Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 41.djvu/29

Rh The cunning Jacobs of an alien view have sought to rob the Southern Esau of his birthright. The base Delilahs from a new Philistia have striven to shear the locks of Samson. But at the price of military reconstruction and with the threat of negro rule, political disability and force laws, the South has remained constant. Few have ever taken office in the councils of ancient oppressors; few have abandoned their mother in the days of her impotency. We have not beckoned the immigrant to our borders or bought his undeserved vote at the price of one of our principles. We have remained a people apart, serving at the same shrines, voicing the same prayers, cherishing the same ideals and waiting, waiting—through what a bitter night—for the day when the South could again serve the Union as in the days of old and give of its manhood for the upbuilding of our land.

That which our fathers held and gave, us—that which is the true American ideal—the nation needs as never since the years that covered these green avenues with soldiers' graves. We are fast approaching another 1861. Strange voices are heard in the lands. Strange doctrines are being preached. For the first time since a great voice cried, "Let there be peace," men threaten division. It is not a division between North and South, thank God, nor yet 'twixt East and West. It is a division between Americanism and hydra-headed treason. Men who have eaten of our bread and shared of our acres are whispering against us. Some traitors even would sell their country to a foreign foe—and boast of their treason. Things have come to pass that five years ago we should have believed impossible.

What is the remedy for these ills the shrewdest merely see and cannot diagnose? The answer is graven on these sacred stones—love of country, sacrifice of self, the maintenance of principle, whether it be in Congress or on the high seas against every foe! And who can apply that remedy as can the South. We are the Americans longest seated, longest tested. We of the South, we of Virginia, almost alone in a country now