The Long Roll | Page 6

and tell stories of home, of Virginia and
Pennsylvania, of Georgia and New Hampshire!"
He paused, drew himself up, looked out over the throng to the
mountains, studied for a moment their long, clean line, then dropped
his glance and spoke in a changed tone, with a fiery suddenness, a
lunge as of a tried rapier, quick and startling.

"Men of Botetourt! I speak for my fellow soldiers of the Army of the
United States when I say that, out yonder, we are blithe to fight with
marauding Comanches, with wolves and with grizzlies, but that we are
not--oh, we are not--ready to fight with each other! Brother against
brother--comrade against comrade--friend against friend--to quarrel in
the same tongue and to slay the man with whom you've faced a
thousand dangers--no, we are not ready for that!
"Virginians! I will not believe that the permanent dissolution of this
great Union is come! I will not believe that we stand to-day in danger
of internecine war! Men of Botetourt, go slow--go slow! The Right of
the State--I grant it! I was bred in that doctrine, as were you all.
Albemarle no whit behind Botetourt in that! The Botetourt
Resolutions--amen to much, to very much in the Botetourt Resolutions!
South Carolina! Let South Carolina go in peace! It is her right!
Remembering old comradeship, old battlefields, old defeats, old
victories, we shall still be friends. If the Gulf States go, still it is their
right, immemorial, incontrovertible!--The right of self-government. We
are of one blood and the country is wide. God-speed both to Lot and to
Abraham! On some sunny future day may their children draw together
and take hands again! So much for the seceding States. But
Virginia,--but Virginia made possible the Union,--let her stand fast in it
in this day of storm! in this Convention let her voice be heard--as I
know it will be heard--for wisdom, for moderation, for patience! So, or
soon or late, she will mediate between the States, she will once again
make the ring complete, she will be the saviour of this great historic
Confederation which our fathers made!"
A minute or two more and he ended his speech. As he moved from
between the pillars, there was loud applause. The county was largely
Whig, honestly longing--having put on record what it thought of the
present mischief and the makers of it--for a peaceful solution of all
troubles. As for the army, county and State were proud of the army, and
proud of the Virginians within it. It was amid cheering that Fauquier
Cary left the portico. At the head of the steps, however, there came a
question. "One moment, Major Cary! What if the North declines to
evacuate Fort Sumter? What if she attempts to reinforce it? What if she

declares for a compulsory Union?"
Cary paused a moment. "She will not, she will not! There are
politicians in the North whom I'll not defend! But the people--the
people--the people are neither fools nor knaves! They were born North
and we were born South and that is the chief difference between us! A
Compulsory Union! That is a contradiction in terms. Individuals and
States, harmoniously minded, unite for the sweetness of Union and for
the furtherance of common interests. When the minds are discordant,
and the interests opposed, one may be bound to another by
Conquest--not otherwise! What said Hamilton? To coerce a State
would be one of the maddest projects ever devised!" He descended the
court house steps to the grassy, crowded yard. Here acquaintances
claimed him, and here, at last, the surge of the crowd brought him
within a yard of Allan Gold and his companion. The latter spoke.
"Major Cary, you don't remember me. I'm Hairston Breckinridge, sir,
and I've been once or twice to Greenwood with Edward. I was there
Christmas before last, when you came home wounded--"
The older man put out a ready hand. "Yes, yes, I do remember! We had
a merry Christmas! I am glad to meet you again, Mr. Breckinridge. Is
this your brother?"
"No, sir. It's Allan Gold, from Thunder Run."
"I am pleased to meet you, sir," said Allan. "You have been saying
what I should like to have been able to say myself."
"I am pleased that you are pleased. Are you, too, from the university?"
"No, sir. I couldn't go. I teach the school on Thunder Run."
"Allan knows more," said Hairston Breckinridge, "than many of us who
are at the university. But we mustn't keep you, sir."
In effect they could do so no longer. Major Cary was swept away by
acquaintances and connections. The day was declining, the final
speaker drawing to an end, the throng beginning to shiver in the

deepening cold. The speaker gave his final sentence; the town band