While many of her sister states had surpassed Virginia in contributions
to art, literature, and science, in commercial and industrial
development, her triumphs had been in the realm of statecraft and
jurisprudence, on the field of battle, and amid the dangers of the
frontier. The achievements of her statesmen, jurists, soldiers and
pioneers marked the measure of her pride and the summit of her fame. The
making of the Union, maintaining its ideals, and extending its limits,
were the noblest monuments of their labors. By statues and memorials, by
song and story, by the lawmaker's work and the orator's appeal,
Virginians of every generation were stimulated to revere the principles
and safeguard the achievements of these illustrious men.
With such a past, and with such a part in making the Union, will it be
supposed that the Virginians of 1861 pressed forward with wanton hands
to destroy the fabric of the Republic and thwart the ideals of its
founders? May we not believe that the true sentiments of the dominant
element of the state were voiced in the words of John Janney, who, on
assuming the Presidency of the Virginia Convention, in 1861, said:
"Causes which have passed, and are daily passing into history, which
will set its seal upon them, but which I do not mean to review, have
brought the constitution and the Union into imminent peril, and
Virginia has come to the rescue. It is what the whole country expected
of her—her pride as well as her patriotism, her interest as well as
her honor, called upon her with an emphasis she could not disregard to
save the monuments of her own glory."[354]
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Footnote 347:
_History of United States_, Bancroft, Vol. VI, p. 196.
Footnote 348:
_Idem_, p. 197.
Footnote 349:
_History of United States_, Bancroft, Vol. IV, p. 197.
Footnote 350:
_Idem_, p. 198.
Footnote 351:
_History of United States_, Bancroft, Vol. IV, p. 210.
Footnote 352:
_Critical Period of American History_, Fiske, p. 239.
Footnote 353:
_History of United States_, Bancroft, Vol. IV, p. 416.
Footnote 354:
_Journal of Virginia Convention of 1861_, p. 8.