Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1897-11-02
Address Of Col. Forrest v. Brown

|
ao,) at the Tennessee Centennial Exposi-
ton, at Nashville:
with highest praise for the great
nerve and talent displayed IN the concep-
ton, creation, and conduct of this Cen
tenniai Exposition; with fraternal greet
ing to the sovereignty and people of Ten
nessee with their wealth of history, tradi
ton and resourceful relf-reliance; with
renewed devotion to the integrity of the
Union, under the limitations of The Con.
stitution, we, of West Virginia, come
to-day, as guests upon your soil. to arrest
attention, and invite your inspection OF
the merits of our mountain State.
The relation of West Virginia to its
sister States, and to the Union, is histori'
ca1ly unique-it has both age and youth.
age in this, that as an integral part of
the old domain of Virginia, it had its voice
in representative government as early
perhaps as when the fleets of Cromwell
first entered the waters of the Chesapeake
to subjugate a royal colony; as part of
early patriots as soldiers joined the bee
line march to Boston and fought from
| Bunker Hill to Yorktown in the defence
of invaded rights; as statesmen, sat in
the Continental Congresses; deliberated
on the plan of the first confederacy of the
colonies; assumed, in part, responsibility
for the PRONUNCIATION of the Declaration
of independence and participated in the
creation and adoption of that most illus
trious of all written documents, the Con-
stitution of the United States.
age in this, that on her soil, as part
of the Old Dominion, French and English
love of conquest and territorial a9gran-
dizement, clashing for supremacy, made
battle grounds of her virgin valleys.
Looking back beyond the great revolu
ton, before Liberty first struggled sue
cessfully for sovereign existence. we can
see the stubborn but over-confident Brad
dock, with the trained soldiers of Britain,
against the advice and admonition of the
youthful Washington, yet unknown to
fame, marching slowly. but too carelessly
and conspiciously, through her primeval
forests to his defeat and death by the
waters of the Monongahela.
I'VE can see the gallant general
Lewis, with his noble band of hardy Pio-
neers, traversing the dark woods, until.
on West Virginia soil, where the waters
of the Ohio and Kanawha converge, in
the battle of Point Pleasant, they strike
the red warriors of Corn Stalk and, with
hard earned victory in a baptism Of blood,
help to determine the supremacy, on this
continent, of the Indian, Gaul or Saxon,
forever
Age in this, that at the time when the
great commonwealth of Tennessee, now
so hale, so hearty and robust, was but a
territorial infant, crawling forward to its
baptisnaI day of statehood, within her
confines was already planted the busy
arseuals and armories of the Union, har-
Messing up the mighty power of continent
rivers and forging arms for the defence of
the yet experimental federation.
age in this, that before the dawn of
the nineteenth century, when the tickle
sail was still the sole dependence, on river,
sea and ocean. for the ladened boat and
the wave tossed ship, when the continents.
were as distant from each other as the
stars to-day, and time and tide resistance
checked the snail-like commerce of the
nations; when the stifed hamPered spirit
| of progress called plaintively unto inven-
tive genius for aid, relief, advance; then
from her territory, from the brain of
| James Rumsey, of Shepherdstown, came
the ingenious response, the genuine germ
which, since cultivated and perfected, has
revolutionized, developed andtransformed
the material and commercial life of the
world.
Steam can be applied to navigation.
come and see. exclaimed the noble Rum
sey in 1855, from the bank of the Potomac,
and one bright morning, beside this noble
river that curves so gracefully around our
northern border, sweeping by the superb
capitol of the Union to seek the great
Atlantic, there assembled the famous sol
diers and civilians of the Revolution,
Gates, Darle and Stephens. and accord
| ing to tradition, the illustrious Washing
ton himself, to witness the first attempt Of
steam upon the resisting waters.
The crude craft OF fRumsey, launched in
fear and trepidation, with beating hearts
and anxious expectations starts boldly up
the opposing current, and, as it goes,
above the Plaudits of the multitude, above
the rningling of congratulatory voices
can be distinctly heard the exclamation
of the brave, but impulsive, hero OF Sar-
atoga, my God she moves, She moves :
But time will not permit the pardon
able desire to 1inger over the memories
of the past. The paths of history lead
the student by these incidents indigenous
to her soil.
at is to the young State. in the per
feet confidence of a robust young man
hood, seizing with firm and vigorous grasp
the possibilities of the present and vigi-
lantly awake to the bright promises of the
future, that we ask your attention to-day.
i I say the young State, for not two score
years have passed since from the territory
of the old commonwealth ofVirginia, dis
membered in the vieissitudes of inferno,
,