Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1877-08-13

Lee, like WOUNDED eagle, sought the Olua
mountains of Rookbridge for nest wherein to
fold his weary wings, We permitted that great
heart to break and the hero to die unnoticed
and unhonored. The. Opportunity to redeem
your pledged honor is now presented to you'll
pray you do not repudiate it.
| say it is not alone as soldier that | COM
mend Fitz Lee to your favor, for it was not
| alone as soldier that those who knew him
loved him best. It was rather for the modest
good serse and the warm, honest heart which
beat beneath his ragged uniform; heart that
n,yer brought blush to the cheek or tear to
the eye of any soldier His was no hard. as
cetic temper which substituted harshnes3 tor
courage and reserve for wisdom but light and
buoyant spirit which
| Ever with frolic welcome took
| The sunshine and the storm.
| | commend him to your favor because under
all the fierce light which beats upon high names
"he has ever worn the white flower Of a blame
less ife."
How could it bo otherwise? tIouor boats
with his blood and all things high come easy to
him. He "fetches his life from men Of royal
iege." The very Government under which lie
lives, nay, the very Office to which lie aspires
was fashioned into shape and usefulness by bis
maternal ancestor, George Mason, whose bra.
| zen image 10 yonder yard keeps watch aud
| ward over Nirginia's great son. Upon the
sire's side what a pedigree From the hour
when our race frat planted foot upon virginia's
| soil some Lee has made her annals illustrious,
and one has made her name TO flame over the
Garth with such fierce light as 10 blind The stars
Amongst race Of brave pcople---a people
whose common schools were once beneath their
| fathers roof, where they were taught to ride.
1 l., Il, SrukI NH
believe in nobility of blood, and ever boast the
purity Of thoir own; such people will be ready
to believe that man 80 fathered and so moth
cred is worthy to wear Virginia highest hon
| ors, unless bis own great kinsmen have huog
them beyond his reach.
Something has beeu said about the clslmS q.
sections, but something oan be more approprt'
ately said about the claims Of pursuits.
The noble profession Of law, my owo pursuit.
ever modest and meritorous. may be relied on
to see that its horn is we'll blown. Commerce,
| with its mighty corporations. stretching their
too eager hand across tho State, and levying
tribute upon all pursuits, will not be silent. Ii
is only our mother earth and her toilors that
ara likely to be forgotten or ignored And yet
10 constituency Of land owners it can surely
be no objection that one and ono only OF the
many candidates soliciting their favor is exclu
sively identified with that pursuit upon which
all others live and move and have their being.
Surely it can be no obi ection with you that
one Of the candidates here to-day has In fact, and
not as e guro Of speech. hest his sword into "A
ploughshare and Yoking his old war horse /"
the plough with his own hands sopened the fur.
row. Surely you cannot object that there Is one
man here who has made lw" blades OF gras.
grow where mono grow before; who has rescued
rugged pieco Of Stafford earth from sterilily and
do hrot WI
profession TO be generous tonight. Virginia
opens wide the doors Of Congress and her lAegs-
lature to your ambition. She reserves her bench
for your exclusive occupancy; And before We
your ranks without competition from any other
pursuit. pray you bo generous, my brothers,
and do not begrudge one office to that vocation
which, after all, bears the weight OF mghl's't
republics as we'll as monarcnies.
l we'll know your Intriguing politicians anA
smoother courtiers please you best, and that the
strong men who lay up and hoard though!
rather than sqEander i! IN loeso'hoWlng speech
ere too often ignored and undorValued. l we'll
know how ever eager you are TO array you'
but before you close the doors Of ambition upon
the silent farmer, pray you look over the scar
rod and naked bosom of our beoved-our be-
loved-snd say who is the physician to heal her
wounds.
States have been redeemed. Look to Louis
isna, the Andromeds of States, and say who was
the Perseus who burst her letters and delivered
| her from the embrace of her black CsliDaEs IL
| was Nichols, planter and schoolfelow Of Fn".
Lee. Look to Carolina, the star. eye belle OF the
South-she who once set US the path to Styglsn
horrors with the splendor Of ner smile;" she
who has been so long moaning with the knife ut
| her proud and beautiful neck and say VINO was
| her redeemer-Wsde Hampton, planter and
comrade of Fitz Lee. Nay in our own agony
l Iu
"a looming bastion fringed with fire.
| when her people were beaeging Heaven with
prayers, and the world with entresties, and lind
| inp alas that France was too far, and God too
| high to hear US, to whom did we turn in that
supr eme hour for counsel and comfort? Was it
| to the Congress which prsted and bsDbled IN
| this city, or to yondsr flaming frontier
"Where the ranks were rolling in vapor
And the winds were laid with sound.
Was it to the Orrs and Wigfslls. tho Foote's
and Stephenses or TO that
"Good grey head which all mon know
| That iron nerve, to true occasion true
| That tower Of strength, that tower OF strength,
| Which stood four square to sll the winds that
blew?'
| 1t is an interesting fact in Virginia $ history
| that whenever she is assaod with danger or
| stricken with suffering, she has ever beckoned
these Lees TO her side and been happier when
her hand was in theirs. Her eye over marks
their coming and grows brighter when they
| come" And during our terrible strife, in the
days Of her deepest and darket dependency,
it was upon the broad bosom of Robert Lee, her
greatest son, that Virginia laid hear weary head,
| and with her sweet eyes slowly brighten'ng
close to his" gathered inspiration from the beat
| ing of that mighty heart
It is glorious fact in the history Of this fam.
! lv that no distance could ba go great that the
voice of Virginis's sorrow did not reach and re-,
call them. No fortune could be SO great, and
no rank 50 high tha! thoy would not surrender
them at her call. Tney have over loved her
with love far brought from out the historic
past There has been no pulse in their amDi'
ton whose beatngs were not N measured from her
| heart
And now when peace has spread its White
wings over the land and Lee for the first time
within the living memory asks something from
a people for whom Lees have done 30 much.
an to be answered that Virginia remembers
not in prosperity those upon whom she lesnt in
adversely? She can forhear to visit the s!n7 OF
the fathers upon the children, but can show no
mercy to those that have loved her and Kept
her commandments.