Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1913-06-12

Confederate Memorial Address of 1915
1t will be published in weekly install
ments until completed. Editor.
80
Continued from last week.
On this admission of'an adversary W
can consent to have judgement signed
At . pecuniaty sacrifice these leader
Eheld their Offices, with pride they Dor
the burden of self-sacrifce for common
wealths. Throughout their long DOM
nation" Blaine being judge, the trum
pet gave no uncertain sound. TIL
habit of honor in themselves fitted then
to lead the honor of the state. From ,
source not to be challenged, on tn,
ground of bias, comes the certiicat,
to the potency of principles; to tn,
stewardship of justice; the loved of lib
erty without discrimination. Blaine putt
before US the high spot of definite
achievement, wherein the soul of the
South is mirrored. These leaders
fought, as under sacred spiritual ban
ner, and against what was inimical to
this. as against infidelity, disloyalty,
essential treason. Instinctively they
resisted the false lure of false free
dom. In effect they said with Wash
ington-'Let US raise standard to
which the wise and honest can repair. .
This domination" strove for a
worth distinction, strove for eminence,
strove for country. This moral vigor,
this force of flint against corruption,
this clean administration is that on
which liberty depends. BY force Of
this prominence, this honest govern
meDt'of honest men, this incorrupt adj
ministration the federal union had risen
to noble height. The supremacy
which came to close in 1861 was
moral supremacy. It restrained the
intrigue of the sophisters.
Such is the condensed story of that
South, for which SO many were ready
to die; for which SO many gloriously
died. There has been seen in this coun-
try the influence of leaders, whose NOR
al force withstood selfish force. until,
by force of numbers the sceptre was
torn from them.
To every height to which men climb,
voices ascend from the abyss, crying
"casf myself downward, The lure to
betray the lasting for the transient is
snbtler than all the beasts of the field.
From the beginning dark forces
storming beneath the surface were not
unseen nor unfelt, At the time of the
Convention of 1887, Mr.. Madison noted
the fact of the great Northern and
Southern interests being opposed to
each other.
Look at the votes in Congress, he
said "most of them stand divided by
the geography of the country; not ac-
cording TO the size of the states. To
other far seeing men this betokened
disaster. In October, 1887, Richard
Henry Lee wrote to Edmund Randolph:
s'The representatives of the seven
Northern States, as they have maj
GRITTY. can by law create most oppres-
sive monopoly upon the five Southern
States; although not single man of
these voters is representative of or
amenable to the people of the Southern
States. Can such set of men be.
with the least semblance of truth, called
representatives of those they make
laws fort" In the Virginia Convention
Patrick Henry said, aOur dearest inter-
ests are to be left in the hands Of those,
whose advantage it will be to infringe
them" You will be taxed, he said,
mot by your consent. but by people
having no connection with you " And
George Mason said: "A majority of.
interests will Cypress the minority, !"
and refused tovote for the Constitution,
in Federal or State Convention.
The tragical consequence of geo
graphical antagoDism had become acute
in 1880. With the intensity of genius
this dire menace was arraigned by John
Randolph. in the Virginia Convention
in 1929 30. Il will" he said, e.put it
in the power of no man, or set of men,
who ever lived to tax me without my
consent. 1t is wholly immaterial,
this is done, without my hav-
ing any representation at, all, or as
In the case Of the tariff law, by pha-
lanx. stern and memorable, who, being
In the majority. and having the power
prescribe to me the law that / shall
obey. Sir, what was it to all the
Southern interest, that we came within
two votes Of defeating that iniquitous5
measure. Do not our adversaries flor
they are) know that they
have the power, and that they must
submit. This whole slave holding coun-
try-the whole of it from the Potomac
to Mexieo-was placed under the ban
and anathema of majority of two. =
Then and there that significant finger
touched the strategic point the oppor-
tunity to combine against 1.-THE whole
slave holding country" The Roanoke
statesman belonged to the immortal
class hated for the truth they tell. The
sting of his incisiveness was in the
truth of it. That which his piercing
vision saw was the peryersion of fed
eral government from one which exist.
ed to protect the citizen from the pow
er of plumber, to one which would exist
to protect the power of plumber from
the citizen. What he branded was the