They received what I had to
say, although they knew I differed from them on some of the
gravest matters which concerned the State, and had been an
anti-slavery man from my youth, with a respect and courtesy
which left nothing to be desired. At the banquet which followed
the address, this toast was given by William Wirt Henry, a
grandson of Patrick Henry, himself one of the foremost lawyers
and historians of the South. I prize very highly the original
which I have in his handwriting.
"Massachusetts and Virginia.
"Foremost in planting the English Colonies in America;
"Foremost in resisting British tyranny;
"Foremost in the Revolution which won our Independence
and established our free institutions;
"May the memories of the past be the bond of the future."
My own endeavor, during my long public life, has been to
maintain the doctrine of the Declaration of Independence,
which declares the right of every man to political equality
by virtue of his manhood, and of every people to self-government
by virtue of its character as a people. This our fathers
meant to lay down as the fundamental law of States and of
the United States, having its steadfast and immovable foundation
in the law of God.
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