The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1870-06-25
VIRGINIA NEWS.
LExrNaToNa hETTERs.

rrrrE AS CO-pR0FESSoR IN LAW
/ HISTORICAL ADDRESS OF HUGH BLAIR
/ GRrGsBy, ESQ.
Correspondence. ri. the Richmond Bispatchs"-~"
LEXINGTON, VA, june %, 1870. i
The Board of Trustees Of the college
have been In earnest session, and have dis
posed of or put In the course Of preparation
much important business. They have made
closer connection of the law school
with the college than has hitherto ,ex-
kted, retained Judge Brockenbrongh in
bis position, and elected rs bis co-professor
Hon. j. Randolph Tucker. It is understood
that Mr.. Tucker will accept. the position,
and enter upon his duties the first Of the
next session. This Is m exceedingly fcrtu,-
hate Arrangement. Judge. Brockenbrough
will still retain his luns-established reput,-
zion az one Of Che ablcst jurists, and one of
the best teachers of law In the land, while
Dir. fuckers sparkling genius, high legal
attainments, and wide personal popularity,
will attract many students and add greatly
TO the value of the course of instruction.
The law school, which has such men con-
nected with it. must prove grand success.
To-day at II O'Clock there assembled in
the college chapel fit audience to listen to
the historical address Of Hugh Blair Grigs-
by, Esq, on the Character of the Men
who Composed the Board of Trustees Of
Id Liberty Hall Academy" Besides the
Board of Trustees and Faculty OF the Col
tege, we noticed on the platform CX-GoVer-
nor Letcher, Hon. S. McD. Moore, Rev. DR..
white, Rev. DR.: Fl. E. Alexander, Rev. MIR.
Carolina; William Wilson, Esq, of North
Carolina; and 4 number of others, and in
the audience number of our oldest citi-
zcns. After prayer, General Lee intro
diced Mr.. Grigsby with that easy grace
which so charactcrizes the man--annOun-
eng in few and fit words that he had been
invited by the Board of Trustees to speak
Of the early history Of the founders Of Wash
mgton College. a -...-.
Mr.. Grigsby said that he came to speak
Of men who had in forum and field ruled
IF not made) the American revolution, and
Of whom, strange to say, but little was
known. 1t was to him labor of love, for
If not son, he was at least a grandson Of
the Valley, since many of his kindred sleep
in this county.
The college had three periods of its his
tory-from 1749 to 1882, from 11S2 to 1860,
and from 1860 to tho present. He proposed
to speak of the first period. His Office, he
said, was not that of the orator, but of the
historian. lie gave a vivid sketch Of the
early days of this part Of the Valley, and
passed to speak of the people who settled it.
They were chiefly Scotch-Irish, He gave
historical sketch of this wonderful people
eheir deeds in Scotland, their emigration to
Pennsylvania, and the causes which drove
them to the Valley Of Virginia-and fine
analysis and delineation of tlieir character.
lie sketched the origin of the first classical
school west of the Blue Ridge, opened in
l149 near Greenyille, in Augusta, where
the music of the classics mingled with the
el,nS Of the axe telling the forest trees. the
crack of the rife and tho yell of the Indian.
He traced the history of this school until
il culminated in Washington College, and
then briefly alluded to the bright galaxy
that clustered around the college In those
early days-William Graham, the true
founder Of the institution, name hardly
second in some important aspects to any
other in the Valley or out Of it; Robert
Alexander, the first rector, and Rev. DR..
John Brown, the second rector, so remark
able for his own qualities and as the father
Of so many accomplished sons. who drew
their earliest nurture from the bosom OF
Liberty Hall; Rev. DR.. James Waddell,
the blind preacher, whose eloquence the
late Governor James Barbour was wont to
say surpassed all that he ever heard from
human lips except that Of Patrick Henry,
and who was not only eloquent himself but
the ancestor Of eloquent men Rev. Charles
Cummings, whose character is the glowing
type Of the preacher, the soldier, and the
patriot, blended in the finest proportions.
Colonel Thomas Lewis. whose vote In the
House of Burgesses carried through the
famous resolutions of Henry against the
stamp act, who voted for the Virginia de-
caration Of independence Of the 18th OF
May, 1915, and for the first Constitution OF
Virginia, and who was member Of the
Federal convention of 1888; his brother,
General Andrew Lewis, the victor of Point
Pleasant, the man whom Washington
thought worthy to lead the armies of the
Union in the war of Independence; William
McPheeters, Colonel George Monett, and
others OF like spirit. He felt obliged to pass
over all these for the present, but said that
if the college had not another name on its
roll than the names Of the trustees Of 1776,
it would possess in their merits alone q
moral capital of which any college might
well be proud. E ..-. ~
The distinguished historian then gave ex-
tended and notwithstanding sketches of
Colonel William Fleming, of Belmont, b.
tetourt county, and General Andrew
Moore, Of Rockbridge-the soldier, lawyer,
politician, and statesman. We regret that
we have not space for even an abstract Of
these vivid pictures of these great men.
Nor can we give his striking sketch of Colo.
mel Samuel Mcdowell and the distinguished
family of the name. He brought out in
these sketches the historical facts that the
Federal Constitution was carried by the
votes Of trustees of old Liberty Hall Acadc-
my, and that the first distinct proposition
Tor independence ever made in Virginia
was contained in the famous Augusta reSo.
lutions. He paid passing tribute to the
late Samiel Mcdowell Reid, and spoke at
some length of Colonel John Bower. He
briefly alluded to the celebrated Alexans
ders, Joseph Walker, Alexander Campbell,
John Wilson and James McCorkle. Samuel
Lyle and William Wilson, names insepera-
bly, woven with the institution in all its
stages, and with the early civilization of this
enchanting region and Caleb Wallace, the
collese.mate and kindred spirit of Madison.
His legitimate task was done when he had
spoken Of these earlier worthless, but he
could not Withhold glance at their immedi.
ate successors, Samuel Campbell, George
4. Baxter, Louis Marshall, Henry Vet
bake, and Henry Ruffner; all of whom but
one he knew, and all Of whom are gone.
de concluded as follows: ~ -- Il
"As / called up before me these images
it seemed rs if l felt their living presence,
and could behold the genial smile as they
looked down on their beloved institution In
its present palmy state-a state those good
men longed to see, but died without the
sisht-and would gather from them words
of graduation and cheer for every student
within your walls, and for every officer
within your courts; and while they utterea
words of encouragement and praise TO all,
[ could catch from those lips, now touched
with earthly guile no more, one glorious