Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1903-07-17
standard of the Christian soldiers,

standard or the Christian soldiers
Lee and jackson.
The victors write the history OF
the vanquished. We may never hope
that Lee and jackson will receive in
national history the credit for acting
conscientiously,-for taking up arms
with the same spirit that moved our
fore-fathers to rebel against The
tyranny of England.
1t were out of place to discuss here
tonight the questions of the Civil
War, the solution of which two of
these great Virginia generals accepted
when they passed over the river aud
rested under the shade of the trees.
and which Lee at the last accepted
with that soldierly submission and
Christian fortitui-s that has pla ced
him forever beyond the reach of
those who would, dishonor and be-
smirch his memory if they could.
He ia safe from that. | say with all
honor to the great Washington he
was never one jot or one title beyond
Robert K. Lee.
Virginia's sons have been charged
by the Puritanic stock with the un-
pardonatle ain of being aristocratic.
Perhaps it is true that Virginia
people are in some measure aristo-
cratic,-no doubt in many cases
foolishly so. But it can hardly be
said that our state possesses mo-
nopoly OF foolish and uulustified
pride. 1t is only natural that we
should be proud of our great men
and of our history.
We do not forget that our Wash
ington sav,d his country, that Vir-
ginian made the constitution and a
Virginian threw out the doctrines
that have protected its great pripci
Piles, that Virginia was the mother of
presidents and states, that she gave
out OF her own territory the states
of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Michi-
gan, that her sons were among the
first to settle that great West,-that
even the parents of Abraham Lincoln
were Virginia bred people. We should
not be foolishly proud of these things,
but we cannot forget them.
For myself am not less proud of
the fact that after ertsssting every
means for peace between the hating
North and the hot. headed South,
Virginia refused to take up arms
against her sister states and defended
her soil against the invader with all
the valor her sons possessed.
And, friends, if you keep the word
"aristocracy" to its proper etymology,
it Is nothing We need be ashamed of.
1t means simply state of society in
which the best people rule. IL aris-
tocracy shall give us men who think
too much of their honor, or of their
family and state history to lie, cheat,
or steal, let us have more of il, 1t
was our aristocratic congressman who
when it was proposed long ago to
raise the salaries of all represen Ia
tues to ten thousand dollars a year,
declared they were not entitled to it,
and disdained to accept a double
salary at the expense of the people.
Would that We might have few
such aristocratic congressman today.
Virginia received her greatest set
back in the Civil War. She was the |
battle field of the nation. The smoke
from her burned homes went to the
high heavens and the blood of her
sons flowed from the Mountains to
the sea. Her crippled and war worn |
soldiers came home to poverty, to
wasted fields, to gaunt chimneys
standing like tombstones over de- |
parted homes, to land where moth
ing was left but the mercy of God
and courage in herited from the fore
fathers.
But, as if by the magic dragon
teeth, new race of sturdy men
sprang from the soil. / do not believe
that all the glory of Virginia is or |
will be confined to the past. The
dark days of war and reconstruction |
are passed forever. Virginia in the
past few years has gone forward as |
never before.
The best people in the werld, live
in Virginia, and ! believe as long "a
the ages shall roll her sons will be
found in the forefront of every high |
and noble cause, adding new fame to
the magnificent record of the old
state.
May it be so. May the past be but
a high inspiration for the future.
And in the bright, busy pathway of |
the new centuries may we never for
get the traditions that hover around
the thrilling words of Patrick Henry
and the immortal motto Of our old |
coat OF arms--"Give me liberty or
give me death",-"Sic Semper
Tyrannis!"