Part 27 (2/2)

3rd, That our worthy Mayor be requested to communicate by wire this action of the Council to Mrs. McKinley.”

Notwithstanding the best medical skill was employed to remain with the stricken President day and night, who endeavored to locate and extract the pistol ball, and the prayers of the nation, he calmly pa.s.sed away on the 14th of September, eight days after the a.s.sa.s.sin's deadly work. The monster murderer was an anarchist from Ohio, who was condemned before the courts for his wicked act and paid the extreme penalty of the law.

As the news of the President's death was sent to the world with electric speed, and announced in Fredericksburg, the City Council was immediately a.s.sembled again and the following action taken:

”The Mayor and Common Council of the city of Fredericksburg desire to unite with all the world in paying tribute to the memory of President McKinley, as a patriot American, a pure citizen, a fearless Executive and a Christian gentleman.

It is with pride and pleasure that we recall his recent visit to our city and his expressions of gratification at being with us, and this tribute to his memory is to testify and further emphasize our sincere sorrow at his death. It is therefore--

Resolved, That the public buildings of this city be draped in mourning for thirty days; that during the hour of the funeral service that the bells of the city be tolled, and that a committee of three members of the Council be appointed by the Mayor to confer with the ministers of our churches in order to arrange a memorial meeting of our citizens, and that these resolutions be spread upon the records of this council.

Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions, with our expressions of sympathy in this hour of her great bereavement, be forwarded to Mrs.

McKinley, widow of our distinguished President, signed by the Mayor, and attested by the clerk, under the seal of this city.”

This action of the Council was one of the few that Mrs. McKinley personally responded to. To it she promptly replied, evincing her grateful appreciation, with the tenderest expressions, for the sympathy tendered to her in her great sorrow. The memorial services were held in St. George's church, the day of the funeral, conducted by the city pastors, Dr. T. S.

Dunaway, delivering the address.

CHAPTER XIX.

_Dr. Walker's Exploration--Bacon's Rebellion, so-called--The Fredericksburg Declaration--The Great Orator--Resolutions of Separation from Great Britain--Virginia Bill of Rights, &c._

It has been said, probably by the facetious or perhaps by the envious--for such are to be found in all communities--that Virginians are noted for their bragging--that find them where you may, at home surrounded by friends and companions, or abroad among strangers and aliens--bragging is their distinguis.h.i.+ng characteristic. It is not probably known whether this charge has ever been investigated and pa.s.sed upon by any competent authority, but if it has been, and the charge was p.r.o.nounced true--or if the truth of the charge were admitted by the parties themselves, they can plead justification, and should be readily excused upon the ground that they really have something to boast of in the patriotism, endurance, sacrifices and achievements of a glorious ancestry. If the people of other parts of the country have whereof to boast, Virginians have more, and those in that part of Virginia in which Fredericksburg is located may well take the lead.

In this and the two succeeding chapters we propose to show what has been accomplished for this great country by the sons of Virginia, who have lived in Fredericksburg and within a radius of sixty or seventy-five miles of Fredericksburg, and show that in the extension of the borders of our infantile country, in protecting the settlers from the ravages of the brutal savages, in agitating, fostering and demanding the rights of the people, in opposing and resisting the unjust laws and oppressions, usurpations and unreasonable exactions of sordid and wicked rulers, in the separation, by solemn resolutions and declarations of this country from Great Britain, in uniting and defending the colonies and in achieving the independence of the country, in forming and administering the government, in numbering it with the family of the nations of the earth, and placing it upon the high road to prosperity and national greatness, Virginians were ever in the van, and others followed their leaders.h.i.+p and reaped the rich fruits of their splendid achievements and their glorious victories. And this we do, not in any spirit of vanity, but that there may be grouped together and brought to public attention, in permanent form, historical facts, if known to the public, long forgotten and unappreciated, that Fredericksburg may be placed, where it rightly belongs, as the most historical spot in the most historical State in this great nation, that will soon, if it does not now, dominate the nations of the earth and fully justify her sons in recounting their deeds, if it shall be termed bragging.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The present Postoffice Building at Fredericksburg. (See page 165)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Tombstone marking grave of William Paul, brother of Commodore John Paul Jones, in St. George's burial ground. (See page 237)]

DR. WALKER'S EXPLORATION.

It was Dr. Thomas Walker, of Albemarle county, a Virginian, who, with five companions, in 1750, explored the wild country, which now forms the States of Tennessee and Kentucky, and named that chain of mountains and the beautiful river that flows through the valley, c.u.mberland, in honor of the Duke of c.u.mberland, and then crossed over the country to the head waters of the Kentucky river and gave it its name, which furnished a name for that great and prosperous State.

BACON RESISTS OPPRESSION.

It was Nathaniel Bacon, of Henrico county, a Virginian, who first offered resistance to the colonial authorities in defence of the lives, liberties and property of the people and put forth a declaration of principles, which were the guiding star for those who came after him until independence was achieved, with all of its blessings and glorious fruits.

In his United States History Dr. Howison says: ”In the great declaration adopted by them in 1776, just one hundred years after the movements under Bacon, we find embedded not less than five principles among the most weighty and potent that justified the overthrow of the English rule, all five of which were in active movement to produce the uprising of the Virginia people in 1676. These five principles were:

1. The right to civil and religious liberty--'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness';

2. The right to throw off a government which had 'cut off their trade from all parts of the world';

3. Which had 'imposed taxes on them without their consent';

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