do not know any man in the world better prepared to address you on
the subject of my toast, "The Debt Each Part of the Country Owes the
Other," than myself, for I married a lady from the North. She
represented in her person the blood both of Virginia and of New England.
Her mother was a Virginian and her father a gentleman from New
Hampshire; consequently, as I have two young daughters, who always
declare themselves Yankees, I am here to speak with due gratitude to
both sections, and with strong feeling for both sections to-night.

It seems to me that the two sections which we have all heard talked
about so much in the past, have been gradually merging into one, and
Heaven knows I hope there may never be but one again. In the nature of
things it was impossible at first that there could be only one, but of
late the one great wall that divided them has passed away, and, standing
here facing you to-night, I feel precisely as I should if I were
standing facing an audience of my own dear Virginians. There is no
longer division among us. They say that the South became reconciled and
showed its loyalty to the Union first at the time of the war with Spain.
It is not true; the South became reconciled and showed its loyalty to
the Union after Appomattox. When Lee laid down his arms and accepted the
terms of the magnanimous Grant, the South rallied behind him, and he
went to teach peace and amity and union to his scholars at Lexington, to
the sons of his old soldiers. It is my pride that I was one of the
pupils at that university, which bears the doubly-honored names of
Washington and Lee. He taught us only fealty to the Union and to the
flag of the Union. He taught us also that we should never forget the
flag under which our fathers fought during the Civil War. With it are
embalmed the tears, the holy memories that cluster thick around our
hearts, and I should be unworthy to stand and talk to you to-night as an
honorable man if I did not hold in deepest reverence that flag that
represented the spirit that actuated our fathers. It stood for the
principles of liberty, and, strange as it may seem, both sides, though
fighting under different banners, fought for the same principles seen
from different sides. It has not interfered with our loyalty to the
Union since that flag was furled.

I do not, however, mean to drift into that line of thought. I do not
think that it is really in place here to-night, but I want you to know
how we f