Virginia's traditions.
The people of Virginia were devoted to the memories, traditions, and the very soil of their Commonwealth—proud of her history, and jealous beyond comparison of her fame. The settlement of the State, the part which she had borne in the Revolution, and other wars, the [82] romantic and daring adventures of her sons in every period of storm and stress, the brave avowals of her great leaders in the cause of the civil and religious liberty; the deep-seated belief that the rights of the government were only derived from the consent of the governed; the position of the parties to the impending conflict—the North rich in teeming population, diversified wealth, established government and the prestige of the old flag and the old constitution—the South unequal in every point, save in the enthusiasm and determination of her people; all this made the strongest appeal to the imagination and sympathies of her sons. To stand by as a neutral would have been to wear the badge of confessed dishonor. At the thought of invasion either of their homes or their liberties, there sprang to the hearts of these cavaliers and the sturdy yeomanry of the mountain and the plain, the inspiring words of the poet of their fatherland: In our halls is hung—Armory of the invincible knights of old;
We must be free or die, who speak the tongue
That Shakespeare spoke; the faith and morals hold
Which Milton held—In everything we are sprung
Of earth's first blood, have titles manifold.
