Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1896-07-10
NO. 81

nroIucer Of warriors and statesmen bu'
for her generosity in ceding her vast terrl-
tory to the Union, Kentucky wonlu nave
.tuI baen bcra and he would have been born
her son. Many persons. statesmen, soldiers
lie in Virginia soil, from Washington to the
nresent time. none greater than Davis, put
more fortunate
Throwing a glance backward he showed
how tbirty-one years ago. the man whose
memory they met to-day to honor lay man
acled in a casemate OF strongly garrlSoneo
fortress. charged with tho most atrocIous
crime known 10 man-treasOn and murder
"And ,et he continued. "bc died by mil
lions more sincerely mourned and deeply
beloved than any other man In the history
Of the nation. II his enemies had succeeden
in putting him to death he would nave Deen
the most conspicuous figure in American
history"
General Lee expressed IN Aiding belief
than when the mists Of passion and prell-
dice have passed away the ca m Hight OF JUS
tice gives the right niche to each figure in
history The descendants OF the men who
burned joan Of Arc" said he, "now regard
her as n character Of herosm and beauty.
The posterity Of the men who hung "ltrh's
in Salem as pious duty nov hear the story
with horror The descendants of the men
who to-day look on Jefferson Davis with un-
kind expressions will see him as we do-the
stainless gentleman, the gallant soldier. tho
devoted patriot, the pure and gifted states
man"
General Lee declined to discuss tho causes
leading TO the war. The war hal s"lti"d
that secession was impra"ticahle ana the
amendments to the Constitution had adjust
ed other differences. The Southern people
had fully accepted the results; they accepted
the present and loyalty committed them
selves to the future.
Passing to the early days of accession. no
predicted that the future historian would
note with astonishment that the Southern
struggle for independence began not with
committees OF public safety, with dec'ara-
tlons Of the rights of man, or enHnciation
Of the mighty doctrine that governments de-
rive their just powers from the consent OF
the governed but it began with public stat
utes general elections and constitutional
conventions Mr.. Davis himself rested in
his inaugural the case OF the new nation ut
the bar Of the public opinion Of the world
not upon revolutionary, but upon legal
right.
He quoted the junior Senator from Massa-
chusetts (Nr Lodge as saying that when the
Constitution was adopted at Philadelphia no
one-neither Washington Hamilton, Clinton
nor Madlson--regarded the new system az
anything but an experiment, from when
every State had the right, peaceably, to
withdraw. The Southern States had only
exerted right which had been threatened
by New England and which was general
-onceded to be a constitutional one.
General Lee concluded glowing eulogium
Of Jefferson Dayiss pure private life, his ex-
quisite courtesy and galantry as a soldier
with the declaration that his dominant char
acteristc was his fidelity to principle. It was
we'll said OF him che bent TO none but God.
He came among us a Roman born out Of
time. 1t was impossible for him to ask -
don as long as he felt he had done hil
,onscientiously as lie saw it, AZ
never forgiven One after another -
comrades entered the Beyond, until he stool
alone. But he never wavered IIo passed
from us a stern and majestic figure, broken
but never bent