town, where the tyrant's head
was bruised and the glorious strife ended which struck from our fathers
the fetters and gave to them and their posterity a country gleaming in
the golden sunlight of republican liberty, and throwing wide open her
gates to the oppressed of every clime.

Virginia! The land of mountains, upon whose summits and in whose gorges
the spirit of freedom roams unfettered and unconquerable; the land of
valleys, which are hung like alcoved aisles with scenes of heroism and
pictures of daring, self-sacrifice, and devotion to principle; the land
of rivers and rivulets, which reflect like mirrors the fields upon which
her blood has been poured out like water upon the ground; the land of
zephyrs and breezes, and where the storm king sometimes dwells, gently
murmuring or in thunder tones proclaiming her glories and her fame; the
land of blue beautiful skies, radiant with the virtues of her daughters
and bespangled with the deeds of her sons; the land of memorials of the
past, that inspire the Virginia youth, whether born in poverty or in
riches, reared in the cottage humble or in the mansion stately, with a
patriotism that knows not section and yet a State love that knows not
bounds.

It was in this land that Richard Henry Lee, the fire and splendor of
whose eloquence burned like a hot iron into the soul of tyranny, and
Francis Lightfoot Lee, both of them signers of the Declaration of
Independence, were born; it was in this land that Arthur Lee, through
whose instrumentality the Colonies secured the friendship and support of
France, and "Light-Horse Harry" Lee, whose legion following his plume,
struck the enemy in the bivouac, on the march, in the lurid glare of
battle, on the flank, and in the front like a thunderbolt from the
skies, were born. It was in this land that Robert Edward Lee, whose
services on the fields of Mexico decked his brow with the warrior's
laurel, and whose leadership of the Confederate armies in the
unfortunate strife between the States made his name immortal, and whose
virtues shine with the brilliancy of a polished diamond, wreath his
character in moral grandeur, and draw paeans and praises from friend and
foe and from every clime where exalted manhood and a spotless life find
devotees, was born; and it was in this land that WILLIAM HENRY FITZHUGH
LEE, whose memory we are here to perpetuate, was born--all, all of the
same lineage and blood.

What a line of illustrious and disting