man S inhumanity to man. =
Then will all men see that all the powers of
earth and darkness combined, can never extin-
guish in our bosoms the love of liberty virtue,
glory, knowledge" Then will her valleys and
plains again blossom and her fruits be as deici-
Gus as that of the ancient Hesperides Let us
remember that Virginia is our country-that
1--WE have a SPARTA let us adorn it. That it
is here,
"Where health and plenty cheer the laboring
swain,
Where smiling spring its earliest visits pay,
And parting summers lingering blooms delay"
Let us, as the vestals of old, watch, guard
and protect the character and honor of our
mother Let us see to it that the fires of puri-
ty and truth shall ever burn brightly upon her
| affairs Let us do what we can to correct the
wicked errors of the day, by spreading broad
cast the true light of education and religion
Then will she rise from the troubles of the hour,
and clothed with the christian panoply of true
greatness, will stand forth the pure, dignifed
and adored mother of us all, and by the force
of her great example will other States be puri-
fed of their vices and cured of their cruel here
sizes and false theories. Then will she stand
proudly erect before mankind, worthy of the
wisdom of her great founders, and worthy of
her name, which is the synonym of purity It.
self!
BEGINNING THE WoRLD.-Many an unwise
parent labors hard and lives sparingly all his
life, for the purpose of leaving enough to give
his children start in the world as it is called
Setting young man afoat with money left him
by relatives, is like tying bladders under the
arms of one who cannot swim; ten chances to
one he will lose his bladders and go to the bot
tom Teach him to swim and he will not need
bladders. Give your child sound education,
and you have done enough for him. See to it
that his morals are pure, his mind cultivated,
and his whole nature made subservient to the