Clarke courier. [volume] (Berryville, Va.) 1869-1997, 1901-01-23
HON. A. ). MONTAGUE'S
ELOQUENT SPEECH.
Gen- I.ecs Birthday Appropriately
Observcd ny Confederate veserans
with vs<gtnfa's TaleBsed At
torney-Gcncral the Orator.

| OeoerA OF virginia ala not uleap-
point: his friends and hearers last
Saturday afternoon in Winston Hall,
when he vas the orator on the COCA
sion of honoring the memory of the
South's beloved chieftain, General
Robert Z. Lee. By the J. E B. Stuart
Camp, Confederate Veterans His
address was obsste, brilliant and in
spring, and the speaker easily sns-
tanned his reputation Is 9 brilliant or
ator.
His audience was not a. large ss
anticipated by the Confederate or
gsnizstion, owing to the cold weather.
BE was enthusiastically greeted, after
being introduced by Mr.. A. Moore,
Jr.
Mr.. Montague made many friends
here both By his personal magnetism
and fine orstorical effort before the
Confederate Camps. he is = man
that attracts attention among men BY
his bearing, manner and appearance.
His speech We give below in = con-
dense form:
Mr.. Montague in opening his ad-
dress spologizsd for addressing the
Veterans first when there were 90
many ladies present. But he thought
1t vas right on this occasion that he
should first say Confederate Vete-
rams" because they were the men who
participated in the great struggle
which brought to the notice of the
world Gen. Robt <. Lee.
He said he might observe fur
Their that In DO history of the old or
new world have We seen the social
energies Of the people aroused as in
this people. i mean that IN its
broadcast sense, never before or since,
perhsPs, were the social energies of
our people so absolutely concentrated.
In the late struggle between
our country and the Spanish govern
msnt there was some question of who
would 60 In the great struggle
from 81 to SO the question was not
who would go, but who would
stay q. home. There
was no unwillingness to par
ticipAte-fsrmers left their plows in
the unfinished burrows, carpenters
left their planes and saws, the preach
or left his unfinished sermon, the
young man his bride, and the old
man MS wife and children. =
Yet Virginia was not hssty, but pa
tlsnt and tor0earlng, until the inva-
sion OF her soil. The speaker
said, take 1t IS 3 duty especially
IN the presence OF the young people
Of this audience, 70 say that We must
see 70 1t that IN no subsequent history
should there be one line Of treason;
that our fathers who fought in this
struggle never knew what treason
was and never thought about treason.
Many who constituted the rank and
fils Of the Confederate Army were as
well educated and understood the
constitution and constitutional law
- many Of the Senators of this day,
and they understood and knew what
they were fighting for and about,
which was an unmlstakabIe tribute
to their character and . stimulus to
victory. The speaker said be
sometimes thought In some of the
late wars, the world st least had not
understood exactly what We were
fighting for-the casus belli-that
perhaps some one familiar with state
Draft or international law could find
. cause, but such was not so with the
Confederate soldier, and il was be-
cause of their consciousness of this
fact that Gen. Lee had an army that
had never been equalled before nor
since. His confidence in that army
was unsurpassed. l am not
going into the question of secession
and slavery and ali that. am not
here today TO stir up bitter
memories, but l will repeat, if you
will pardon me, that it is a duty of
the young men of the South to see
that it shall never be permitted to
be said that their fathers were trait
ors. . 1t was an open and man
ly war, there was no ssmblance of
treason, because people when they ex-
eouts treason don't do it in the light
j with banners flying, swords cleaning,
and guns shooting. They don't do
it that way. More than that, there
has meyer been . case of treason on
this earth when the women partici-
pated in it. The speaker said we
speak of bravery on the different
battledelds, bat mother who took
her boy and carried him to the front
gate and kissed him with . tear and
bid him go ives equal to the bravery
Of any man that lived. When
Gen. Lee took this struggle in hand
he realized perhaps as none of us did,