Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1885-08-12
AN ELOQUENT SPEECH.
A Bugle-blast in the Convention.

| SlC-uldSt Ill OUnf CutlUus
WHAT JAMES N. DUNLOP, ESQ.,, OF RICH
MoND, SAID IN sEcoNDINa aEN.FITz LEE S
NOMINATION.
The speech of James N. Dunlop. ESQ.,, of
Richmond, seconding the nomination Of
Gen. Fitz Lee, was greeted with tremen-
dous cheers. The speaker, advancing to
the front of the stage, spoke as follows:
Mr.. President and Gentlemen Of the Con-
Uention:
beg to add word to what has been SO
eloquently said in behalf of Gen. Lee. To
bear another tribute, heartfelt at least, to
the qualities that, among his distinguished
competitors, especially mark him as fitted
for the chief executive Office of the Com
monwealth, is alike high privilege and
pleasing duty. To the partiality Of friend
ship it may be permitted to claim for its
candidate unrivalled superiority in all the
shades of merit; but to eyes not thus blind
ed it has become more and more apparent
that Gen. Lee possesses in degree so high
as not to be surpassed, and in a combina-
tion so happy as scarcely to be equalled, all
| the elements that should furnish forth full
/ panoplied the victor in the coming strife.
Alike in stability and force of character,
in intrepid GOODNESS and sparkling dash, in
administrative ability that has been proven
and personal magnetism that is
felt in the heroism of war, and not less in
the heroism of peace, may be read the shin
ing proclamation that at this time and in
his person the hour and the man are come!
For all the qualities of leadership that can
win the coveted post, for the executive abil-
ity to fill it, upon whom may this assembly
more justly place the sanction - 'tfirst
among his peers?" If the voice of this body
here gathered shall declare this the result
of its choice, then in the heart of all Vir-
ginia it will find responsive echo, and the
tide for him now rising shall swell higher
and higher to the close, and bear him til
umphantly on its crest. Great ap.
plause.]
1t is not impossible that full knowledge
of his merits, other than as soldier, may
at one time have been restricted by his own
modesty to the circles Of his personal friends.
He has lived as farmer, and after the war
fastended the horse he rode in the service to
the plough, which he drove himself But
year by year his civic ability has spread in
to widening recognition commensurate with
the glow of his military fame. Year after
year his voice has been heard and his arm
uplifted and his labors freely given to the
Democracy with an eye single to duty and
a heart alive with a sons love for his moth
er State. [Cheers.]
And in the last campaign-nOw in re-
membrance fresh-when our liberties hung
trembling in the balance and the battle for
constitutional freedom was waged against
tyranny, entrenched with time and power
and pelf, in the forefront his plume was
still waving. He was one of the heroes of
this ''happy revolution" and in the til
umphal march up the long lined avenues of
the capital when tyrants accursed bowed
down and fell, and the people ''came again
to their own," in the uplifted voice of pub
lie acclamation second to the Democratic
President was hailed the Virginia cava-
lier
| Without the technical training of law
yer, which, however essential to the Attor-
ney- General, is not so to Governor, he is
well versed in the broad principles of public
jurisprudence, true safeguard of public lib
erty-and profoundly imbued with the spir-
it of that constitutional law which. correct
ly expounded, is guarantee of constitu-
tional freedom. [Cheers.]
Possessing the ability effectively, the wis
dom prudently and the courage boldly to
execute the laws of the State he shall be
sworn to enforce, the powers Of his office
will be fully welded to the end that her
treasury became not the financial index of
an usurping Federal tribunal nor her sover-
eighty the football of judicial bubble. And
who better than he in the coming struggle
can command the strength and the man
hood of our people, whose heart now beats
with himP
The great Republican party has been
routed from its chief Federal stronghold,
but in Virginia a defiant faction still, as of
late from these walls, vents upon us its
venom. Gen. Lee was of the band that
bearded the Lion in all the recesses of his
den. Shall Mahoneism, the monsters Vjr-
ginia whelp, Withstand his grip?
| He needs, indeed, no herald to proclaim
| him as he enters the lists for his mother
State. His history is part of hers. His
deeds swell the measure of her greatness.
| lie rode into the presence of her people
with the laurels of his graduation scarce IA
ded from his brow, and as the need of val
liant service the Brigadier,s wreath encirced
the stars on his collar at the early age of
| twenty-five. With rising rank and increas-
ing devotion the years of the struggle were
for him years of heroic service. And when
the last tragic days of the unequal strife
were come, then amid the thick cloud of
E'perils' darkest hour" the point of his sa-
bre, like spear Of the Roman in Africa, still
''beamed with electric lightr [Tremen-
dOus cheers.
The public calamity that wrecked a peo-
ple's hopes was to him also the loss of his
calling, but when-"Othello's occupation
gone"-he bade farewell to the neighing
steed, and the shrill trump, and the big
war that made ambition virtue, - it was with
no desponding mood, but facing the new
facts with undaunted resolution, he s'beat
his sword into ploughshare, his spear into
a pruning hook" and the knight of battle
re-appeared as the "Knight of Labor"
equipped for the chivalry of 'toilsome,
homely deeds"
Ancestral prestige he enjoys indeed; yes,
to his veins there comes direct tide from
that George Mason, author of the Virginia
Bill of Rights another 'tgreat charter of
freedom;" and the blade of the Lees, whose
name he BEARS has during three generations
been stained with the blood of Virginia's
enemies; but not on this does he depend for
"Not content with his ancestral greatness
Or to be known because his fathers were,''
but inspired to true nobility by his splendid
heritage of the past, he has carved his own
record in the annals of glory and emblazoned
his own escutcheon in the heraldry of fame!
Such | present him; soldier, farmer, citizen
patriot in all!
Fortunate indeed are the people that in
selecting their Governor are embarrassed by
the richness of the material commended to
their choice. Happy the State that in her
galaxy of greatness finds stars, more than
one, of primary splendor, of the very first
magnitude. We here but make comparison
of excellence where nothing is odious. We
do but select him, who shall be chief of a
band of brethren all enlisted for the fray.
We are only to determine which instru-
ment shall bear the first part in the Demo-
cratic chorus, whose strains will fill the stage
that the State of Virginia is soon to be. If
this leadership shall be assigned to General
Lee, then when he shall point TO the foe and
his ringing notes shall sound "the advance"
then we may say or sing as of yore:
1.-THE charge our bugles now are sounding,
And our bold Fitz shall lead the way.''
The moment Mr.. Dunlop finished his
magnificent speech delegates in the orchestra
arose from their seats and in wild DELIGHT