The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1908-02-23


lustre to It's colors. Lee would fan
have averted It's disruption for any
consideration by any manly method.
and he sald II would have forbornc
and pleaded to the end for redress of
grievances. real or supposed. yet In
my own person / had to meet the
question whether should take part
against my native Statc.' and when
he was offered the command Of tho
Federal army, lie said: "Mr. Blair, IL
owned 100000 slaves / would sacri-
flee them all to the Union: but how
J can / draw my sword upon Virginia..
my native State?'' when he rendered
his resignation, he said 1t would have
4 been presented before but for the
struggle 1t had cost him to separate
himself from service to which he had
devoted all the best years OF his HE.
and pathetically closed his letter TO
General Winfield Scott, his old COM
mander with the declaration. Save in
/ the defense of my native State, /
| never desire again to draw my sword.
/ He was made by the Convention of
| Virginia COMMANDMENT chief of the
| Virginia forces. and when his conf
mission was presented to him by
John Janney, President of the Con.
vention. he replied
"Mr. President and Gentlemen of
the Convention.-Profoun impressed
with the solemnity of the occasion tor
which ] must say L was not prepared.
I accept the position assigned me by
your partially. l would have much
preferred your choice had fallen on
an ADLER man. Trusting in Almighty
God, an approving conscience, and the
aid OF my fellow citizens, l devote
myself to the service of my native
State. in whose behalf alone VIII /
| tn "a my
Attached to the government for
which he had imperilled his life.
he would have sacrificed all but duty
to his native state TO have preserved
1T; he would have "forborne and
pleaded" to that end with the hope
| of securing protection for his native
| state without dissolution. but what
ever her action. he was bound by it.
| Again. in reply to questions byl
| the Committee on Reconstruction in
! Washington in 1866, he said that the
! ordinance of secession was the justi-
/ fcation of the people for bearing arms
| against the government of the United
States; that they considered such &C.
legitimate. and that they merely used
/ the reserved rights, which they had q
right 10 do.
| When asked. What are your own
personal views on that question:, he
replied: THAT was my view. that
the act of Virginia in withdrawing
herself from the United States carried
me along as citizen of Virginia,
and that her laws and her acts were
binding upon me-
T. Comrades, am presenting this re-
cord for your qualification, and to
= Impress you that your great con-
), mander firmly maintained that his
: paramount allegiance was to his ma
7 tive state. and that 1t was her reserved
4. right to Withdraw from the United
+ States.
~ repeat, L reveal to you these acts
= that 1t may be known to YOU that
= that great son of Virginia loved his
; State with the fervor of transcendent
q loyalty, and that he believed In the
o absolutencss of her sovereignty to
q determine for herself her relations 10
the United States government OF
d limited powers. expressly delegated.
II Virginia united with her sister States
II and made government for proteo-
tlon against foreign invasion. She
conferred powers. but her rights We're
inherent she had not abdcated her
y sovereignty.
stonewall declared himself with
. laconic emphasis an apostle of States
. rights. AT a meeting Of some of the
=. students Of the Virginia Military
= Institute engaged in debate as 20
= secession. he suddenly followed the
- close of the discussion with the COM
- ment. as follows:
:, The young man Is right. I be-
! lieve in the right of secession and the
- time for It's exercise has come. If il
n be war, ! am for 1t to the hilt'
q To me there is JOY with pride that
k these sons of their State, brothers IL
NJ arms for her defense, We're united ir
d that fealty that recognized their STATE
" was entitled to their supreme adher-
/ ence-an adherence that imposed tbs
F. duty of serving and shielding heI
IS against all assailants. These brother
3. men were imbued at home Will
" these convictions of their paramount
If obligations, and they learned them Al
1t their alma mater. where they were
educated as soldiers. The govern
OF ment OF the United States laugh
secession at West Point. one of the
text books Of that school was the
II work of William Rawles, distin-
r. guished jurist of Pennsylvania. The
v language of the author upon this SUB
Al ject is as follows:
is ut depends upon the State itself tc
g. retain or abolish the principle of re
D. presentation. because it depends upor
10 It, whether 1t will continue a membe
e. of the Union. To deny this RICH
in would be inconsistent with the prn
~ cples upon which all political sys
n TENS are founded, which Is that til
ad people have in all cases the right :
n; determine how they shall be governed.
RS Such was the instruction given tn
cd cadets at West Point, and the govern
RS ment of the United States thus pro
or claimed the rights of tho States
on withdraw from the Union. 1t matter
nd not, however, for II coercion had bee
ut inculated as cardinal, 1t would nc
ur have influenced Leo and Jackson I
n betl'ly their State, and they are cher
NV ished all the more proudly, In tn
ne consciousness that the depth and en-
w tirety of thoir devotion. as her SON
~ would have repealed all allurcment
y and assured the parts they so grand
w acted, Love for her would have pre-
" vailed over all inducements to IN
"' fidelity to her. and YOU may we'll fee
y" assured that in borrowing them 70
M We're patriots in n righteous caus
H. Better, intellectually nobler, to hay
fought and lost under them than M
IA to have fought at all Better failul
for honor than failure of honor. Sui
mission, without effort to be FIRE