The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-12-22
RICHMONDAND THE DEAD
THE MEETING IN ADVOCACY OF
THE CITY's CLAIMS.


Sleeping Chief Resolutions of Eu-
loey and in Favor of the City as q
Burial Site Adopted.
RrcHwoND. VA, Dec. 81 - Mozart
Academy of Music tonight was packed
with people to give expression, by their
rresence and voice, to the scheme which is
on foot TO raise money for monument to
the memory Of Jefferson Davis, as well as
To signify their desire to have the body Of
the lamented dead finally inferred in this
city. Soldiers in uniform, confederate vet
Grams. civilians and ladies comprised the
audience.
Mayor Ellison called the meeting to
order. Rev. NJ. D. Hoge of the Presby-
terrain church delivered a beautiful lnvoca-
ton, after which Gov. Lee was intro
duced as chairman Gov Lee, Mai Charles
]. Stringfellow, Gen. Peyton Wise, Rev.
J. L. NJ Curry, and Rev. j. William Jones
addressed the audience.
Eulogistic resolutions prepared by e COM
mittee were unanimously adopted. They
close with an advocacy of Richmond as
the place of final interment, and pledge
q statue to rise above the remains.
They also request the governor of Virginia,
who was chairman of the meeting, to con-
vey its action to Mrs. Davis.
Gen. Wise, III submitting the resolutions
on behalf of the committee, made an
eulogistic speech Gov Lee also spoke
eloquently and eulogistically
He said: When the messenger OF death flying
with electric wings from the Crescent City to
Virginia, brought to us her recent sad tidings,
the hand of mourning touched the heart strings
of our people. and they are still visible with
genuine grief to the accompanying voice
of the mother commonwealth. How
hath the mighty fallen. shadow has been
cast over our plains and valleys; our rivers roll
troubled to the sea; covering cloak OF gloom
has o 'erspread our towns and cities; sorrow
cloud has tipped our mountain tops; Virginia
weeps for Jefferson Davis How appropriate is
her laInentation. Bound as she has been to
constitutional government from the early
formation of the republic by the sword
Of Washington, the pen of Jefferson,
the voice of Henry, the wisdom of Mason, and
the efforts of Madison in and out of the federal
convention that constructed the constitution;
and mixed with the very marrow of her bones
is the knowledge that in constructing that in-
strument in Philadelphia, in body presided
fication by her afterward, there was
no denial Of her right to withdraw
from the union then formed when she
should decide to do so; and believing, too, in
that sentence of the declaration of independ-
euce, drafted by another son, that il is the
right of the people to alter or abolish any form
of government that becomes, in their opinion.
destructive to life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness" and the institutions Of govern
Enent," Virginia was in thorough accord with
The constitution of which Mr.. Davis was so
conspicuous defender. II was easy then, in
those days of 81 for Virginia to exclaim:
f'Whither thou goest will go, and where thou
lodgest | will lodge. Thy people shall be my
people, and thy God my God"
HIS PEOPLE To THE END.
Tonight this splendid assemblage, in gather
ing 10 pay homage TO ms memory, speaks IN no
uncertain tones TO the country that our people
were to- the end his people, and that God
who looks down from his throne of mercy be-
yond the blue dome above and binds up the
broken hearts Of the sorrowing wife and chill
dren is the same God TO whom we bow in humble
submission to the exercise of his divine will.
Do you ask me if Virginia honors President
Davis? Ask if she admires courage in the
soldier. patriotism in a representative conscien-
tiousness in a cabinet officer integrity in u sen
ator, fearless fidelity and unaffected piety in
all that constitutes a christian gentleman.
It Kentucky produced this hero we do not
forget that she the daughter of Virginia
If Mississippi was his adopted state we re-
member she is Virginia's sister, chained to
her by loving links Of the mighty past bound
by holy memories of the present, and united
heart to heart in the great future unrong
before US.
SECTIONAL HATE.
Gov Lee eloquentIy alluded to EXPIRES
ident Davis services in Mexico, and said:
Perish then sectional hate in the narrow mind
OF the mover of a resolution that he alone
should be excluded from the benefits of the
Mexican pension act, for well could President
60, little wretch, there is room in the world
Tor You and l." Away, too, forever,
with the pitful prejudice in the heart of the
man who ordered his name to be chiseled from
the stone which CONNIE morated his successful
EFFORTS in erecting bridge across the Potomac
about Washington. What matters it now to
the people of the south if, after all he did to
promote the glory of the United States, there
Is not magnanimty enough left TO conform to
TIE usual custom OF putting at half-mast the
nag over the department Of the government he
50 rgN1a % Cd L. H. a
their affection floats so high above such action
and is so richly draped in the habili-
ynents OF mourning at his death? lap
plause.J l know when the passions of
know that amid the clash of arms laws are
silent ! know when blood is split, human
hyenas roar But does all this prevent the
civil zed world from shuddering at the recital
OF the horrors of the inqusition or the terrors
of the French revolution?
Gov. Lee then briefly portrayed the i'm
prisonment of President Davis, reyiew wing
the charge of heresy and treason against
him, and the governments unwilhngness to
prosecute, and failure to find la to con-
vict.
HIS PERoRATIoN.
He closed with this peroration:
Such is the man, ladies and gentlemen the
capitol city of the confederacy REFERENCES this
evening For four years he a familiar
inquire on our streets, in his executive Office and
on horseback as he rode around the lines of fire
then circling the city. When the ship of tho
new republic was launched he was called TO
command, and was with her rocked in the
cradle OF the deep. The storms of war burst
upon her deck before her machineryt
was even put in motion, but through the
thunder's roar, when forces were rent,
when breakers were dashing against her.
when despair was visible upon the
faces of some of her crew. and when
she began to settle and sink amid the lurid
flashing of the lightning, the captain was seen
standing calm heroic, resoiute, grand in
all the glory of man, grasping
with firm hand the helm as he sank
down, down in the sea of eternity Here
let the commander sleep whose sword flashes
no longer in the fore front of battle Here let
the orator be guided upon whose lips audiences
were once suspended magically as if by golden
chairs. Here let the statesman rest watched
over and guarded by the city that ever received
his loving attention. Here let the chieftain be
brought and buried in May when a monument
is TO be unveiled to one of his army com
manders; when nature spreads her carpet
OF green; when in the isles Of the orchard
blossoms are drifting, and the tulips pale
stalk in the garden is lifting goblet of gems to
the sun, and here too let us erect a monument
that will stand in lofty and lasting attestation
70 tell our children's children OF our love for
1he memory of Jefferson Davis,
The governors speech was frequently
applauded.