Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 34.djvu/164

 156 Southern Historical Society Payers.

Looking backward, you see her sons, in the long ago, bearing the goddess of virtue, pass through the gates of honor and place upon the brow of Portsmouth a crown of fame.

Now her young people bow in prayer around the monument of her heroes as the altar of good will and peace between all the American States.

Here the old and the young display the patriotism of peace.

"From pitying Heaven a radiant angel came;

Smiling, she bade all sounds of conflict cease, Her wide wings fanned away the smoke and flame;

Hushed the red battle's roar God called her peace. She sheathed the dripping sword; her soft hands pressed

Grim foes apart, who scowled in anger deep. She laid two grand old standards down to rest,

And on her breast rocked weary war to sleep.

From land and sea she swept mad passion's glow,

Yet left a laurel for the hero's fame; She whispered hope to hearts in grief bowed low,

And taught our lips, in love, to shape her name. Peace spreads her pinions wide from South to North;

Black enmity within the grave is laid, The church towers chime their holy anthems forth,

To still the thunders of the cannonade."

Peple Munsey.

Here is the first peace monument of the nation, where the flag of the Southern cross and the Star Spangled Banner are graven on the same rock to say : ' ' Peace rules the day, where reason rules the mind."

Nearly two thousand years ago Julius Ceasar invaded the British islands and forced the Celtic race to yield to his Roman Eagles; afterward the Saxons planted their banners on the land of the conquered people, and in turn the battle of Hastings brought Englishmen under Norman rule. But these invasions gave new arts that stimulated recovery from spoliation. The war of the roses in the fifteenth century made bitter days for England, and perhaps the lessons Britain learned from adversity aided in making her mistress of all the seas. The Northmen came upon us in 1861 "to save the Union." They despoiled our homes, and made