The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1890-05-30
The south's Magnificent Tribute to
It's Dead Chieftain.
THE STATUE UNVEILED TO THE WORLD.
THE GREATEST DAY RICHMOND HAS
EVER KNOWN,


patriotic sympathy with all the pres
cnt grandeur and imperial promise
of Il reunited country-stil not held
TO renounce any glorious memory, but
free to heap honors upon their trusted
! leaders, living or dead-all this reveals
Il character i'll which the American
people may well be content to be
handed down to history.
All this, and more, will be the testi-
mo,W of the solid fabric we here com
plcte 1t will recall the generous in
itiativc and the unilanging zeal of
those noble women Of the South to
whom in large measure we owe this
suspicious day; it will bear its last
ing witness as the voluntary Offering
of the people, not the governments,
of the Southern States; and, stand
ing rs II perpetual memorial of our
greet leader, it will stanC! not less
us an enduring record of what his fell
low citizens deemed most worthy TO
be honored.
What kind Of greatness, then, it
may be fitting on this spot TO ask,
what kind of greatness should men
most honor in their fellow men :?
Vast and varied is the circle of human
eXccllence-wherc is our paramount
allegiance due?
Yes, if our life were only thought
and emotion, if will and action and
courage did not make up its greatest
part, men might Justly reverence the
genius of poets and thinkers above all
other greatness. But strong and nat
ural as i, the inclination of those
given up to the intellectual life
thus to eXalt the triumphs of the
imagination and the reason, such is
not the Impulse of the great heart of
the multitude And the multitude is
right. In n large and true sense con-
duet is more than intellect, more than
art or eloquence-to have done great
things is nobler than to have thought
or expressed them.
Thus in every land the most con-
spicuous monuments commemorate
the great actors. not the great think
ers, of the worlds history, and among
these men of action the great soldier
has always secured the first peace in
the hearts of his countrvmen.
1t is the singular felicity of this
Commonwealth OF Virginia to have
produced two stainless captains. The
fame Of the one consecrated by IL cen
fury Of universal reverence and the
growth OLA colossal empire, the result
Of his heroic laborS, has been COM
memorated in this city by Il monu-
ment in whose majestic presence no
man ever received the suggestion OF a
thought that did not eXalt humanity.
Tie fame of the other, not yeta gen
GRAFTON old and won i'll Il cause that
was lost. is already established by
that impartial judgement Of foreign
nations which anticipates the verdict
OF the next aye upon an equal pinnacle
and millions of our countrymen pres
ent here with us in their thoughts
and echoipS back from city and plain
and mountain top the deep and rev
erent voice of this vast multitude
will this day confirm our solemn dec
laration that the monument to
George Washington has found its
only fitting compliment and compan-
ion in a monument TO Robert Lee.
What was stained eulogy when Mon
tesqvieu said of another great soldier
-Turenne-tha "his life wasa hymn
in praise of humanity is, if applied
to Lee, the language of sober truth.
No man can consider his life without
Il feeling of renewed hope and trust
in mankind. There is about his eX-
hibitions of moral excellence the same
quality of power in reserve that marks
him as a soldier. He never failed to
come up to the full requirements of
any sitnation and his conduct com
municated the impression that moth
ing could arise to which he would be
found unequal. His every action
went straight to the mark without
affectation or display. 1t cost him no
visible effort to be good or great. lie
was not conscious that he was excep-
Uional in either way, and he died IN
the belief that as he had been some
times unjustly blamed so he had us
often been too highly praised.
Such is the holy simplicity of the
noblest minds. Such was the pure
and lofty man, in whom we see the
perfect union of Christian virtue and
old Roman manhood. His goodness
makes us love his greatness, and the
fascination which this matchless com-
bination eXerts is itself symptom
and a source in us moral health.
As long as our people truly love and
venerate him there will remain in
them principle of good, for all the
stupendous wealth and power which
in the last thirty years have lifted
these States to foremost rank among
the nations of the earth are less Il sub
iect of pride than this one heroic man
this human product of our country
and it's institutions.
Let this monument, then, teach to
generations yet unborn these lessons
of his life! Let it stand, not as rec,
ord of civil strife, but as a perpetual
protest against whatever is low and
sordid in our private and public oh.
iects. Let it stand as a memorial oil
personal honor that never brooked
stain, of far reaching military genius
unsoiled by ambition, of heroic con-
stancy from which no cloud of mis-.
fortune could ever hide the path of
duty! Let it stand for reproof and
censure if our people shall ever. sink
below the standards of their fathers!