"We especially thank thee that thou hast given to the country and to the world, thy servant, whose memory we have met this day to honor and to perpetuate to future ages; for that type of Christian character which he illustrated, and for that example of devotion to thy truth which he set amid all the duties and perils of his eventful life; and for that train of favorable circumstances which now concurs to render his character impressive and instructive to successive generations.

"And now, O Lord God of hosts, we invoke thy benedictions upon the transaction of this day; that it may come up in remembrance before thee, and that it may be a blessing to us and to posterity.

"Grant that the monument erected on this spot, to the honor of thy servant, may ever stand as a permanent memorial to thy praise, and a perpetual incentive to a high and holy consecration to thy service, in all the avocations of life. May it silently and effectually inculcate noble ideas and inspire lofty sentiments in all spectators for all time to come. Above all, may it teach the youth of the land the solemn lesson of thy word, that the foundation of true greatness is fidelity to thee.

"May all that was good and great in thy servant be sanctified as one of the elements of the goodness and greatness of this whole nation. And we pray that these United States, with all their diverse peoples and pursuits, may be bound together by the ties of an enlightened, cordial, and enduring friendship; that all bitterness and strife may cease between them; that peace and prosperity may prevail in our borders; that this country may be distinguished by the greatest displays of the gospel, and the highest development of mankind; that other and distant nations may behold in us the spectacle of a wise government and of virtuous citizens; and exclaim, 'Happy is that people whose God is the Lord.'

"Bless the Commonwealth of Virginia. May she ever be an instance and a witness of civil and religious liberty, of unfaltering public rectitude, of social and domestic virtue, and of Christian culture. And may she never want wise and good men to enlighten her councils and to guide her affairs.

"We lift the voice of our prayer to thee, O Lord God, in behalf of all the nations of the earth; that thou wouldst grant to them the light of thy truth, and the inestimable boon of good government, of religious liberty, and of Christian civilization.

"We devoutly implore the richest blessing upon the surviving consort of thine honored servant. Be unto her the God of the widow. Grant unto her abundantly the succors of thy grace and the supplies of thy providence, and throw over her the shield of thy protecting hand. May her lengthened life be cheered with the consolations of thy Holy Spirit, and its evening be serene with thy peace, and the hope of a blessed immortality.

"We commend to thy fatherly care the daughter of thy departed servant. May she be numbered with the objects of thy peculiar favor, cherished with the jewels of thy treasure, and enjoy the inheritance of thy saints. May her youth be guarded and gladdened by thy presence, and adorned with the beauties of holiness, and her maturer years enriched with the precious fruits of pious joys and confiding friendships. Direct her earthly fortunes, and finally crown her with the felicities of the world to come.

"In thy great clemency, O Lord, pardon our iniquities. Hear thou in heaven, thy dwelling-place; and when thou hearest, forgive. Accept our persons and our services, and eternally save us through Jesus Christ, our Lord, in whose ever-blessed name we pray: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil; for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen."

While the prayer was being offered every man took off his hat, the most reverential attention was paid, and those on and around the stand joined in with the minister in saying the Lord's Prayer. Next followed Governor Kemper's address:

GOVERNOR KEMPER'S ADDRESS.

MY COUNTRYMEN: The oldest of the States has called together this great concourse of her sons and her daughters, with honored representatives of both the late contending sections of our common country. On this day, abounding with stern memories of the past and great auguries of the future, I come to greet you; and, in the name and by authority of Virginia, I bid you all and each welcome, a heart-warm welcome, to her capital.

With a mother's tears and love, with ceremonies to be chronicled in her archives and transmitted to the latest posterity, the Commonwealth this day emblazons the virtues, and consecrates in enduring bronze the image, of her mighty dead. Not for herself alone, but for the sister States whose sons he led in war, Virginia accepts and she will proudly preserve the sacred trust now consigned to her perpetual custody. Not for the Southern people only, but for every citizen of whatever section of the American Republic, this tribute to illustrious virtue and genius is transmitted to the coming ages, to be cherished, as it will be with national pride, as one of the noblest memorials of a common heritage of glory. Nay, in every country and for all mankind, Stonewall Jackson's career of unconscious heroism will go down as an inspira

tion, teaching the power of courage and conscience and faith directed to the glory of God.

As this tribute has sprung from the admiration and sympathy of kindred hearts in another continent; as the eyes of Christendom have been turned to behold the achievements of the man, so will the heroic life here enshrined radiate back, to the remotest bounds of the world, the lessons its example has taught.

It speaks to our fellow-citizens of the North, and, reviving no animosities of the bloody past, it commands their respect for the valor, the manhood, the integrity, and honor, of the people of whom this Christian warrior was a representative type and champion.

It speaks to our stricken brethren of the South, bringing back HIS sublime simplicity and faith, HIS knightly and incorruptible fidelity to each engagement of duty; and it stands an enduring admonition and guarantee that sooner shall the sun reverse its course in the heavens than HIS comrades and HIS compatriot people shall prove recreant to the parole and contract of honor which binds them, in the fealty of freemen, to the Constitution and union of the States.

It speaks with equal voice to every portion of the reunited common country, warning all that impartial justice and impartial right, to the North and to the South, are the only pillars on which the arch of the Federal Union can securely rest.

It represents that unbought spirit of honor which prefers death to degra dation, and more feels a stain than a wound; which is the stern nurse of freemen, the avenging genius of liberty, and which teaches and proclaims that the free consent of the governed is at once the strength and the glory of the government.

It stands forth a mute protest before the world against that rule of tyrants which, wanting faith in the instincts of honor, would distrust and degrade a brave and proud but unfortunate people, which would bid them repent, in order to be forgiven, of such deeds and achievements as heroes rejoice to perform, and such as the admiration of mankind in every age has covered with glory.

Let the spirit and design, with which we erect this memorial to-day, admonish our whole country that the actual reconciliation of the States must come, and, so far as honorably in us lies, shall come; but that its work will never be complete until the equal honor and equal liberties of each section shall be acknowledged, vindicated, and maintained, by both. We have buried the strifes and passions of the past; we now perpetuate impartial honor to whom honor is due, and, stooping to resent no criticism, we stand with composure and trust ready to greet every token of just and constitutional pacification.

Then let this statue endure, attesting to the world for us and our children, honor, homage, reverence for the heroism of our past, and at the same time the knightliest fidelity to our obligations of the present and the future.

Let it endure as a symbol of the respect which both the sections will accord to the illustrious dead of each, signifying, not that either will ever be prepared to apologize to the other, but that, while calmly differing as to the past, neither will defile its record, each will assert its manhood, its rectitude and its honor, and both will equally and jointly strive to consolidate the liberty and the peace, the strength and the glory, of a common and indissoluble country.

Let it endure as a perpetual expression of that world-wide sympathy with true greatness which prompted so noble a gift from Great Britain to Virginia; and let its preservation attest the gratitude of the Commonwealth to those great-hearted gentlemen of England who originated and procured it as a tribute to the memory of her son.

Let this statue stand, with its mute eloquence to inspire our children with patriotic fervor, and to maintain the prolific power of the Commonwealth in bringing forth men as of old. Let Virginia, beholding her past in the light of this event, take heart and rejoice in her future. Mother of States and sages and heroes! bowed in sorrow, with bosom bruised and wounded, with garments rent and rolled in blood, arise and dash away all tears! No stain dims your glittering escutcheon! Let your brow be lifted up with the glad consciousness of unbroken pride and unsullied honor! Demand and resume complete possession of your ancient place in the sisterhood of States; and go forward to the great destiny which, in virtue of the older and the later days, belongs to the co-sovereign Commonwealth of Virginia.

It is in no spirit of mourning, it is with the stern joy and pride befitting this day of heroic memories, that I inaugurate these ceremonies in the name of the people.

The culogist of the dead, the orator of the day, now claims your attention. He needs no encomium from me. I present him, the companion and friend of Jackson, the reverend man of God-MOSES D. HOGE.

ORATION BY REV. MOSes d. hoge, D. D.

Were I permitted at this moment to consult my own wishes, I would bid the thunder of the cannon and the acclamations of the people announce the unveiling of the statue; and then, when, with hearts beating with commingled emotions of love and grief and admiration, we had contemplated this last and noblest creation of the genius of the great sculptor, the ceremonies of this august hour should end.

In attempting to commence my oration, I am forcibly reminded of the faltering words with which Bossuet began his splendid eulogy on the Prince of Condé. Said he: "At the moment I open my lips to celebrate the immortal glory of the Prince of Condé I find myself equally overwhelmed by the greatness of the theme and the needlessness of the task. What part of the habitable world has not heard of his victories, and the wonders of his life? Everywhere they are rehearsed. His own countrymen in extolling them can give no information even to the stranger. And although I may remind you of them, yet every thing I could say would be anticipated by your thoughts and I should suffer the reproach of falling far below them."

How true is all this to-day! Not only is every important event in the life of our illustrious chieftain familiar to you all, but what lesson to be derived from his example has not already been impressively enforced by those whose genius, patriotism, and piety, have qualifed them to speak in terms worthy of their noble theme? And now that the statesman and soldier, who well represents the honor of Virginia, as its chief magistrate, has given his warm and earnest welcome to our distinguished guests from other States, and from other lands, who honor this occasion by their presence, I would not venture to proceed had not the Commonwealth laid on me its command to utter some words of greeting to my fellow-countrymen who this day do honor to themselves in rendering homage to the memory of Virginia's illustrious son.

I cannot repress an emotion of awe as I vainly attempt to overlook the mighty throng, extending as it does beyond the limits of these Capitol grounds, and covering spaces which cannot even be reached by the eye of the speaker. More impressive is this assemblage of citizens and representatives from all parts of our own and of foreign lands, than ever gathered on the banks of the ancient Alpheus at one of the solemnities which united the men of all the Grecian states and attracted strangers from the most distant countries. There was indeed one pleasing feature in the old Hellenic festivals. The entire territory around Olympia was consecrated to peace during their celebration, and there even enemies might meet as friends and brothers, and in harmony rejoice in their ancestral glories and national renown. It is so with us to-day. But how deficient in moral interest was the old Olympiad, and how wanting in one feature which gives grace to our solemnity! No citizen, no stranger, however honored, was permitted to bring with him either mother, wife, or daughter, but here to-day how many of the noble women of the land, of whom the fabled Alcestis, Antigone, and Iphigenia, were but the imperfect types, lend the charm of their presence to the scene-Christian women of a nobler civilization than pagan antiquity ever knew!

We have come from the sea-shore, the mountains, and the valleys of our South-land, not only to inaugurate a statue, but a new era in our history.