The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1875-07-03
lof tine, surely second to none in point of

6. orr fO75Rer PROFESSORS LtgDis tDat
have lett us, but our Skies are still flushed
with the hues of their splendor.
Responded to by Professor W. B. Rogers.
:. The Orators Of our Celebration With
filial piety they have returned TO lay the laurels
OF honorcd lives at the feet OF their Alma
Mater.
Responded to by General John S. Preston
and Z. NJ. r. Hunter.
s. The Visitors and Faculty Of the Uni.
yersitv To them our country entrusts her
Jewels, and her approval Is their great re-
ward.
Responded to by Colonel W. r. Berkeley,
Of the Bolrd Of Visitors.
Q. The Dead of Oar Alumni Brethren ::
Scattered widely on many field of battle
and Of toll they are united IN the memories
which haunt these walls.
RESPONDED to by ID. +. Lucas, Esq.
10. orr Young Alumni: Half u century
hence nav they IN honor fill the places of
our older brethren, and have provided wor-
Inv Successors Of themselves In the places
they occupy to-day.
RESPONDED to by A. 2. Humphrey, Esq.
Governor kemper responded to the toast
given him in the following feicitous speech !:
| could wish, sir, that the task of respond
ing to this sentiment had not fallen 10 Fir.
| gilman, and least of all to him who addresses
YOU now. | am sure Virginia regards the
proyerb: "Let another praise thee, and not
| thine own mouth; stranger, and not thine
own lips; and it would be far easier for
some gentleman coming from any Of the
| other States represented here to be impartial
aud free in speaking OF the Mother of Suites.
Indeed. sir, the old Commonwealth to-day
| looks out upon a million Of her children
who, born here, have left the maternal
roof.tree and made their homes beyond her
borders. And it seems to me these enigrant
sons have continually looked back with such
vcarungs OF affection toward the land Of
their nativity; they have so enlisted the
symp1thieS aud friendship OF other and new
er communities for our people and our insti.
tutions; they have enriched the sources Of
education here with such living streams OF
patronage; they have done so much to hold
up the arms Of This great Universlty-tbat in
spesking for Virginia on an occasion and in
presence like this, am thinking almost as
much Of other States as our own, ct our
kins- people abro ID as our family at home;
and | could tell with as little hesitation the
good Virginia has received aS the good her.
self has accomplished. In truth, have daily
witnessed, in the relations and intercourse Of
other States with Virginia, so much respect
and affection for her traditionary character
that am prone 10 speak for them when |
speak for her.
What is it that epcircles and adorns the
old State with such wealth of affection and
regard? What is it that makes this learned
assembage pause 10 do her reverence? Is
| it physical power, or prosperous agriculture.
or superior manufacturing, or commercial
wealth: Alas! Virginia has been smtten
| and wounded in the sinews Of her strength,
and in ALMOST all competitions for material de
| velopment she is for the time outstrIpped by
more favored sections Of the common
| country, Does she excel in external
splendors, in imposing editices, and costly
Embellishments, in proud mausoeums, in
monumental piles Of granite and marble
piercing the heavens? No, the noblest works
TO whicn she points the eye OF the stranger
are those wrought by natures hand in lift.
! ing I'D her Blue Mountain peaks, in spread
| ing out her plains and valleys OF green, in
tracing the silver lines Of her hundred
rivers, aud bounding her broad-armed ports
aud bays. Does sue boast prominence IN
literature, in sculpture, or painting, or poe.
try: No; it is the experience Of the world,
that no State, under three hundred years OF
age, is old enough to produce Rapb9, an
Angelo, 4 ShakS peare, or Milton.
In all sucn distinctions let Us yield the
palm of pree ninauce TO older countries, and
give nosor to whom honor is due.
Ii, in surveying the family OF States, Vir
GINA appears 10 possess aught that attracts
the regard OF any of her honorable sisters, it
will be found in these moral and intellectual,
social and polite characteristics, W hich were
| first dim!y visible among hardy and ambi-
| tious band of cavaliers founding q society at
jamestown two hundred and sXty.Dine
| years ago; characteristics which were de-
vcloped 10 the progress of one hundred and
seventy years OF strange and grand vicissi-
tudes and trials; which at length ripened in
great aud deep social and political philoso.
ply, Sucn as inspired the intelects of men
witn broad conceptions OF liberty and reused
their hearts with the noblest impulses OF
honor. These were the influences that
formed and developed the men who led tie
work of projecting, conducting, and consum-
mating the American revolution of indie.
pcndence. These gave birth to those ideas
of tree government which were here first
| embodied 10 u written constitution
and bill of rights those charters Of
liberty which have not only served
as models for all subsequent time, but have
| ia large measure shaped the institutions
aud the destines of the whole American
ptople. 1t was these that, one hundred
wears ago, caused the whole colony Of Virgil
niu to be moved as one man with the senti-
ment-Give me liberty, or give me death
| 1t was these that then SO reused and lifted
the souls Of ali as to convert towards into
men, men into heroes, and heroes into demi-
gods. 1t was these that then eliminated in
producing Washington, O Jefferson, Hen.
~, Mason, a Madison, Marshall, and all
the ilustrous host OF their coppeers. The
lives Of those sages and heroes, their lofty
sentiments and principles, their great con-
ceptions and achievements, are not the pos.
sessions Of hundred years ago. They are
not the distant memories Of past age. Such
an inheritance of traditional glory is part of
the existence of q State, ia the living present
and through all time.
We have seen the wealth of our people al
most destroyed at blow and yet we know
that few decades or less will replace present
poverty with greater abundance and material
power than ever crowned Virginia in the
past. Riches are fleeing. They come aud
60. But this wealth Of traditions; this glory
of ancestral examples this "realized capital
of thought and sentiment this preserved
fund of public morality to be drawn upon in
| the eSlSeDcteS Oi peoptes iiie tniS - Lue
noble and enduring part; this is the immortal
soul oflhe Common wealth of W ich mines and
factories and production and commerce are
its perishable, coporfal substance. It lives,
and moves and moulds men through all time.
It's power of reproduction can never be de-
stroyed. Itasserted its best creative capacity
10 our own day, when 1t produced to the eye
of the world the grandest, purest, Hottest
| q ha racfar of the a0a ia the nerson of Robert