Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1893-08-10

Washington, delegate 10 the Continental
Congress. Governor Of Virginia, cham
MON Of the Virginia plan in the Constr
tntioual Convention, and Attorney Gen
erul and Secretary OF State In the Cams
net of Washington.
There was George wythe, "the honor
OF his own and the model OF future
times. - member OF the Continental Con.
eress, drauehtsinan Of many iInporlan'
papers, revisers Of the laws OF bis o,a.e'
and Speaker Of the House, and Illus
trious as chancellor.
There was Richard Henry Lee, mover
n the Declaration OF Independence, an
orator wbo was called the Cicero Oh
America. and whose varied abilihes
were employed in organizing opposi'
ton. 49,,
times Governor of Virginia, member OIL
the Continental Congress. eigner OF the
Declaration, serving on many con'nit
tees and In many capacities, ana ances-
tor Of two OF our Presidents.
There was Francis Lightfoot Lee, ac-
complished and retiring gentleman,
who was three times member OF the
Continental Congress. signer OF the De-
claration OF Independence. and ever
faithful In works tor his people.
There was Carter Braxton, member OF
the Council and member OF the Con-
tinental Congress, signer OF the Declare
ton and supporter OF the statute OF reli-
gious freedom.
There was Edmund Pendleton, scho-
lar. juris.consult, and statesman, "the
ablest man in debate" as Jefferson said,
he had ever known. member of the first
Congress, president of the Virginia Con-
vention, president Of the convention to
frame the Federal Constitution, author
OF the resolutions In the Virginia Con-
vention directing her delegates in Con-
gress to press the Declaration OF lnde-
pendence, and President Of the Supreme
Court Of Appeals of Virginia.
There was George Mason, first and
greatest Of the moulders of the funda-
mentals Of liberty, whose bill OF rights is
the basis to-day OF every free State in
America, or in the world, TO whose ex-
position of the rights of man the Magma
Charta and tho petition OF right in Eng
land, are as moonlight unto sunlight, as
the mist unto the rain, whose language
was copied in the Declaration of indie
pendence, and who was chief fashioner OF
that first free Constitution OF Virginia,
which was the first in America, the
only one made before Independence,
and was the prototype Of the Constitu-
ton Of the United States.
FATHER OF THE CONSTITUTION,
There was James Madison, who sug-
gested the only alteration in the Bill of
Rights, and that is the erasure of the
word federation as applied TO reli-
gious freedom, because it implied con-
descension, who declared tho blow at
Massachusetts, at all the Virginia colo
MICS, who lived to be called the Father
of the Constitution and to be made
President Of Union he SO faithfully
labored to establish and conduct it sue
cessfully through the second war of in
dependence.
This was John Tyler, bold and gen.
erous advocate of Revolution, Speaker
of the House, Judge, Governor, and
father OF the President of the United
States who bore his name.
In tho first Legislature that sat at
jamestown there was an ancestor of
Thomas Jefferson. In the House
of Burgesses for many years be-
fore the Revolution sat Peter Jefferson,
his father. AS student OF old William
aud Mary College, the Alma Mater of SO
many Of our great men, the young JEFF
ferson was thrilled with the eloquence OF
Henry in the House Of Burgesses, and
his own declaration that "the glow of
one warm thought was worth more than
money" furnishes an index to his mar
vellous career. Member Of the House
Of Burgesses, member of Congress,
draughtsmsn OF tho Declaration of In
dependence, he resigned his seat to
serve again in the Legislature of his
State, to fashion its religious liberties,
and to revise its laws, and to pro-
fuse tho spirit Of liberty throughout the
institutions OF the Commonwealth.
There was another Lee, Lighthouse
Harry they called him, who had led his
virginians 10 join Washington on the
field Of Boston, and distinguished him.
self at Paulus Hook, in New York,
and afterwards wrote the history Of the
Southern campaign, in which he had
played noble and worthy part. He
was not O member OF the Virginia
| Legislature until after the Revolution,
for he was IN the field during it. Orator.
soldier, and statesman. he left his mark
wherever he appeared. He was the first
American soldier Of line illustrious in
the Old World, but he became more
| illustrious here in race "who have
kept the lamp of chivalry alight in
hearts of gold, and he was the father
of that Robert Edward Lee, who in the
nineteenth century seemed to embody
every noble trait which had dis
tinguished the people from whom he
sprang during the struggles of well
nigh 800 years. A thousand roses must
be crushed to make one drop Of the pre-
cious altar, but that one drop fills the
whole house with perfume And il the
the thousand conflicts OF Virginia had
produced no more than the character of
| this illustrious man, they would have
done enough to fill the world with the
sweetness and glory Of her nature.
WASHINGTON.
Above all was Washington who
shared the glory Of the first American
victory against the French and Indians
at Pittsburg, as Virginia soldier, who
served In her House of Burgesses for
sixteen years and who, when the battle
Of Bunker Hi was lost, appeared upon
the plains of Boston with the Virginia
Rifemen around him, to tell the British
general who disputed his title, that he
derived 1t from the people, the "origi-
nal and purest fountain of power"
Foremost man in the English-speaking
race foremost man, indeed, OF all the
world was he who once dwelt in yon
plain, planters manson. There ne lived,
and there he died, and before its doors
is spread to-day the grandest spectacle
of the worlds arts and sciences
that ever met the gaze OF mortal.
Ask now the multitude what of all
fhav coptann rlata nr realize do vor