Part 1 (1/2)
The Long Roll.
by Mary Johnston.
CHAPTER I
THE BOTETOURT RESOLUTIONS
On this wintry day, cold and sunny, the small town breathed hard in its excitement. It might have climbed rapidly from a lower land, so heightened now were its pulses, so light and rare the air it drank, so raised its mood, so wide, so very wide the opening prospect. Old red-brick houses, old box-planted gardens, old high, leafless trees, out it looked from its place between the mountain ranges. Its point of view, its position in s.p.a.ce, had each its value--whether a lesser value or a greater value than other points and positions only the Judge of all can determine. The little town tried to see clearly and to act rightly. If, in this time so troubled, so obscured by mounting clouds, so tossed by winds of pa.s.sion and of prejudice, it felt the proudest a.s.surance that it was doing both, at least that self-infatuation was shared all around the compa.s.s.
The town was the county-seat. Red brick and white pillars, set on rising ground and encircled by trees, the court house rose like a guidon, planted there by English stock. Around it gathered a great crowd, breathlessly listening. It listened to the reading of the Botetourt Resolutions, offered by the President of the Supreme Court of Virginia, and now delivered in a solemn and a ringing voice. The season was December and the year, 1860.
_The people of Botetourt County, in general meeting a.s.sembled, believe it to be the duty of all the citizens of the Commonwealth, in the present alarming condition of our country, to give some expression of their opinion upon the threatening aspect of public affairs....
In the controversies with the mother country, growing out of the effort of the latter to tax the Colonies without their consent, it was Virginia who, by the resolution against the Stamp Act, gave the example of the first authoritative resistance by a legislative body to the British Government, and so imparted the first impulse to the Revolution.
Virginia declared her Independence before any of the Colonies, and gave the first written Const.i.tution to mankind.
By her instructions her representatives in the General Congress introduced a resolution to declare the Colonies independent States, and the Declaration itself was written by one of her sons.
She furnished to the Confederate States the father of his country, under whose guidance Independence was achieved, and the rights and liberties of each State, it was hoped, perpetually established.
She stood undismayed through the long night of the Revolution, breasting the storm of war and pouring out the blood of her sons like water on every battlefield, from the ramparts of Quebec to the sands of Georgia._
A cheer broke from the throng. ”That she did--that she did! 'Old Virginia never tire.'”
_By her unaided efforts the Northwestern Territory was conquered, whereby the Mississippi, instead of the Ohio River, was recognized as the boundary of the United States by the treaty of peace.
To secure harmony, and as an evidence of her estimate of the value of the Union of the States, she ceded to all for their common benefit this magnificent region--an empire in itself.
When the Articles of Confederation were shown to be inadequate to secure peace and tranquillity at home and respect abroad, Virginia first moved to bring about a more perfect Union.
At her instance the first a.s.semblage of commissioners took place at Annapolis, which ultimately led to a meeting of the Convention which formed the present Const.i.tution.
The instrument itself was in a great measure the production of one of her sons, who has been justly styled the Father of the Const.i.tution.
The government created by it was put into operation, with her Was.h.i.+ngton, the father of his country, at its head; her Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence, in his cabinet; her Madison, the great advocate of the Const.i.tution, in the legislative hall._
”And each of the three,” cried a voice, ”left on record his judgment as to the integral rights of the federating States.”
_Under the leading of Virginia statesmen the Revolution of 1798 was brought about, Louisiana was acquired, and the second war of independence was waged.
Throughout the whole progress of the Republic she has never infringed on the rights of any State, or asked or received an exclusive benefit.
On the contrary, she has been the first to vindicate the equality of all the States, the smallest as well as the greatest.
But, claiming no exclusive benefit for her efforts and sacrifices in the common cause, she had a right to look for feelings of fraternity and kindness for her citizens from the citizens of other States....
And that the common government, to the promotion of which she contributed so largely, for the purpose of establis.h.i.+ng justice and ensuring domestic tranquillity, would not, whilst the forms of the Const.i.tution were observed, be so perverted in spirit as to inflict wrong and injustice and produce universal insecurity.