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diff --git a/16822-h/16822-h.htm b/16822-h/16822-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a2e0b80 --- /dev/null +++ b/16822-h/16822-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,4237 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Memorial Addresses on the Life and Character of William H. F. Lee (A Representative from Virginia) + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + .pagenum {position: absolute; left: 92%; font-size: 0.7em; color: gray; text-align: right;} /* page numbers */ + + .center {text-align: center;} + .right {text-align: right;} + .right5 {text-align: right; margin-right: 5em;} + .right7 {text-align: right; margin-right: 7em;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i11 {display: block; margin-left: 11em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i8 {display: block; margin-left: 8em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i6 {display: block; margin-left: 6em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Memorial Addresses on the Life and +Character of William H. F. Lee (A Representative from Virginia), by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Memorial Addresses on the Life and Character of William H. F. Lee (A Representative from Virginia) + Delivered in the House of Representatives and in the Senate, + Fifty-Second Congress, First Session + +Author: Various + +Release Date: October 8, 2005 [EBook #16822] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MEMORIAL ADDRESSES ON THE *** + + + + +Produced by Barbara Tozier, Sigal Alon and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 513px;"> +<img src="images/image1.png" width="513" height="587" alt="Hon. W.H.F. Lee." title="Hon. W.H.F. Lee." /> +</div> + +<h2>MEMORIAL ADDRESSES</h2> + +<h5>ON THE</h5> + +<h3>LIFE AND CHARACTER</h3> + +<h5>OF</h5> + +<h1>WILLIAM H. F. LEE,</h1> + +<h4>(A REPRESENTATIVE FROM VIRGINIA.)</h4> + +<h5>DELIVERED IN THE</h5> + +<h4><span class="smcap">House of Representatives and in the Senate</span>,</h4> + +<h5>FIFTY-SECOND CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION.<br /><br /><br /></h5> + +<h5>PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF CONGRESS.<br /><br /><br /></h5> + +<h5>WASHINGTON: <br /> +GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. <br /> +1892 +</h5> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<table summary="This table helps format the book's table of contents"> +<tr><td><a href="#PROCEEDINGS_IN_THE_HOUSE_OF_REPRESENTATIVES"><b>Proceedings in The House Of Representatives.</b></a><br /></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#Address_of_Mr_Meredith_of_Virginia"><b>Address of Mr. Meredith, of Virginia.</b></a><br /></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#Address_of_Mr_Edmunds_of_Virginia"><b>Address of Mr. Edmunds, of Virginia.</b></a><br /></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#Address_of_Mr_Tucker_of_Virginia"><b>Address of Mr. Tucker, of Virginia.</b></a><br /></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#Address_of_Mr_OFerrall_of_Virginia"><b>Address of Mr. O'Ferrall, of Virginia.</b></a><br /></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#Address_of_Mr_Wise_of_Virginia"><b>Address of Mr. Wise, of Virginia.</b></a><br /></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#Address_of_Mr_Herbert_of_Alabama"><b>Address of Mr. Herbert, of Alabama.</b></a><br /></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#Address_of_Mr_Hermann_of_Oregon"><b>Address of Mr. Hermann, of Oregon.</b></a><br /></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#Address_of_Mr_Washington_of_Tennessee"><b>Address of Mr. Washington, of Tennessee.</b></a><br /></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#Address_of_Mr_Henderson_of_Illinois"><b>Address of Mr. Henderson, of Illinois.</b></a><br /></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#Address_of_Mr_Chipman_of_Michigan"><b>Address of Mr. Chipman, of Michigan.</b></a><br /></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#Address_of_Mr_Wilson_of_West_Virginia"><b>Address of Mr. Wilson, of West Virginia.</b></a><br /></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#Address_of_Mr_Cummings_of_New_York"><b>Address of Mr. Cummings, of New York.</b></a><br /></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#Address_of_Mr_Cowles_of_North_Carolina"><b>Address of Mr. Cowles, of North Carolina.</b></a><br /></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#Address_of_Mr_Breckinridge_of_Kentucky"><b>Address of Mr. Breckinridge, of Kentucky.</b></a><br /></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#PROCEEDINGS_IN_THE_SENATE"><b><br />Proceedings in The Senate.</b></a><br /></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#Address_of_Mr_Barbour_of_Virginia"><b>Address of Mr. Barbour, of Virginia.</b></a><br /></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#Address_of_Mr_Pasco_of_Florida"><b>Address of Mr. Pasco, of Florida.</b></a><br /></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#Address_of_Mr_Stewart_of_Nevada"><b>Address of Mr. Stewart, of Nevada.</b></a><br /></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#Address_of_Mr_Colquitt_of_Georgia"><b>Address of Mr. Colquitt, of Georgia.</b></a><br /></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#Address_of_Mr_Butler_of_South_Carolina"><b>Address of Mr. Butler, of South Carolina.</b></a><br /></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#Address_of_Mr_Dolph_of_Oregon"><b>Address of Mr. Dolph, of Oregon.</b></a><br /></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#Address_of_Mr_Daniel_of_Virginia"><b>Address of Mr. Daniel, of Virginia.</b></a><br /></td></tr> +</table> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'>[2]<a name="Page_2" id="Page_2"></a></span></p> +<div class="blockquot"><p><i>Resolved by the House of Representatives</i> (<i>the Senate concurring</i>), That there be +printed of the eulogies delivered in Congress upon the Hon. <span class="smcap">W.H.F. Lee</span>, late a +Representative from the State of Virginia, eight thousand copies, of which number +two thousand copies shall be delivered to the Senators and Representatives of the +State of Virginia, which shall include fifty copies to be bound in full morocco, to be +delivered to the family of the deceased, and of those remaining two thousand shall +be for the use of the Senate and four thousand for the use of the House of Representatives; +and the Secretary of the Treasury is directed to have engraved and printed a +portrait of the said <span class="smcap">W.H.F. Lee</span> to accompany the said eulogies.</p> + +<p>Agreed to in the House of Representatives March 23, 1892.</p> + +<p>Agreed to in the Senate March 22, 1892.</p></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'>[3]<a name="Page_3" id="Page_3"></a></span></p> +<h2><a name="PROCEEDINGS_IN_THE_HOUSE_OF_REPRESENTATIVES" id="PROCEEDINGS_IN_THE_HOUSE_OF_REPRESENTATIVES"></a>PROCEEDINGS IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.</h2> + + +<h3>ANNOUNCEMENT OF DEATH.</h3> + +<p class="right"> +<span class="smcap">December</span> 23, 1891.<br /> +</p> + +<p>Mr. <span class="smcap">Meredith</span>, of Virginia: Mr. Speaker, I rise to make +the painful announcement to the House of the death of Hon. +<span class="smcap">William H.F. Lee</span>, a Representative in the Fiftieth and +Fifty-first Congresses of the United States and a Representative-elect +to the Fifty-second Congress.</p> + +<p>He died at his home, in Fairfax County, Va., on the 15th day +of October last, after a lingering illness. Later in the session +I shall ask this House to fix a day when his colleagues and +friends can do justice to his memory and express their appreciation +of his high character.</p> + +<p>It is only meet and fitting on this occasion that I should say +that in the death of Gen. <span class="smcap">Lee</span> the State of Virginia has lost +the services of one of her most chivalrous and noble sons, and +the district he so well represented a faithful guardian of the +interests of all its people.</p> + +<p>I send to the desk and ask the adoption of these resolutions:</p><p><span class='pagenum'>[4]<a name="Page_4" id="Page_4"></a></span></p> + +<p>The Clerk read as follows:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><i>Resolved</i>, That the House has heard with deep regret and profound sorrow of the +death of Hon. <span class="smcap">W.H.F. Lee</span>, a Representative from the State of Virginia.</p> + +<p><i>Resolved</i>, That the Clerk be directed to communicate a copy of these resolutions to +the Senate.</p> + +<p><i>Resolved</i>, That as a further mark of respect the House do now adjourn.</p></div> + +<p>The resolutions were unanimously agreed to.</p> + +<p>And accordingly (at 12 o'clock and 37 minutes p.m.) the +House adjourned until Tuesday, the 5th day of January next.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'>[5]<a name="Page_5" id="Page_5"></a></span></p> +<h2><a name="EULOGIES" id="EULOGIES"></a>EULOGIES.</h2> + + +<p class="right5"> +<span class="smcap">February</span> 6, 1892.<br /> +</p> + +<p>The <span class="smcap">Speaker</span>. The Clerk will report the special order.</p> + +<p>The Clerk read as follows:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><i>Resolved</i>, That Saturday, February 6, beginning at 1 o'clock afternoon, be set apart +for paying tribute to the memory of Hon. <span class="smcap">William Henry Fitzhugh Lee</span>, late a +member of the House of Representatives from the Eighth district of the State of Virginia.</p></div> + +<p>Mr. <span class="smcap">Meredith</span>. Mr. Speaker, I offer the resolutions which +I send to the desk.</p> + +<p>The resolutions were read, as follows:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><i>Resolved</i>, That the business of the House be now suspended, that opportunity be +given for tributes to the memory of Hon. <span class="smcap">William Henry Fitzhugh Lee</span>, late a +Representative from the State of Virginia.</p> + +<p><i>Resolved</i>, As a further mark of respect to the memory of the deceased, and in recognition +of his eminent ability and distinguished public services, that the House, at the +conclusion of these memorial proceedings, shall stand adjourned.</p> + +<p><i>Resolved</i>, That the Clerk communicate these resolutions to the Senate.</p></div> + +<p>The resolutions were adopted.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'>[6]<a name="Page_6" id="Page_6"></a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Address_of_Mr_Meredith_of_Virginia" id="Address_of_Mr_Meredith_of_Virginia"></a><span class="smcap">Address of Mr. Meredith, of Virginia</span>.</h2> + + +<p>Mr. <span class="smcap">Speaker</span>: This day having been set apart for the purpose +of paying a last tribute to the memory of one who so lately +was a loved and honored member of this House, I shall, in the +brief remarks which I propose to make, attempt nothing but a +plain and truthful narrative of some of the characteristics and +public services of a Christian gentleman, who in my judgment +measured fully up to that standard which makes man the +noblest work of God.</p> + +<p>On the 15th day of October, 1891, at Ravensworth, his beautiful +home in Fairfax County, Va., surrounded by those loved +ones whose constant care and tender nursing had done all that +human power could do to stay the hand of the fell Destroyer, +all that was mortal of Hon. <span class="smcap">William Henry Fitzhugh Lee</span> +passed from this earth, and his noble spirit returned to the God +who gave it.</p> + +<p>If the earnest supplications to Almighty God, offered by the +good people of his native State upon their bended knees night +and morning, during the period of his lingering illness, could +have availed, he would have been restored to health and usefulness, +and these melancholy proceedings postponed for many +a long year.</p> + +<p>The great sorrow which made the heart of Virginia heavy +and bowed in grief the heads of her true sons and daughters +when the sad intelligence of his death was flashed over the electric +wires was more genuinely spontaneous than were the loud +lamentations of the Roman populace (so graphically described +<span class='pagenum'>[7]<a name="Page_7" id="Page_7"></a></span>by Tacitus) when they beheld the widow of Germanicus, with +her weeping children entering the gates of the imperial city. +Nor was this sorrow confined to those of his own political +faith. Men of all parties vied with each other in their expressions +of regret at his death and in their sympathy for his +bereaved family.</p> + +<p>The blameless life he had led, his high character, his gentle +and unassuming manners, won for him not only the respect but +the admiration of all with whom he came in contact.</p> + +<p>As gentle as a child and as tender as a woman, with the +courage of a hero and a faith that never faltered, he proved +himself a worthy descendant of that race of famous men from +whom he sprang, and most worthily bore a name which will +be honored as long as a liberty-loving people shall find a dwelling +place upon the earth.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">William H.F. Lee</span> was the son of Gen. Robert E. Lee, and +was born at Arlington, on the 31st day of May, 1837.</p> + +<p>He was educated at Harvard, where he ranked not only as a +good scholar, but on account of his splendid size and strength +became quite famous in athletics, being "stroke oar" of the +University Rowing Club.</p> + +<p>His great ambition was to follow the profession of his father +and to go to West Point; but having had an older brother there, +that fact was considered in those days an insuperable obstacle. +While still at Harvard, completing his education, he was, +through the interest taken in him by Gen. Winfield Scott, who +made the request as a special and personal favor to himself, +appointed in 1857 a second lieutenant in the Sixth Regiment, +United States Infantry, and inaugurated his military career by +taking a detachment of troops to Texas by sea and then by land +up the country to San Antonio.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'>[8]<a name="Page_8" id="Page_8"></a></span>In 1858 he accompanied his regiment, under the command of +Col. Albert Sidney Johnston, in the expedition to Utah against +the Mormons, taking an active part in that campaign, marching +from Fort Leavenworth to Salt Lake City, and then, when the +troubles were quelled there, traveling on foot to Fort Benicia, +Cal. While on the Pacific coast he received a letter from his +father, written January 1, 1859, in which he said:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>I can not express the gratification I felt in meeting Col. May in New York, and at +the encomiums he passed upon your soldiership, zeal, and devotion to your duty. But I +was more pleased at the report of your conduct. I always thought and said there was +stuff in you for a good soldier, and I trust you will prove it.</p></div> + +<p>Resigning his commission in the Army, he came home to be +married to his cousin, a Miss Wickham, and settled down as a +farmer at the "White House" (where Washington met Martha +Custis and was married), a large estate on the Pamunkey River, +left him by his maternal grandfather, G.W. Park Custis, of +Arlington.</p> + +<p>When that irrepressible conflict of 1861 was upon us, and Virginia +called upon her sons to defend her soil, he, sharing the +faith of his fathers, in the belief that his allegiance was due to +his State, quickly raised a company of cavalry, and was attached +to the Army of Northern Virginia. Serving in every grade successively +from captain to major-general of cavalry, he led his +regiment in the famous raid around McClellan's army, and was +an active participant in all those brilliant achievements which +made the cavalry service so proficient.</p> + +<p>In that terrific fight which occurred at Brandy Station, in June, +1863, he was most severely wounded, and taken to the residence +of Gen. William C. Wickham, in Hanover County, where he was +made a prisoner by a raiding party, and was carried off, at the +expense of great personal suffering, to Fort Monroe. From the +latter place he was conveyed to Fort Lafayette, where he was +<span class='pagenum'>[9]<a name="Page_9" id="Page_9"></a></span>confined until March, 1864, and treated with great severity, being +held, with Capt. R.H. Tyler, of the Eighth Virginia Regiment, +under sentence of death, as hostages for two Federal officers who +were prisoners in Richmond, and whom it was thought would +be executed for some retaliatory measure.</p> + +<p>Exchanged in the spring of 1864, he returned, to find his young +wife and children dead, his beautiful home burned to the ground, +his whole estate devastated and laid waste by the ruthless hand +of war; and yet almost his first act on reaching Richmond was +to go to Libby Prison, visit the two Federal officers for whom +he had been held as hostage, and who, like himself, had been +under apprehension of being hung, and shake hands with and +congratulate them.</p> + +<p>Immediately joining his command, he led his division in +every engagement from the Rapidan to Appomattox, where, +with his father, the greatest soldier of modern times, he surrendered +to the inevitable.</p> + +<p>In a letter written by one of the most brilliant cavalry generals +of the late war, in speaking of Gen. <span class="smcap">W.H.F. Lee</span>, he +uses this language:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>He was a zealous, conscientious, brave, and intelligent soldier, who fully discharged +all of his duties. He was one of those safe, sound, judicious officers, and you always +felt when you sent instructions to him that they were going to be obeyed promptly and +to the letter.</p></div> + +<p>What greater tribute could be paid a soldier?</p> + +<p>Having been married to one of the most accomplished ladies +in Virginia, Miss Bolling, of Petersburg (who, with two sons, +survives him) he removed in 1874 to Ravensworth, and was +the next year elected to the senate of Virginia, where he made +an honorable record.</p> + +<p>He was elected to the Fiftieth and Fifty-first Congresses, and +served his State with that fidelity which had characterized his +<span class='pagenum'>[10]<a name="Page_10" id="Page_10"></a></span>every act through life—faithful, conscientious, and painstaking—ever +alert to the interests of his constituents and seeking +only how he could serve them.</p> + +<p>He was again reëlected to the Fifty-second Congress, and +though by the will of Divine Providence he was not permitted +to take his seat, he will ever be held in grateful remembrance +by his late constituents, and when the long roll of Virginia's +noble and heroic dead is called, the name of <span class="smcap">William H. Fitzhugh +Lee</span> will be mourned by his mother Commonwealth as +one of her noblest and truest sons.</p> + +<p>In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, I shall read, as the most fitting +tribute I have seen, an editorial from the Alexandria Gazette +written the day after the death of Gen. <span class="smcap">Lee</span>:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Gen. <span class="smcap">William Henry Fitzhugh Lee</span>, second son of Gen. Robert Edward Lee, is +dead. The bells here tolled late yesterday evening. A few hours before the general +had crossed over the river and was at rest under his roof tree at Ravensworth, the +southern sun lighted his deathbed and the autumn breeze sang his requiem. Afterlife's +fitful fever he sleeps well. He was sick a long time, and as his disease was incurable, +death was a relief. No more pain for him now, but the long and peaceful sleep of the +just. His sorrowing family were at his bedside, but he told them not good-bye, preferring +to greet them when they shall rejoin him in a better world. His death is regretted +by all the many who knew him; the more so by those who knew him well.</p> + +<p>Gen. <span class="smcap">Lee</span>, like his father, was naturally quiet and retiring, and in his intercourse +with others, when right and principle were not involved, invariably acted in accordance +with the rule of <i>noblesse oblige</i>, but when they were involved he was as firm in support +of his convictions as any other man could be. He stood foursquare to all the +winds that blow, but always with the propriety that characterizes the perfect gentleman. +He did his duty to his God, his family, his State, and his country, and did it well, and +executed faithfully all the trusts committed to him in both military and civil life. He +liked the old manners and customs of Virginia, but tried to conform to the new order +of things with becoming grace, and did so with no audible complaint and no useless +repinings. He served his State efficiently in her senate and in the national Congress, +and in the Confederate army he filled, by merited promotion, every position from captain +up to major-general of cavalry. It was different once, but Virginia can ill-afford +to part with such a man now, and in his death, as in that of his illustrious father, she +has lost a true and gallant son, who when not on duty was as gentle as a woman. +Her fame has been increased by having had such a son. May she have many more; +like him.</p></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'>[11]<a name="Page_11" id="Page_11"></a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Address_of_Mr_Edmunds_of_Virginia" id="Address_of_Mr_Edmunds_of_Virginia"></a><span class="smcap">Address of Mr. Edmunds, of Virginia</span>.</h2> + + +<p>Mr. <span class="smcap">Speaker</span>: It is not my purpose to attempt any extended +remarks upon the life and character of Gen. <span class="smcap">William H.F. +Lee</span>, late a Representative from the Eighth Congressional district +of Virginia, yet I can not permit this occasion to pass and +my hand and heart to fail to pay my humble tribute to his +memory. Gen. <span class="smcap">Lee</span>'s life had been spent after manhood in +arms or as a tiller of the soil. In early life he saw military +service as lieutenant in the Sixth Regiment, United States Infantry, +and was with Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston in the expedition +in 1858 against the Mormons.</p> + +<p>Resigning from the Army, he returned to his native State of +Virginia and engaged in the pursuit of agriculture. Early in +the late civil struggle he raised a cavalry company, and rose +from the position of company commander to that of major-general, +and followed the cause in which he had enlisted until +the end at Appomattox. There two great military chieftains +met, and one, his illustrious father, gave up to the other his +sword and the mutilated remnant of an army which had fought +with the utmost bravery and fortitude under a leader of unsurpassed +skill and fidelity.</p> + +<p>Gen. <span class="smcap">Lee</span>, after the struggle had ended, resuming his citizenship +in peace, returned to his farm and occupation of agriculture.</p> + +<p>He was elected by his people from his senatorial district +to the legislature. He served one term in the senate of Virginia +and declined a renomination. He was afterwards elected +from the Eighth Congressional district of his State to the Fiftieth +<span class='pagenum'>[12]<a name="Page_12" id="Page_12"></a></span>and Fifty-first Congresses and again returned by his +constituency to the present Congress; but the hand of death +interposed, and he did not live to again take his seat in this +legislative hall.</p> + +<p>The name of Lee, Mr. Speaker, has been an illustrious one +in Virginia. No one can with safety challenge the assertion +that that old Commonwealth has furnished, from the time of +the Revolution, as many great men, in peace and in war, as +any of the States of our Union. When the foundations of this +great Republic were laid and constitutional principles evolved, +whether the sword of the warrior or the mind and philosophy +of the statesman were needed, you will find the marks and +handiwork of some son of that State.</p> + +<p>Among those great men the ancestry of Gen. <span class="smcap">Lee</span> were conspicuous. +He inherited from his great father a disposition +that was frank, manly, and chivalrous. Although with these +distinguished surroundings, Gen. <span class="smcap">Lee</span> had no undue pride, +reserve, or self-assertion. His nature, on the contrary, was +eminently amiable, generous, and sympathetic, and at the same +time he was dignified, manly, brave, and ever courteous.</p> + +<p>Identified with the agricultural interests of his State, at one +time president of the State society, and himself a practical and +successful farmer and proud of his occupation, he mingled +freely and congenially with that great class of our citizens upon +whose shoulders repose in great measure the preservation and +safety of the institutions of our common country. While he +was especially devoted to the interests of the farmer, he was +essentially a patriot, and loved his State and all its diverse +interests with an enthusiastic devotion and yearned for her +prosperity.</p> + +<p>He was a faithful, able, and vigilant Representative, and had +<span class='pagenum'>[13]<a name="Page_13" id="Page_13"></a></span>in the greatest degree the confidence of his constituents and +the people of his entire State. No one who ever knew him +could fail to implicitly trust him. His State has lost a pure +and noble son; the country a wise, conservative, and faithful +Representative. We who knew him here can recall his manly +robust form, his genial kindly face, his frank accessible address, +his unfailing gentleness of manner, his cheerful friendly +voice, as he walked along the aisles of this Hall.</p> + +<p>A man of his character and bearing could but wield an influence +for good wherever his presence was.</p> + +<p>In a republic, where the people are the state, the advice, the +suggestions, and the example of a citizen so high-minded and +incorruptible are of great value not only in the councils of +the nation, but in the everyday walks and details of life, in his +beautiful rural home, surrounded by and mingling with his +country people; and it was ever the pleasure and practice of +Gen. <span class="smcap">Lee</span> to associate freely and unrestrainedly with the great +body of the people. His generous and noble heart had a sympathetic +touch with them and their struggles, their callings, +their work.</p> + +<p>But he has passed from us under the decree of the great +Master to the great hereafter, leaving the record of a life of +singular purity, directness of purpose, and freedom from guile; +the record of a character unblurred, untarnished, unshadowed +by the least stain; the record of a man high, noble, honorable, +faithful to all the duties and relations of life.</p> + +<p>Mr. Speaker, Virginia, one of the oldest of the Commonwealths, +within whose borders lie the remains of many great +names, and the energies and reserved forces of whose people in +times gone by have risen to great heights, receives to her +bosom her dead son and bows with sincere grief over his +<span class='pagenum'>[14]<a name="Page_14" id="Page_14"></a></span>grave; for to her, whether her hand wore the mailed gauntlet +or followed the gentler pursuits of peace, he had ever been +faithful, loyal, and true.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Address_of_Mr_Tucker_of_Virginia" id="Address_of_Mr_Tucker_of_Virginia"></a><span class="smcap">Address of Mr. Tucker, of Virginia.</span></h2> + + +<p>Mr. <span class="smcap">Speaker</span>: I shall leave to others the task of portraying +the life of Gen. <span class="smcap">Lee</span> in its diversified pursuits, and shall content +myself with the effort of giving to the House my conception of +some of the characteristics of our deceased friend which made +him throughout his life, wherever placed, a conspicuous actor +in private and public affairs.</p> + +<p>In the early period of Virginia's history lived William Randolph, +of Turkey Island (a plantation some 15 or 20 miles +from the city of Richmond, near the scene of the terrific +battle of Malvern Hill). He was the ancestor of all of that +name in Virginia, and from him was descended in direct line +Thomas Jefferson, John Marshall, and Robert E. Lee; the last-named +the father of our departed friend. How could <i>he</i> have +manifested in his life less patriotism, justice, and courage with +such exemplars of these virtues ever before him?</p> + +<p>His mother, as is well known, was a descendant from the +wife of Gen. Washington by her prior marriage with John +Parke Custis. Sprung from such a lineage; trained in a +school where the amenities of life as well as "the humanities" +were taught in their highest excellence, he practiced from his +earliest childhood a scrupulous regard for the rights and feelings +of others, and an indulgence to all faults except his own.</p> + +<p>With a self-control and equipoise which were never disturbed +under the most trying circumstances, and a graciousness +<span class='pagenum'>[15]<a name="Page_15" id="Page_15"></a></span>of manner which broke down all barriers, giving to the +humblest as well as to the highest the assurance of his friendly +consideration, and a mind well disciplined by education in the +highest schools, it was impossible that he could have been +other than a man of mark and influence in his State.</p> + +<p>It is not claiming too much to say that Gen. <span class="smcap">Lee</span> was the +natural product of the civilization existing in Virginia during +his boyhood and early manhood, which, alas, except here and +there in certain localities, is fast passing away. The home, +not the club, was its center; the family, not each "new-hatched, +unfledged comrade," its unit. The father was the <i>head</i> of the +family, not the joint tenant with the wife of a house nor the +tenant at will of his wife. The wife and the mother was the +queen of the household, not merely a housekeeper for a husband +and the family. Obedience to those in authority was the +first lesson exacted of the boy. Inculcated with tenderness, it +was enforced with severity, if need be, until the word of the +father or the expressed wish of the mother carried with it the +force of law as completely as the decree of a court or the +mandate of a king.</p> + +<p>Reverence for superiors in age and deference to all, rather +than arrogant self-assertion, was magnified as a cardinal virtue, +not as teaching humility and enforcing a lack of proper self-respect, +but rather to exalt high ideals and stimulate an admiration +for "the true, the beautiful, and the good."</p> + +<p>Fidelity to truth, the maintenance of personal honor, deference +for the opinions and feelings of others, without abating +one's own or aggressively thrusting them on others; a kindliness +of manner to dependents, a knightly courtesy to all, but +with special and tender regard in thought, word, and action +toward woman, were in turn patiently taught in all the lessons +<span class='pagenum'>[16]<a name="Page_16" id="Page_16"></a></span>of the fireside and at the family altar, and earnestly insisted +upon in the formation of the character of a true gentleman. +"Any man will be polite to a beautiful young woman, but it +takes a gentleman to show the same respect to a homely old +woman" was the stinging rebuke of a father to his son who +failed to remove his hat in passing a forlorn old woman on the +public highway.</p> + +<p>The old-field school, the private tutor, the high school, whose +excellence in Virginia I can not praise too much, the college, +the university, led the young mind by easy stages to its full +intellectual maturity.</p> + +<p>Nowhere was the principle "<i>Sana mens in sano corpore</i>" +more scrupulously taught than in Virginia. The rod and +stream, the gun, the "hounds and horns," the chase, with the +music of the pack, the bounding steed, all lent their ready aid +in developing the physical manhood of the boy. In the pure +atmosphere of his country home, amid its broad fields and virgin +forests, contracted houses in narrow streets had no charms +for him. To join the chase was the first promotion to which +the boy looked as evidencing his permanent release from the +nursery. The gun and dog became his constant companions, +while "Old Betsey," his father's trusted double-barreled gun +of many years' usage, standing in the sitting-room corner or +hanging on stag-horns or dog-wood forks on the side of the +wall, was the eloquent subject of nightly rehearsals of her +prowess and power in the annual deer hunt "over the mountains." +Skill in horsemanship was essential, and breaking +colts was naturally followed by broken limbs; but manhood +found a race of trained horsemen, both graceful and skillful in +the saddle, unexcelled, I dare venture to assert, by any civilized +people. A child of nature, the Virginia boy communed with +<span class='pagenum'>[17]<a name="Page_17" id="Page_17"></a></span>her as his mother, and from her purest depths drew the richest +inspirations. To him no mountains were so blue as hers, no +streams so clear, no forests so enchanting, no homes so sweet.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">While others hailed in distant skies the glories of the Union<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He only saw the mountain bird stoop o'er his Old Dominion.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>How vividly the picture comes to me now (never to be +effaced) of a learned professor in one of Virginia's highest +schools, himself three-score years and ten, a soldier of two wars, +as he led the way through a quiet Virginia town on horseback, +followed by two sons, distinguished ministers of the gospel, and +they in turn by a younger son and the grandson of the leader, +with a goodly train of friends, amid the blasts of horns and +baying of hounds, who followed, eager for the chase among +the beautiful hills which surrounded the town of Lexington, +even as the mountains stand "round about Jerusalem."</p> + +<p>Religion—the duty of man to his Creator, not sectarianism—was +scrupulously taught, and Sunday morning found the family +alive in preparations for attending religious service at Zion or +Trinity, as it might happen to be the first or the fourth Sunday +of the month. From this duty none were exempt from the +least to the greatest. The pastor was the friend on whom all +troubles both temporal and spiritual were cast, and his visits +were long remembered and talked of in the life of each family. +Deference to his wishes and reverence for his character were +well-nigh universal.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">A man he was to all the country dear,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And passing rich with forty pounds a year;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Remote from towns he ran his godly race,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor e'er had changed, nor wished to change his place.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Unskillful he to fawn, or seek for power,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By doctrines fashioned to the varying hour;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Far other aims his heart had learned to prize,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">More bent to raise the wretched than to rise.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'>[18]<a name="Page_18" id="Page_18"></a></span>Such was the atmosphere in which our deceased friend was +reared. He was a trustee in the venerable institution of Washington +and Lee University at Lexington, Va., founded by Gen. +Washington, and presided over by Gen. Robert E. Lee during +the last years of his life; he was faithful to the trust, and ever +watchful of the best interests of the school. The loss sustained +by this institution in his death has been most fittingly expressed +in the appended minute of the faculty of the university, adopted +on the 19th of October, 1891:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>At a meeting of the faculty of Washington and Lee University, held October 19, +1891, the following minute was adopted:</p> + +<p>Upon the announcement of the death of Gen. <span class="smcap">W.H.F. Lee</span> the faculty of Washington +and Lee University unite in sorrowful sympathy with his family, bereaved of husband, +father, and brother; with the Commonwealth in the loss of a patriotic citizen; +and with the board of trustees of this university, of which he was an esteemed member.</p> + +<p>He was graduated at Harvard for the life of a civilian, but took a commission in the +United States Army as lieutenant, and served with fidelity to duty under Gen. Albert +Sidney Johnston in the Utah expedition of 1858.</p> + +<p>At its close he resigned and returned to his country home, where he continued to live +until 1861, when he entered the Confederate army, and, rising by rapid promotion to +the rank of major-general of cavalry, closed his efficient and faithful military career in +1865, when he again returned to country life, and died at the seat of his ancestors, at +Ravensworth, in Fairfax County.</p> + +<p>In the mean time his private life was interrupted by the voice of his people, which +called him to their service in the senate of Virginia and for three terms as their Representative +in Congress, two of which he completed, and left the vacancy in the third +by his untimely death.</p> + +<p>Truth, honor, and courage to do good and to resist evil, sincerity in all relations +and fidelity to all duty, were heirlooms of his race and lineage, which he kept and left +untarnished to his posterity.</p> + +<p>With a mind strong and vigorous, a judgment sound and well-poised, a calm and +self-contained temper, which impelled him to the right and restrained him from the +wrong, and a moral sense which guided and controlled his purposes and his actions +along the path of absolute rectitude, he lived a life adorned by noble virtues and filled +with noble deeds. Gentle but firm, decided, and fixed in his convictions, but respectful +and deferential to those of others, he was a model of all the splendid qualities +which make up the character of a courteous and Christian gentleman.</p> + +<p>In addition to all these natural gifts his convictions led him to the profession and +practice of a simple and genuine faith in the religion of Christ.</p> + +<p>After an honorable military and civil career, in the peace of God and in charity with +<span class='pagenum'>[19]<a name="Page_19" id="Page_19"></a></span>his fellow-men, this worthy son of an illustrious family died the death of the righteous +and in the hope of immortality through Him in whom he believed and trusted.</p> + +<p>The faculty therefore declare—</p> + +<p>That they have heard of the death of Gen. <span class="smcap">Lee</span> with deep sorrow, and mourn it as a +calamity to his family, his friends, his country, and to this university.</p> + +<p>That they tender to his family these expressions of their affectionate esteem for him +as a personal friend as well as for his service as a public man, and their sincere sympathy +with them in their peculiar and irreparable bereavement.</p> + +<p>A copy. Teste:</p></div> + +<p class="right"> +<span class="smcap right7">Jno. L. Campbell,</span><br /> +<span class="right5"><i>Clerk of the Faculty</i>.</span> +</p> + +<p>An intimate association with Gen. <span class="smcap">Lee</span> in the Fifty-first Congress +and as members of the board of trustees of Washington +and Lee University at Lexington, Va., and in private life, +enabled me to form a just estimate of his character and of those +personal qualities of head and heart that made him beloved by +all who really knew him. While they have been well expressed +in the foregoing minute, I may add from my own observations +a brief summary of his noble character. His mind was eminently +practical, and arrived at its conclusions more from an +unerring instinct of justice and common sense than through +the exacting processes of logic. His judgment was rarely at +fault, for his intellect was not swerved by passion or prejudice, +but was held in perfect equipoise to receive the truth on both +sides of every question. His deference to the opinions of others +and his caution in seeking the views of those on whose discretion +he relied suggested to some who did not know him that +he was hesitating in temperament. This was not true. He +sought all the light possible on every subject patiently and earnestly, +and when he arrived at his conclusion no man adhered +to it more tenaciously or enforced it more earnestly.</p> + +<p>As a speaker, Gen. <span class="smcap">Lee</span> possessed many of the attributes of +the orator, a gift inherited from his grandfather, Light-Horse +Harry Lee. He was graceful in delivery, persuasive in manner, +and forcible in argument.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'>[20]<a name="Page_20" id="Page_20"></a></span>His diction was pure, unpretentious, and simple. His +speeches were often embellished with references to ancient and +modern history and mythology with which he seemed to be +very familiar.</p> + +<p>Dutifulness, I believe, was the most prominent trait of his +character. It was the star by which his life was guided. Once +persuaded that a certain measure or a certain line of policy was +right, and he was unflinchingly firm in its support. No burden +was too heavy, no privation too severe, if only they were borne +along the path of duty.</p> + +<p>He exemplified in his life the noble utterance of his distinguished +father: "Duty is the sublimest word in the English +language."</p> + +<p>In politics he was a Democrat, but not a partisan, and he +firmly believed that the supremacy of his party was necessary +for the good of the country and the welfare of the people. His +patriotism was exalted, and his faith in the ultimate triumph +of the right never wavered.</p> + +<p>His manly appearance, his gracious but dignified manner, his +courtly bearing and pleasing conversation marked him as a gentleman +of the "old school," as one of nature's noblemen.</p> + +<p>Any sketch of Gen. <span class="smcap">Lee</span> would indeed be imperfect that failed +to mention his love for little children, and his friends will never +fail to recall the tender interest he always manifested in the children +of their families, especially in the youngest.</p> + +<p>His life, Mr. Speaker, was a truly noble one. It was on the +highest plane. His character had no spot or blemish upon it +that sweet charity would now consign to oblivion, but it was +robust, well-rounded, and symmetrical, open as day. His ambition +was not to attain but to deserve the praise of the good, and +that higher benediction, to be pronounced by the final Judge of +<span class='pagenum'>[21]<a name="Page_21" id="Page_21"></a></span>the world: "Well done, good and faithful servant; enter thou +into the joys of thy Lord."</p> + +<p>He was an earnest believer in the Christian faith. The abstruse +doctrines of the church formed no part of his creed. His +faith was in the Christ the Saviour of mankind; a faith which +illumined his pathway in life, lightening his burdens, exalting +his nature, and which sustained him without fear when he met +the last enemy of the race as he walked through "the valley of +the shadow of death." It was the faith of a little child—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i8">An assured belief<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That the procession of our fate, howe'er<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sad or disturbed, is ordered by a Being<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of infinite benevolence and power,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whose everlasting purposes embrace<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All accidents, converting them to good.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>His funeral and burial, Mr. Speaker, will never be forgotten +by those who witnessed it. The autumn sun was fast sinking +behind the bright curtain of the west, bathing "the mellow autumn +fields" of Old Virginia with its purple hues. Untrumpeted +by official authority, scores of friends from city, town, village, +farm, and cabin gathered at Ravensworth to pay the last +sad honor to their beloved friend. White and colored, rich and +poor, high and low, soldiers, citizens, and statesmen, all were +there.</p> + +<p>His body was borne from the house to the ivy-clad family +graveyard by the sturdy yeomanry of the neighborhood. In +the presence of that vast throng, with uncovered heads, his +comrades, who had followed him on many a hard-fought battlefield, +performed the last sad rites, and with their own hands +filled his grave and planted upon it the "immortelles" of their +affection and devotion. Faces that never blanched amid the +storm of battle paled; hearts that never quailed in the presence +<span class='pagenum'>[22]<a name="Page_22" id="Page_22"></a></span>of an enemy broke in the presence of the last enemy of us all, +and the silent, pitiless tear which fell from the eye was hidden +by the lengthening shadows of the evening, which were fast +gathering round the scene.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Beloved friend, farewell and hail!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Removed from sight, yet not afar,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Still through this earthly twilight veil<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Thou beamest down, a friendly star.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The prophet's blessing comes to thee,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The crown he holds to view is thine;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Forever more thy memory<br /></span> +<span class="i2">In heaven and in our hearts shall shine.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Address_of_Mr_OFerrall_of_Virginia" id="Address_of_Mr_OFerrall_of_Virginia"></a><span class="smcap">Address of Mr. O'Ferrall, of Virginia</span>.</h2> + + +<p>Mr. <span class="smcap">Speaker</span>: These occasions of tribute-offering in this +Hall never fail to impress me with extreme sadness, increase +my awe and reverence of Him who holds in the hollow of His +hand every moment we live and every breath we draw, and +teach me the lesson of our mortality.</p> + +<p>These scenes have become very familiar to me, and their +frequency reminds me with terrible force that—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">All that lives must die,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Passing through nature to eternity.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Most naturally am I more than usually touched and pained +by the death of him which now hangs its somber drapery +around the walls of our hearts and casts its pall over this Chamber. +It is a death within the representative circle of which I +am a member. It is the death of a colleague, a friend, whose +presence in that circle always brought sunshine and never +shadow.</p> + +<p>Tributes to his memory, clothed in language of beauty and +<span class='pagenum'>[23]<a name="Page_23" id="Page_23"></a></span>breathing with love and burning with pathos, have already +been paid, and others will follow; and now, while I can not +hope to charm with the tongue of eloquence or touch the soul +with the figures of rhetoric, I come with my tribute.</p> + +<p>It will be plain and unadorned, but it will at least have the +merit of sincerity, and, like the widow's mite, be all that I can +give.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">William Henry Fitzhugh Lee</span>, of Virginia, is no more.</p> + +<p>How the name of Lee, whenever uttered, wherever chivalry +has erected her altar, sends a thrill like an electric current +through every fiber of the manly man.</p> + +<p>How the name of Virginia has been upon every tongue since +Queen Elizabeth, nearly three centuries ago, gave that name +to that section around which to-day historic memories linger +and traditions and glories cluster as thick "as the stars in the +crown of night," the section where Christopher Newport and +his devoted followers "builded an altar unto the Lord and in +the savage wilderness" deposited the germ of this mighty nation, +"and where God blessed them as He blessed Noah and his +sons, saying unto them, 'The fear of you and the dread of you +shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl +of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all +the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered.'"</p> + +<p>Virginia! The land of legends and lays—the land where the +cradle of republican liberty was rocked, and where, in 1765, the +first denial was heard of the right of the British Parliament to +levy taxes upon the Colonies which kindled the fire of patriotic +fervor and led to the ever-living, soul-inspiring words of her +Henry and the raising up of her Jefferson to heights of imperishable +fame and her Washington to the pinnacle of everlasting +renown.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'>[24]<a name="Page_24" id="Page_24"></a></span>Virginia! The land of battlefields and battle gore, colonial +relics and Revolutionary monuments, spotless fame and unsullied +honor; the land of patriot soldiers and heroes, and of a +Yorktown, where the tyrant's head was bruised and the glorious +strife ended which struck from our fathers the fetters and gave +to them and their posterity a country gleaming in the golden +sunlight of republican liberty, and throwing wide open her +gates to the oppressed of every clime.</p> + +<p>Virginia! The land of mountains, upon whose summits and +in whose gorges the spirit of freedom roams unfettered and +unconquerable; the land of valleys, which are hung like +alcoved aisles with scenes of heroism and pictures of daring, +self-sacrifice, and devotion to principle; the land of rivers and +rivulets, which reflect like mirrors the fields upon which her +blood has been poured out like water upon the ground; the +land of zephyrs and breezes, and where the storm king sometimes +dwells, gently murmuring or in thunder tones proclaiming +her glories and her fame; the land of blue beautiful skies, +radiant with the virtues of her daughters and bespangled with +the deeds of her sons; the land of memorials of the past, that +inspire the Virginia youth, whether born in poverty or in +riches, reared in the cottage humble or in the mansion stately, +with a patriotism that knows not section and yet a State love +that knows not bounds.</p> + +<p>It was in this land that Richard Henry Lee, the fire and +splendor of whose eloquence burned like a hot iron into the +soul of tyranny, and Francis Lightfoot Lee, both of them +signers of the Declaration of Independence, were born; it was +in this land that Arthur Lee, through whose instrumentality +the Colonies secured the friendship and support of France, and +"Light-Horse Harry" Lee, whose legion following his plume, +<span class='pagenum'>[25]<a name="Page_25" id="Page_25"></a></span>struck the enemy in the bivouac, on the march, in the lurid +glare of battle, on the flank, and in the front like a thunderbolt +from the skies, were born. It was in this land that Robert +Edward Lee, whose services on the fields of Mexico decked +his brow with the warrior's laurel, and whose leadership of +the Confederate armies in the unfortunate strife between the +States made his name immortal, and whose virtues shine with +the brilliancy of a polished diamond, wreath his character +in moral grandeur, and draw pæans and praises from friend +and foe and from every clime where exalted manhood and a +spotless life find devotees, was born; and it was in this land +that <span class="smcap">William Henry Fitzhugh Lee</span>, whose memory we are +here to perpetuate, was born—all, all of the same lineage and +blood.</p> + +<p>What a line of illustrious and distinguished men of one +name for one State to produce. What a line of illustrious +men to spring from the old cavalier family that under the +reign of Charles I settled in the county of Northumberland, +between the waters of the Rappahannock and Potomac, since +glorified by the pen of the historian and the lyre of the poet.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">William Henry Fitzhugh Lee</span>! How sweet does that +name sound to me. What recollections does it awaken. How +quickly do I find my heart throbbing; how rapidly my blood +rushes through its channels.</p> + +<p>Less than a twelvemonth ago he sat in yon seat or moved +hither and thither about this Hall and along these passageways, +pausing here and there to speak a pleasant word or exchange +a friendly greeting. His tall and commanding person, +his open, frank, and benevolent face and courtly bearing +marked him among the membership of this House, and would +have marked him in any assemblage, whether in the glittering +<span class='pagenum'>[26]<a name="Page_26" id="Page_26"></a></span>splendor of royalty or in the plain dignity of our republican +institutions. To see him once was to remember him forever. +His image is as distinct before me this moment as if +he stood in the flesh with his eye beaming forth the goodness +of his nature and his hand outstretched, as was his wont, to +receive mine.</p> + +<p>Mr. Speaker, his illustrious father, when the shadows of +Appomattox closed round him, when the darkness of defeat +enveloped him, when his soul was rent and torn and his mind +was filled with anguish and his ragged and tired and worn veterans, +reduced to a mere thin skirmish line, the remnant of an +army that had shed unfading luster upon the American arms +and the American soldier, gathered with tear-moistened cheeks +about him to bid him farewell and receive his blessing, gave +utterance to a sentiment just quoted by my colleague [Mr. +<span class="smcap">Tucker</span>], a sentiment as grand and noble as was ever written +upon any Roman tablet or carved upon any column of enduring +marble that was ever reared in the flood light of glory:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Duty is the sublimest word in our language.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Yes, Mr. Speaker, thus spoke Robert Edward Lee, the soldier, +hero, Christian, and philanthropist: and when we come to study +the life and character of <span class="smcap">William Henry Fitzhugh Lee</span> we +are impressed with the fact that he took duty as his talismanic +word, that it was the star that guided him, and that he followed +it as faithfully as the "wise men" followed the Star from "the +East" to Jerusalem and thence to Bethlehem.</p> + +<p>We believe that in his youth, on the heights of Arlington, +where his eyes first opened upon the light, he learned at his +father's knee and by his father's daily walk and conversation +the great lesson of duty which steered his course and pointed +out his pathway in life.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'>[27]<a name="Page_27" id="Page_27"></a></span>He was born, as has been said, on the 31st day of May, 1837. +In 1857 he was appointed a second lieutenant in the Sixth Regiment +of United States Infantry, and served in 1858 in the then +far West under Albert Sidney Johnston, whose fame Shiloh +echoes and reëchoes along the banks of the Tennessee. In +1859 he resigned his commission in the Army and returned to +Virginia and located on his estate in the county of New +Kent. In 1861, when the Southern tocsin sounded and Virginia's +voice was heard calling for troops, he raised a cavalry +company and joined the Army of Northern Virginia. He rose +gradually from captain to major-general of cavalry; was wounded +in the terrific engagement between the Confederate and Federal +cavalry at Brandy Station on the 9th day of June, 1863; was +captured at Hanover Court-House, and was confined at Fort +Monroe and Fort Lafayette until March, 1864, when he was +exchanged, and repaired to his command, and served until the +flag which he loved was furled forever at Appomattox.</p> + +<p>From that time forward he cultivated his large estate with +much care, serving one term in the senate of his State, declining +a renomination. In 1886 he was elected to the Fiftieth +Congress from the Eighth Congressional district of Virginia, +and again in 1888 to the Fifty-first Congress, and still again +in 1890 to the present Congress.</p> + +<p>It was my privilege and pleasure to form his acquaintance in +the army and to watch his flashing blade amid the carnage of +battle, observe his cool courage and intrepid bearing and the +love and confidence of his men upon more than one sanguinary +field. He was as calm when the leaden hail was rattling and +as cool when the shells were shrieking and bursting as he was +upon this floor. He was a leader, not a follower of his men; +if they went into the jaws of death, he was at their head. He +<span class='pagenum'>[28]<a name="Page_28" id="Page_28"></a></span>fared as his men fared; if their haversacks were empty, his +was empty; if they laid down in the mud, he laid there too; if +they sweltered in the summer heat or shivered in the winter +blast, he sweltered or shivered too; and thus it was he kindled +in the breasts of his men intense love for himself and secured +their implicit confidence in his leadership.</p> + +<p>The promotions he received, rising from a captain to a major-general, +speak in terms stronger than any words of mine of his +courage and valor and his qualities as a soldier and military +chieftain.</p> + +<p>As a civilian, pursuing the quiet walks of rural life and +devoting himself to agriculture, the noblest of all arts, he was +honored by all the people and drew to him his neighbors, binding +them with the steely bands of constant friendship. His +word was as good as his bond, and the dusky son of toil as well +as the intelligent tenant on his wide possessions relied upon it +with absolute faith; and the most beautiful tribute that could +be paid to his memory was the deep sorrow which manifested +itself in a meeting after his death of those whose brawny muscle +had held the plow-handles and whose toil had made the corn +and the wheat grow on his rich and fertile fields.</p> + +<p>In politics he was a Democrat, and he was as pure in the +political arena as in private life. He scorned the ways of the +demagogue and the timeserver, and believed that "men should +be what they seem." In the councils of his State and in the +councils of the nation he was found at all times in full accord +with the principles and policy of his party.</p> + +<p>As a Representative he was as true to his constituents as any +subject to his sovereign, laboring in season and out of season +to serve them, and even when his strong frame began to weaken +and the germs of disease had been planted in his system he disregarded +<span class='pagenum'>[29]<a name="Page_29" id="Page_29"></a></span>the warning calls for rest and continued to bend all +his energies in the discharge of his trust, and I but speak the +truth when I say that he fell a martyr to duty.</p> + +<p>But, Mr. Speaker, while he was grand as a soldier, pure as a +man, exalted as a citizen, and faithful as a Representative, it +was in the home circle, as husband and father, and not on the +battlefield, in civil life, or in the halls of legislation, that the +beauty and loveliness of his character drew a halo around +him.</p> + +<p>He loved home, and it had a charm for him which neither +pleasures, honors, nor fame could pluck from his bosom. +Blessed by the companionship of one worthy of all adoration, +and who presided like a queen over his household, entering +into all his joys, sharing all his sorrows, and encouraging all +his aspirations, he loved the breezes that kissed her cheeks, the +birds that made sweet music to her ear, the rivulets that gently +murmured her name, the flowers that shed their fragrance in +her bowers, and the stately oaks under which the children of +their union had prattled and the pebbled walks upon which +they had played and gamboled.</p> + +<p>Yes, he loved home, and in its sacred circle his presence was +like a sunbeam, brightening every face and warming every +heart. He was all patience, gentleness, kindness, and love, and +if there ever was a home which was a fit emblem of heaven it +was Ravensworth, the home of this distinguished man.</p> + +<p>Mr. Speaker, he is gone. He lives now only in memory. +In October last, when the frosts were blighting and the leaves +were falling and the autumnal winds were sighing, after patient +waiting for the fatal hour it came, and God's finger touched +him, and the brave soldier, honored citizen, faithful Representative, +devoted husband, and affectionate father was dead.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'>[30]<a name="Page_30" id="Page_30"></a></span>He passed away quietly, strong in Christian faith and in the +hope of a blissful eternity.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">William Henry Fitzhugh Lee</span>! His State mourns his +death. Within the bosom of her soil he rests—peacefully +rests. In his ancestral land near by Arlington, historic, revered +Arlington, the scene of his childhood and early manhood, he +sleeps—sleeps the sleep that knows no waking.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Earth, that all too soon hath bound him,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Gently wrap his clay!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Linger lovingly around him,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Light of dying day!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>And Virginia—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">Bending lowly,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Still a ceaseless vigil holy<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Keep above his dust.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Address_of_Mr_Wise_of_Virginia" id="Address_of_Mr_Wise_of_Virginia"></a><span class="smcap">Address of Mr. Wise, of Virginia</span>.</h2> + + +<p>Mr. <span class="smcap">Speaker</span>: In accordance with a beautiful and impressive +custom we put aside for to-day our legislative duties to pay a +tribute of respect to the memory of Hon. <span class="smcap">William H.F. Lee</span>, +of Virginia. In November, 1890, he was elected to serve as a +member of this Congress from the Eighth district of that State, +receiving in that action of his devoted constituents a merited +indorsement of his conduct and services as their Representative +for the two preceding terms. But when the day of our assembling +arrived my colleague was not present to answer to the call +of his name. He had passed over the river and was resting under +the shade of the trees on the other side. He was beloved and +honored by all the people of Virginia, and the announcement +of his death, which occurred on the 15th day of October, 1891, +was received everywhere within her borders with expressions of +<span class='pagenum'>[31]<a name="Page_31" id="Page_31"></a></span>the deepest sorrow. He was born at Arlington, on the Virginia +heights, opposite this beautiful city, on the 31st day of May, +1837, and at the time of his death was in the fifty-fifth year of +his age.</p> + +<p>In 1857, when he was pursuing his studies in the University +of Harvard, in preparation for the active and serious duties of +life, he received from the then President of the United States +the appointment of brevet second lieutenant in the Sixth Infantry. +At that time the spirit of resistance to the authority of the +National Government was being exhibited to such an extent in +Utah as to call for measures of repression. Assassinations and +outrages of all kinds were common, and the officers of the United +States were powerless either to prevent or punish their commission.</p> + +<p>When Mr. Buchanan became President the resolution was +formed that the insubordination and conflict of authority existing +in that Territory should cease, and the necessary executive and +judicial officers having been appointed for the enforcement of the +laws of the United States and the preservation of the public peace, +it was determined to send a detachment of the Army to protect +them against violence and to assist them as a posse comitatus, +when necessary, in the performance of their duties. Gen. Albert +Sidney Johnston became the commander of this military force, +and Lieut. <span class="smcap">Lee</span> had his first experience of the service in this +expedition. As the occasion does not call for a recital of the +events of that period, I will content myself with the remark that +he was then, as on every occasion in after years, faithful to the +obligations of duty. His term of service in the Army was of +short duration, and from that fact we may infer that he was not +enamored with the life of a soldier in time of peace.</p> + +<p>In 1859 he resigned his commission, and soon thereafter was +<span class='pagenum'>[32]<a name="Page_32" id="Page_32"></a></span>married to Miss Wickham, the daughter of a family distinguished +in the annals of Virginia. They went to reside at the White +House, on the Pamunkey River, in the county of New Kent. +It was at this old historic country home that the marriage of +George Washington with the Widow Custis was celebrated. It +descended to Gen. <span class="smcap">Lee</span> from his mother, who was the great-granddaughter +of Washington's wife.</p> + +<p>Here he devoted himself to the tillage of the soil and became +engrossed with the pursuits of a plain and unostentatious +farmer. His condition and surroundings at this time were +such as to invite contentment and encourage the cultivation +of those pure and lofty sentiments for which he was ever distinguished.</p> + +<p>Being in the flower and strength of his young manhood and +blessed with affluence and the love of an accomplished wife, +there seemed wanting nothing to make his home an earthly +paradise.</p> + +<p>But the course of this peaceful and happy life was not to run +thus smoothly to the end. Dark and threatening clouds of war +soon lowered upon our land, and the political conflicts and antagonisms, +which had grown in intensity and bitterness with +the flight of years, ripened into civil war in 1861. The crisis +then arrived when the appeal to arms was inevitable, and with +it the necessity that all men should decide whether allegiance +was first due to the State or General Government. There were +honest differences of opinion on this question, which had existed +from the very foundation of the Republic.</p> + +<p>He was connected by blood with a long line of illustrious +men, who had borne a conspicuous part in the events which +led to the declaration of American independence and the establishment +of this constitutional Government. It was Richard<span class='pagenum'>[33]<a name="Page_33" id="Page_33"></a></span> +Henry Lee who offered in the Continental Congress, in June, +1776, that stirring resolution which proclaimed to the world +"that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free +and independent States; that they are absolved from all allegiance +to the British Crown; and that all political connection +between them and Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally +dissolved."</p> + +<p>It was his own grandfather, known in history as "Light-Horse +Harry Lee," who, in the long struggle which followed this +bold declaration, struck such sturdy blows for the liberties and +rights of his countrymen as caused him to receive the special +commendation of George Washington, of whom in turn he +uttered those memorable words: "First in war, first in peace, +and first in the hearts of his countrymen." Bearing a name +thus associated with all the glorious achievements of the past, it +was but natural that he should have felt an ardent attachment +to the Union. But he was a son of Virginia, "where American +liberty raised its first voice and where its youth was +nurtured and sustained."</p> + +<p>There the doctrine of the sovereignty of the State was accepted +as the true interpretation of the Constitution almost +without division of sentiment. Her people held that allegiance +was first due to their State, and while all deplored the +necessity for, few, if any, doubted as to the right of separation. +When in April, 1861, a convention representing her people +passed the ordinance of secession, he felt no hesitation in adopting +his course. He resolved at once to consecrate himself and +his sword to the sacred duty of defending her homes and firesides.</p> + +<p>Having raised a company of cavalry, he was made its captain, +and was rapidly promoted from rank to rank until he reached +<span class='pagenum'>[34]<a name="Page_34" id="Page_34"></a></span>that of major-general. Soon after his entry into the Confederate +service he became associated with the command of Gen. J.E.B. +Stuart, and participated thereafter in nearly all the movements +of that fearless and dashing leader, whom the brave Gen. +Sedgwick, of the United States Army, pronounced "the best +cavalry officer ever foaled in North America." On June 3, +1862, Gen. Robert E. Lee, the father of my deceased colleague, +assumed the command of the Army of Northern Virginia three +days after the retiracy of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, caused by a +wound received in the battle of Seven Pines.</p> + +<p>The plans of the Federal commander for the capture of the +capital of the Southern Confederacy had been well chosen. His +army, according to his own report, numbered 156,000, of whom +115,000 were ready for duty as fighting men. All the vast resources +of his Government were being employed to enable him +to prosecute his campaign with efficiency and vigor. His +troops had been furnished with artillery and small arms of the +most approved description and best pattern. They had abundance +of ammunition of the finest quality and ample supplies +of food and clothing. Gen. McDowell, then at Fredericksburg +with 40,000 men, and Gens. Banks and Frémont in the valley +of Virginia, were expected to coöperate in the movement. A +line of fire was slowly but steadily being drawn around Richmond. +These plans, as I have said, had been well conceived +and were being executed with great precision and skill.</p> + +<p>To oppose this formidable advance there were less than 100,000 +fighting men in Virginia, and they were greatly inferior to the +enemy in both equipments and supplies. Gen. Johnston, penetrating +the designs of his adversary, commenced operations to +prevent their accomplishment. The bloody and stubbornly +contested battle of Seven Pines was fought in part execution +<span class='pagenum'>[35]<a name="Page_35" id="Page_35"></a></span>of his plans. When Gen. Robert E. Lee succeeded to the command +it was apparent that some decisive blow must be struck +to save the Southern capital from a state of siege. Surveying +the whole field with a keen and practiced eye, he saw that the +left wing of the Union army, which had been thrown across the +Chickahominy and advanced to within four or five miles of Richmond, +occupied a strong and almost impregnable position. An +attack upon the center promised no better results.</p> + +<p>Under these circumstances he turned his attention to the +right wing, and, in order to obtain the fullest and most accurate +information concerning McClellan's position and defenses on +that portion of his line, ordered Gen. Stuart to make a reconnoissance +in the direction of Old Church and Cold Harbor. +With 1,500 picked men that pink of Southern chivalry immediately +undertook the execution of the orders of the commanding +general. This daring exploit was popularly known as +"Stuart's ride around McClellan." It is a fact that he did +pass entirely around the Union army, and, building a bridge +across the Chickahominy, reëntered the Confederate lines in +safety. In this perilous expedition he was assisted by his bravest +and best officers, among whom were Gens. <span class="smcap">William H.F. +Lee</span>, and his cousin, the dashing Fitz Lee.</p> + +<p>More was accomplished than had been anticipated, and it was +ascertained that the right and rear of McClellan were unprotected +by works of any strength. In consequence of the information +thus obtained the decision was formed to make the +attack in that direction, and on the 26th of June, 1862, began +that series of splendid battles which culminated in the retreat +of McClellan's army to Harrisons Landing, on the James +River, and the deliverance of Richmond from danger. On the +9th of June, 1863, there occurred near Brandy Station, in the +<span class='pagenum'>[36]<a name="Page_36" id="Page_36"></a></span>county of Culpeper, Va., one of the most extensive and stubborn +cavalry fights of the whole war. Two divisions of Federal +cavalry, commanded by Gens. Buford and Gregg, and supported +by two brigades of "picked infantry," fell upon Stuart +with such suddenness and fierceness that the attack was +almost crowned with victory. Nothing saved him from defeat, +if not from greater calamity, but his own coolness and that of +his lieutenants, coupled with the indomitable pluck and intrepidity +of his troopers.</p> + +<p>In this engagement that brave Georgian Gen. Young, formerly +a member of this House, by a splendid charge with +sabers, without carbine or pistol, repulsed a dangerous and +gallant assault on the rear, while Gen. <span class="smcap">William H.F. Lee</span>, +with equal courage and dash, protected the left of the Confederate +position. In this encounter Gen. <span class="smcap">Lee</span> received a severe +wound, which necessitated his retirement from the field. He +was carried to Hickory Hill, in Hanover County, the home of +Gen. Wickham, a near relative of his wife, and here he was +captured and placed in solitary confinement in Fort Monroe +as a hostage, certain officers of the United States being then +held under sentence of death in Libby Prison in retaliation +for the execution of certain Confederate officers in the West.</p> + +<p>Gen. Custis Lee, being then a young unmarried man, on the +staff of the Confederate President, met, under special flag of +truce, representatives of the Government at Washington, and +begged to be permitted to take the place of Gen. <span class="smcap">William H.F. +Lee</span>, giving as a reason for the proposed exchange his +desire to save from punishment the innocent wife and children +of his wounded brother. The offer was declined, and he was +told that the burdens of war must fall where chance or fortune +placed them.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'>[37]<a name="Page_37" id="Page_37"></a></span>In this incident we have a beautiful and touching illustration +of the strength and warmth of brotherly love and of the +knightly bearing of the Lees of Virginia. While thus detained +as a prisoner of war, racked with physical suffering +and those mental tortures which a sensitive and high-strung +man must feel under such circumstances, there came the sad +tidings of the death of his loved wife and two children; and +thus was added another, the most poignant of all the griefs +with which he had been afflicted. His old Virginia home, +associated with so many sacred memories, had been reduced to +ashes, and now there remained of the once happy family which +formerly occupied it only the captive father. This weight of +woe would seem too much for human endurance, but he bore +it with the fortitude of a Christian soldier. He was exchanged +in the spring of 1864, and returning to his division, led it in +all the engagements, from the Rapidan to the Appomattox, +where the curtain fell upon the stirring and bloody scenes in +which he had been such an active participant.</p> + +<p>As a soldier he was always calm, cool, and self-possessed. +Those who have had experience in the ranks know that the +bravest and best soldiers will falter and hesitate when they are +without confidence in the ability, judgment, and foresight of +their leader. The soldiers who were ranged under the standard +of Lee, believing that their noble commander was equal +to all emergencies, followed him with unwavering trust, and +their survivors testify to the affection in which a spirit so gentle +and yet so brave was held.</p> + +<p>No higher eulogy can be pronounced upon any man than to +say of him that which can be truly alleged of Gen. <span class="smcap">Lee</span>, that +he was an honored and trusted leader in that splendid Army of +Northern Virginia, which only failed where success was impossible.<span class='pagenum'>[38]<a name="Page_38" id="Page_38"></a></span> +They challenged the respect and admiration of the +world, and of their great captain it has been said that "a country +which has given birth to men like him and those who followed +him may look the chivalry of Europe in the face without +shame, for the fatherlands of Sidney and Bayard never +produced a nobler soldier, gentleman, and Christian than +Robert E. Lee."</p> + +<p>These meager details of our civil war have not been given +with the purpose of reviving unpleasant memories or of perpetuating +sectional animosities. They have been related because +they constitute an important part of the story of the life +of him whom we mourn.</p> + +<p>On both sides were displayed the highest qualities of the +military leader, and illustrated as never before the pluck, endurance, +and dash of the American soldier. They were Americans +all, and, without distinction of sections, we can claim +part of the honor of their achievements and partake in the +pride of their great names. We have furnished to the world +the indubitable proof that these States united are invincible. +When, at Appomattox, our arms were stacked and banners +furled we returned to our homes with no divided allegiance.</p> + +<p>We believe that in the safety of the Union is the safety of the +States. And we rejoice that "the gorgeous ensign of the Republic +is still full high advanced, its arms and trophies streaming +in their original luster, not a stripe polluted or erased, not a +single star obscured, bearing for its motto no such miserable interrogatory +as 'What is all this worth?' Nor those other words +of delusion and folly, 'Liberty first and Union afterwards,' but +everywhere, spread all over in characters of living light, blazing +on all its ample folds, as they float over the sea and over the +land and in every wind under the whole heavens, that other +<span class='pagenum'>[39]<a name="Page_39" id="Page_39"></a></span>sentiment, dear to every true American heart, 'Liberty and +Union, now and forever, one and inseparable.'"</p> + +<p>But while entertaining these sentiments, we can not, we will +not, forget our glorious dead. The brave men against whom +we fought neither expect nor desire such unnatural conduct. +Whether the cause for which they died was just or not it would +be idle to discuss. It is enough for us to know that—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">They were slain for us,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And their blood flowed out in a rain for us—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Red, rich, and pure, on the plain for us;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And years may go,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But our tears shall flow<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O'er the dead who have died in vain for us.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>After the cessation of hostilities Gen. <span class="smcap">Lee</span> resumed the occupations +of a farmer on the old plantation which he had left in +1861. The implements of warfare were exchanged for those of +the husbandman, and following the plow on the furrows he commenced +the work of repairing the losses he had sustained. In +1868 he married Miss Mary Tabb Bolling, the daughter of Col. +George W. Bolling, of Petersburg, and they continued their residence +at the White House until 1874, when they removed to +Ravensworth, in the county of Fairfax, where he died.</p> + +<p>He was an able and faithful Representative, and always devoted +to the interests of his constituents. As a fitting eulogy to +his worth it may be truly said that it was his disposition to +follow the line of duty to the end. The conscientious performance +of every trust confided to him was the watchword of his +life. In his conduct as a legislator he was never ruled by faction +or interest, but the promotion of the public good was the motive +of all his actions. While exhibiting none of the showy and +sparkling qualities of the orator, he was distinguished for the +possession of good judgment and strong practical common sense.<span class='pagenum'>[40]<a name="Page_40" id="Page_40"></a></span> +He was a man of calm and even temperament, and was seldom, +if ever, controlled by prejudices or swayed by passion. Those +who were associated with him here remember his dignified and +courteous bearing. No words of bitterness or reproach ever +escaped his lips, and he never forgot what was due to others as +well as to himself.</p> + +<p>I never heard him speak an unkind word of another, and +while reserved, and to a certain extent formal, in his demeanor, +he was a man of infinite sweetness of disposition:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And thus he bore without abuse,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The grand old name of gentleman.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Both in his public and private life he furnished an example +worthy of the emulation of all who love the true nobility of +humanity. We will draw aside the curtain only for a passing +glance at the domestic circle, of which his beautiful and lovely +wife was at once the pride and the ornament. Surrounded by +this devoted helpmeet and two manly sons, there was not a +happier home in old Virginia. Warmed by the love of his big +and generous heart, it was the abode of contentment and peace. +The dread messenger was never more unwelcome than when he +entered the portals of Ravensworth and made vacant forever the +chair of the husband and the father.</p> + +<p>We can say nothing to assuage the poignant grief of the widow +and children, but our hearts are filled with the fervent prayer +that Heaven's choicest blessings may be showered upon them.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'>[41]<a name="Page_41" id="Page_41"></a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Address_of_Mr_Herbert_of_Alabama" id="Address_of_Mr_Herbert_of_Alabama"></a><span class="smcap">Address of Mr. Herbert, of Alabama</span>.</h2> + + +<p>Mr. <span class="smcap">Speaker</span>: In this brief tribute to the memory of Gen. +<span class="smcap">William H.F. Lee</span> I should be unworthy of the friendship +which it was my privilege to claim did I indulge in anything +else than the language of soberness and truth. In him there was +no manner of affectation; he pretended to be nothing but such +as he was, and it is certain that if he had been giving directions +to his biographer he would have laid down the rule announced +by Thomas Carlyle, in his review of the life of Lockhart, +that the biographer in the treatment of his subject "should +have the fear of God before his eyes and no other fear whatever."</p> + +<p>Froude, as biographer, claims subsequently to have applied +to the life of Carlyle his own rule; and all the world knows +that in the portrayal of Carlyle's faults of character the biographer +left many a sting in the hearts of those who had loved +the great man while he lived and who felt that the failings on +which the historian had dwelt ought to have been interred with +his bones. The biographer who shall perform faithfully the +task of writing the life of <span class="smcap">"Rooney" Lee</span> will not paint him +as a genius like Carlyle; but, sir, if there was any single +feature in the character of our friend that, laid bare to the world +even by the bold hand of an Anthony Froude, would cause the +faintest blush to tinge the cheek of family or friends, I, who +knew him well, do not know what it was.</p> + +<p>It is true, sir, that it was not my fortune to be thrown in +contact with him in the earlier years of his life. I did not +know him when his character was being shaped and molded +<span class='pagenum'>[42]<a name="Page_42" id="Page_42"></a></span>by the generous and refining influences which surrounded him +from his cradle to his manhood.</p> + +<p>My personal acquaintance with him may be said to have +begun only when he had taken his seat by my side in this Hall. +But his fame had come before him. A representative of the +most distinguished family in America, he had been, by this +circumstance alone, conspicuous from his birth; and yet he +came among us with not a spot upon his name.</p> + +<p>During the civil war, from a subordinate position rising rapidly +to high command and always in the bright light that +surrounded him as a son of the most illustrious general of +modern times, he bore himself as a soldier without reproach. +Neither in civil life nor in war had calumny assaulted him. +Such a man, entering here upon a new career, attracted attention +the moment he came into this Hall.</p> + +<p>It soon appeared to those who watched him closely that he +was singularly modest. This modesty was not diffidence. He +was at all times self-poised. On this floor, addressing himself +to a public question just as in a private conversation among +his friends, he always had the easy, unpretentious manner of +the thoroughbred gentleman, but his modesty was easily apparent +in an utter lack of self-assertion. He never put himself +forward except when duty prompted, and then he did nothing +for display; never a word did he speak for himself, but only +for his cause.</p> + +<p>He made indeed no pretensions to oratory; he had never +been trained in its arts; but his mind was broad and highly +cultured, he had a vast fund of vigorous common sense, and he +expressed himself readily and pointedly. With these faculties +he would in time have taken rank as a strong debater.</p> + +<p>While broadly patriotic, he had at the same time a high +<span class='pagenum'>[43]<a name="Page_43" id="Page_43"></a></span>sense of obligation to his immediate constituency, and he was +patient to a remarkable degree. His district, you will remember, +Mr. Speaker, lay just beyond the Potomac.</p> + +<p>It was an easy matter for his constituents to come to the +Capitol, and naturally many of them sought office at his hands. +I sat near him in the Fifty-first Congress. Often have I known +him to be carded out a dozen times a day; and if he ever +expressed himself to me as worried by these interruptions he +never failed to show by what he said that his annoyance arose +not so much from the importunities of his friends as from his +inability to serve them.</p> + +<p>In address he was remarkably pleasing. Indeed, his manner +was so genial, so pleasant, so hearty and sincere, that the memory +of his kindly greeting will not be forgotten until the whole +generation of his friends shall pass away. Who is there among +his associates on this floor that will ever cease to remember +him as, morning after morning in the springtime, he came into +this Hall, bringing from his home a basket of roses to distribute +among his friends? He was not seeking popularity. Such a +thought had not occurred to him, nor did it enter into the mind +of anyone here. He simply loved his friends, and he loved +flowers just as he loved all things beautiful and true.</p> + +<p>Such a man could not but be, as Gen. <span class="smcap">Lee</span> was, a model +brother, husband, and father. In all his life nothing was more +lovely and beautiful than his family relations.</p> + +<p>He had about him none of the arts of the demagogue; he +was always true to himself, and therefore never false to any man. +His whole walk and conversation illustrated that he was the +worthy son of his noble father; that from his youth up he had +profited by the precepts and example of that illustrious chieftain, +who declared, in those memorable words already quoted by my +<span class='pagenum'>[44]<a name="Page_44" id="Page_44"></a></span>eloquent friend [Mr. Tucker], that duty was the sublimest word +in the English language. And, Mr. Speaker, let me say that +the idea conveyed by this word duty, as taught by the father +and practiced by the son, was far higher than that ideal, lofty +though it was, expounded by philosophers like Plato and +Cicero. With the Lees duty meant Christian duty.</p> + +<p>With all these characteristics Gen. <span class="smcap">Lee</span> could not but grow +and continue to grow as he did in power and influence in a body +like this; and had he been spared for that long career in this +Hall hoped for by his friends he would have risen to eminence +as a legislator.</p> + +<p>But this was not to be. He has passed away from us forever.</p> + +<p>When such a man dies out from among us, let critics cavil as +they may about time wasted in memorial addresses. We should +do violence to our own feelings did we not pause to honor his +memory; we should do wrong to the American people, whose +heritage they are, did we not spread before them the lessons of +his life, that the whole country may venerate his virtues and +the youth of the land may emulate his example.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Address_of_Mr_Hermann_of_Oregon" id="Address_of_Mr_Hermann_of_Oregon"></a><span class="smcap">Address of Mr. Hermann, of Oregon</span>.</h2> + + +<p>Mr. <span class="smcap">Speaker</span>: Of all picturesque spots on the face of the earth +there is perhaps none that can rival in scenic beauty Mount +Arlington, in the State of Virginia. Shaded by the primeval +forest to the rear, and in front beautified by the gently sloping +lawn, decorated by variegated flowers and artistically trimmed +shrubbery, with the dark-green waters of the Potomac ebbing and +flowing not far away and in full view the mighty nation's +splendid capital city, stands the stately old mansion, with its +<span class='pagenum'>[45]<a name="Page_45" id="Page_45"></a></span>classic columns, where nearly fifty-five years ago was born our +departed friend and colleague, and one of the beloved Representatives +of the people of Virginia—Gen. <span class="smcap">William H.F. Lee</span>. +Born in Virginia, he remained a Virginian continuously to the +hour of his death.</p> + +<p>Inheriting the martial genius of his eminent ancestry, he +early aspired to a career in the military service of his country, +and at the comparatively early age of twenty we find him bidding +adieu to his college studies at Harvard and uniting with +the Army in its expedition to Utah in 1858, where he first experienced +the fatigues and hardships incident to the life of the +soldier in the long march over the arid plains and through the +mountain canyons into the Mormon territory. The prospect of +inaction, with a long period in garrison, proved a disappointment +to so ambitious a spirit, and he resigned his commission +and returned to the domestic welcome of his Virginia farm.</p> + +<p>Soon, however, the indication of a long peace proved delusive, +and the scene shifted. This time it was decreed that he +should behold the terrible conflict in which one portion of his +unhappy country was to engage in deadly array with another +portion. Obeying what he conceived to be the mandate of his +State, he followed the impulse of his feelings and the example +of his kindred and his friends, and periled all in that belief. +He participated at once, and most actively, in some of the most +sanguinary engagements of the civil war. Wounded at one +place, taken prisoner at another, then exchanged, and again in +the van of battle, we find him following the forlorn hope until +the close of the struggle at Appomattox, when he again returned +to the old farm.</p> + +<p>He possessed the undivided confidence of his constituents. +He was regarded by them, as he was so long observed by us +<span class='pagenum'>[46]<a name="Page_46" id="Page_46"></a></span>in our intimate associations with him in this Hall, and especially +in the committee rooms, as an intelligent and conscientious +legislator, a laborious servant of the people, a courtly gentleman, +a generous and devoted companion. Loyal as he was +to his political convictions, he was yet the most considerate +and the most conservative in his relations with those who radically +differed with him. He admired frankness; he despised +duplicity. While he was obedient to the reasonable edicts of +caucus and party organization, we recall occasions when he was +prompt to rise above the partisan. He was as broad-gauge and +comprehensive in the study and performance of his duty toward +all parts and all interests of his reunited country as he was +anxious for the obliteration of sectional animosity and sincere +and generous of heart in his social obligations to all of his +fellow-men.</p> + +<p>The most touching remembrance we bear of Gen. <span class="smcap">Lee</span>'s +goodness of heart has reference to his custom in springtime of +bringing to this Hall from his farm great quantities of lovely +roses, and having them distributed to his associates of both +political parties on this floor with his compliments. Here we +have a practical illustration that flowers are the interpreters of +man's best feelings. In oriental lands the language of flowers +was early studied and made expressive. As Percival says:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Each blossom that blooms in their garden bowers,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On its leaves a mystic language bears.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>With Gen. <span class="smcap">Lee</span> they bore tidings of good will to partisan +friend and partisan foe alike. They bespoke in mute eloquence +the expansive heart of one "that loved his fellow-men." Little, +however, did he think at the time that these beautiful roses +were especially speaking to him as emblems of a near immortality. +Awakening from their sleep of winter, they were also +<span class='pagenum'>[47]<a name="Page_47" id="Page_47"></a></span>harbingers of a brighter day to him and of the bloom of a glorious +resurrection. The Germans have a saying that "he who +loves flowers loves God." If this be applied to Gen. <span class="smcap">Lee</span>, we +have the blessed assurance that he has approached close to the +celestial throne.</p> + +<p>Gen. <span class="smcap">Lee</span> belonged to one of the most historic families of +America. Looking back to the early settlement and the pioneer +struggles of the peninsula and then through the plantation +and colonial period of entire Virginia, we everywhere discover +the genius, the dauntless courage, the independence, and the +resolute patriotism of the Lees. It has been well said, sir, that +Virginia is the mother of Presidents; and this is true. A +momentary reflection does not suffice to demonstrate the various +causes which combined to bestow upon the Old Dominion this +prominence. A mature study, however, will serve a double +purpose. It will teach us not only how Virginia more than +any other State became the nursery for Presidents and statesmen, +but how at the same time were given character and fame +to its distinguished family—the Lees.</p> + +<p>The permanency and prosperity of states and political bodies +are as much due to the character of their superstructures as +are the strength and stability of the material edifice to the +foundation upon which it rests. The Argonauts of Virginia +united in a remarkable degree the pride and culture and learning +and loyalty of the Cavaliers with the conviction of purpose +and martial courage and discipline of the followers of Cromwell. +First came the heroic vanguard—the men like Capt. John +Smith—who blazed the way through the forests of the James, +the York, the Chickahominy, and Pamunkey. Then followed +the refined, enthusiastic, and chivalric gentlemen of the polished +court of Charles I, with many of the clergy, who brought with +<span class='pagenum'>[48]<a name="Page_48" id="Page_48"></a></span>them their intense loyalty to the Crown, as well as to the episcopal +government and Anglican ritual. Among these, too, +were the proselyted royalists; old and honorable families after +the defeat of Charles, seeking exile in the far distant yet faithful +Virginia. Then came those who triumphed at Naseby, and +overthrew the kingly office and maintained the constitution of +the realm and the integrity of Magna Charta and the Petition +of Rights.</p> + +<p>The necessity for self-defense and the maintenance of order +originated self-government and the assertion of individual right, +and these united the widely variant elements of the community +in a loyal union. It was the amalgamation of such spirits in +Virginia in 1676 which demanded the right of personal liberty, +of universal suffrage, and of representation; and here was fought +the prelude of that great drama one hundred years later, when +a Virginian, in the name of a whole nation, penned the immortal +words which proclaimed to all the world the "inalienable +right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Here were +the Lees, the Patrick Henrys, the Randolphs, the Jeffersons, the +Madisons, and the Masons of Virginia; and here, to close the +drama with freedom's triumphant army, was the most illustrious +of them all—George Washington. It was from such an +ancestry our late colleague was descended, and it was from such +teachings and such examples he imbibed his zealous convictions +of right and his sturdy regard for the exalted prerogatives of a +free people.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'>[49]<a name="Page_49" id="Page_49"></a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Address_of_Mr_Washington_of_Tennessee" id="Address_of_Mr_Washington_of_Tennessee"></a><span class="smcap">Address of Mr. Washington, of Tennessee</span>.</h2> + + +<p>Mr. <span class="smcap">Speaker</span>: On the 15th of last October death again invaded +the ranks of this House. The mysterious messenger laid +the summons of his cold silent hand upon one who had immeasurably +endeared himself to all whose good fortune it had +been to know him. To-day we pause amid the rush of a nation's +public business to mourn the country's loss and to pay a just +tribute to the noble dead. When such a man as our late colleague, +Gen. <span class="smcap">William H.F. Lee</span>, is taken from our midst, a void +is made which can nevermore be filled. It is not his visible presence +or his tangible body that we shall so much miss. It is the +magnetism of a pure mind, the silent, potent influence of a spotless +character, the power of a great, good, and noble soul to elevate +and dignify all with whom it came in contact that will +prove our irreparable loss. No man ever associated with Gen. +<span class="smcap">Lee</span> without feeling the better for it. To have been with him +made you feel like one who had drawn a long deep inspiration +of pure fresh air into his lungs after breathing the stifling atmosphere +of a close room. His thoughts, his conversation, his +ideas diffused about him a sound and healthy morality, that was +as natural to him as its delicate odor is to the rose. Modest and +gentle as a woman; sympathetic as a child; guileless as the +day; a logical, well-trained, accurate mind; a horror of injustice; +absolutely devoid of resentment; a benignant countenance, and +a splendid physique, made him indeed a man among men.</p> + +<p>Sir, I believe not only in early training, but in the force of +early surroundings and family traditions. Sprung from an illustrious +line of statesmen and patriots, who had left their impress +<span class='pagenum'>[50]<a name="Page_50" id="Page_50"></a></span>on every page of the history, civil and military, of this country +from the colonial days to the present; born on those beautiful +heights overlooking this city at Arlington, where the house was +filled with the sanctified relics and the very atmosphere he +breathed in childhood was pregnant with the traditions and +precepts of "the Father of his Country;" his mother being the +daughter of George Washington Parke Custis, the adopted son +of the immortal Washington; his father that world-renowned +military commander, the self-poised, calm, patient, dignified, +glorious Gen. Robert E. Lee, it would be unnatural not to expect +to find the impress of all these on the heart and mind and +character and life of Gen. <span class="smcap">William H.F. Lee</span>.</p> + +<p>To some my words of eulogy may appear fulsome; but having +known him in public and in private, at home by his own fireside, +as well as abroad on the active field of life, I know that my poor +words can but fail to do full justice to his true worth. With +him the performance of duty was accompanied by no harsh +word or cynical expression; on the contrary, his calmness and +uniform sweetness of manner were almost poetical. I recall a +notable instance in the Fiftieth Congress, when, pressing under +the most trying circumstances the passage of a bill for the relief +of the Episcopal high school near Alexandria, he was temperate +and patient. Standing on the Republican side of this Hall, +among those who questioned him, his words fell softly and +evenly as snowflakes on the turbulent House, which finally by +an almost unanimous vote passed his bill.</p> + +<p>He shrank from publicity; therefore he never spoke on this +floor unless it was necessary to push a measure intrusted to his +charge; then he always acquitted himself with credit. In the +committee and among his colleagues his influence was irresistible, +because his judgment and integrity were above dispute.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'>[51]<a name="Page_51" id="Page_51"></a></span>With him a public office was a public trust, which he accepted +and administered for his State and his constituents without regard +to race, color, or party affiliation. Many times have I seen +him, when coming in from his country home in the morning, +met at the depot by a dozen or more of his constituents, claiming +his attention to their private matters with the Departments +of the Government.</p> + +<p>The patience and tender care with which he heard and looked +after each were paternal and pathetic. His love for little children +was intense and beautiful. Nothing made him happier +than to fill some little fellow's hands and pockets with candies +and fruits, claiming only in return a shy caress. In his home +is where his perfectly balanced Christian character shone in its +brightest light. As father and husband he was indeed a model +man.</p> + +<p>I shall attempt no extended biographical sketch; that has +already been well done by others. Yet I can not refrain from +saying that in every stage of his career Gen. <span class="smcap">Lee</span> did his whole +duty, actuated entirely and solely by the loftiest motives.</p> + +<p>A graduate of Harvard at twenty, he was appointed a second +lieutenant in the regular Army. Often I have heard him tell +of the wearisome march across the plains to California with his +regiment, long in advance of civilization and railroads, when +most of that journey through the desert was made perilous by +roving bands of hostile Indians. Retiring from the Army, he +married and settled at the historic White House, in lower Virginia. +There he was the typical Southern country gentleman of +refinement and culture, taking an active interest in agriculture +and the public affairs of his community. When the war between +the States summoned Virginia's sons to her defense he +again became a soldier.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'>[52]<a name="Page_52" id="Page_52"></a></span>Throughout the struggle he discharged every duty and was +equal to every responsibility placed upon him. His soldiers +loved and trusted him as a father, for they knew he would +sacrifice no life for empty glory. The saddest chapter in all his +life was when—a prisoner of war at Fort Monroe, lying desperately +wounded, with the threat of a retaliatory death-sentence +suspended over his head, in hourly expectation of its execution—he +heard of the fatal illness of his wife and two little +children but a few miles away. Earnestly his friends begged +that he might be allowed to go and say the last farewell to them +on earth. A devoted brother came, like Damon of old, and +offered himself to die in "Rooney's" place. War, inexorable +war, always stern and cruel, could not accept the substituted +sacrifice, and while the sick wounded soldier, under sentence +of death, lay, himself almost dying, in the dungeon of the Fort, +his wife and children "passed over the river to rest under +the trees" and wait there his coming. Yet no word of reproach +ever passed his gentle lips. He accepted it all as the +fortune of war.</p> + +<p>In all the walks of life—as a student at college, as an officer +in the regular Army, as a planter on the Pamunkey, as a leader +of cavalry in the civil war, as a farmer struggling with the +chaos and confusion that beset him under the new order of +things following the abolition of slavery, as president of the +Virginia Agricultural Society, as State senator, and as a member +of Congress—Gen. <span class="smcap">William H.F. Lee</span> met every requirement, +was equal to every emergency, and left a name for honor, +truth, and virtue which should be a blessed heritage and the +inspiration for a nobler and loftier life to all those who shall +succeed him.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'>[53]<a name="Page_53" id="Page_53"></a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Address_of_Mr_Henderson_of_Illinois" id="Address_of_Mr_Henderson_of_Illinois"></a><span class="smcap">Address of Mr. Henderson, of Illinois</span>.</h2> + + +<p>Mr. <span class="smcap">Speaker</span>: It is not my purpose at this time to make any +extended remarks upon the life and public services of the late +Gen. <span class="smcap">William H.F. Lee</span>. Other gentlemen of the House, +more intimately acquainted with Gen. <span class="smcap">Lee</span> in his lifetime, are +better prepared to do justice to his memory than I am. But +having enjoyed a very pleasant acquaintance with the deceased +during his four years' service as a member of this body, I desire +to express the great respect which I entertained for him as a +gentleman of high character and of noble, manly qualities. +Descended from one of the most highly honored families in the +State in which he had his birth, he was liberally educated, and +at an early age entered the Army as a second lieutenant and +served as such until 1859, when he resigned his commission +and returned to the peaceful pursuits of civil life. In 1861 he +followed his illustrious father, and entered the service of the +Confederate States as a captain of cavalry. That he was a +brave and gallant soldier there can be no doubt, for his military +history shows that he rose step by step from the rank of a +captain to that of a major-general of cavalry. In 1865 he surrendered +with his father at Appomattox, and renewed his allegiance +and devotion, as I am glad to believe, to the Government +of the United States.</p> + +<p>I can but wish, Mr. Speaker, that such honored names as +those of Gen. <span class="smcap">William H.F. Lee</span> and his distinguished father +had never been led into rebellion against the Government of +their country. But they felt it to be their duty to follow the +fortunes of their State, and let us to-day, while mourning the +<span class='pagenum'>[54]<a name="Page_54" id="Page_54"></a></span>departure of our deceased friend, rejoice that the surrender at +Appomattox has been followed by a restored Union, and that +our reunited, undivided country is now one of the strongest, +most powerful, and prosperous of all the nations of the earth.</p> + +<p>As a Representative in this body, while he was not inclined +to participate actively in the discussion of public and political +questions, still Gen. <span class="smcap">Lee</span> took great interest in all that pertained +to the public welfare, and especially in that which, in his judgment, +was in the interest of his immediate constituents. He +was an able, faithful, and efficient Representative as well as a +noble, manly man, and in all my intercourse with men I never +met a more genial, warm-hearted, pleasant gentleman than the +distinguished citizen to whose memory we pay tribute to-day. +I well remember his kindly greetings, and I am sure all of us +who knew Gen. <span class="smcap">Lee</span> deeply regret his loss as a member of this +body, to which he was for a third time elected by his confiding +constituents, and extend to his sorrowing bereaved family our +warm heartfelt sympathies.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Address_of_Mr_Chipman_of_Michigan" id="Address_of_Mr_Chipman_of_Michigan"></a><span class="smcap">Address of Mr. Chipman, of Michigan</span>.</h2> + + +<p>Mr. <span class="smcap">Speaker</span>: I have not been in the habit of speaking +upon occasions of this kind, but it is one of the joys of my life, +a very great joy indeed, to feel that I had a place in the heart +of the gentleman whom we are now commemorating. I knew +him very well, and in many respects I regarded him as one of +the most fortunate men whom it was ever my pleasure to know. +While many men here are struggling for fame, while many of +them will leave the struggle heartsick, weary, defeated, he +had that power, that charm, so precious and so lovely, of attaching +<span class='pagenum'>[55]<a name="Page_55" id="Page_55"></a></span>men to him by the ties of affection. Little children +loved him.</p> + +<p>There was a benignancy, a sweetness of demeanor, which +attracted them to him, and while his name may not be +sounded in the trump of fame, yet the subtile power of his gentleness +and goodness has permeated many lives, will shape +many destinies, and will have a force in the history of the +world greater than that which will be exerted by many who +will succeed him here. He was a soldier, yet he was gentle +and kind. He was a descendant of a long line of honored ancestry, +yet he did not believe that mere wealth was necessary +either to respectability or to greatness. He was a farmer and +loved the soil. He looked upon the ripened grain as the +flower of human hope and as a minister to human needs. He +loved the breath of cattle, and he regarded the occupation of +an agriculturist as the noblest and the best in which a man +could be engaged. He was a true son of the soil—hearty, simple, +gentle, true.</p> + +<p>But, sir, the particulars of his career, both public and private, +have been recounted by those who knew him well; have +been recounted with great force, with great eloquence and +propriety. There is, however, one part of that career to which +I wish to refer. He was engaged in the memorable struggle +which convulsed this nation from center to circumference and +which fastened the gaze of the civilized world. I wish upon +this occasion to say emphatically, that wherever we may have +stood in that struggle, whatever was good and great in any +man participating on either side of it is a precious heritage to +the entire American people to-day. We proved that, North, +South, East, West, we had not degenerated in the qualities +which make a nation great.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'>[56]<a name="Page_56" id="Page_56"></a></span>Grant and Lee, Sherman, Sheridan, and the two Johnstons +have gone from us forever, and every day the green sward of +peace, the flowers of affection, are placed above the grave of +some hero of the blue or the gray. But I love to think that +above these graves stands the Genius of American freedom, +serene and grand, and bids the world behold how brave the +sons of the Republic were in the past; how united they are in +one purpose and one destiny in the present; how certain they +are to be a people noted for reasonable liberty, for perfect +union, and for sufficient material power to be formidable and +just alike to the other nations of the earth.</p> + +<p>And so, sir, I come and lay the flowers of my Northern +home upon the bier of this son of Virginia, this good citizen, +this patriot, this man who, I am proud to believe, held even +me in his affection. And when gentlemen here speak of the +terror and the mystery of death, I tell them that to such a man +death has no terrors, and that to the good man it has no +mystery; for in that illimitable hereafter, which must be populated +by all the sons of men, it must be, it will be, well with +all of us.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Address_of_Mr_Wilson_of_West_Virginia" id="Address_of_Mr_Wilson_of_West_Virginia"></a><span class="smcap">Address of Mr. Wilson, of West Virginia</span>.</h2> + + +<p>Mr. <span class="smcap">Speaker</span>: The House has already heard from his friend +and successor the story of Gen. <span class="smcap">Lee</span>'s life. I shall not, therefore, +repeat it even in briefest outline. Enough for me to say +that he was one in a long lineage of noted men, who by some +innate force and virtue had stood forth in three generations as +leaders of their fellow-men; that he was the son of the greatest +of all who have borne the name, and that in early manhood +<span class='pagenum'>[57]<a name="Page_57" id="Page_57"></a></span>he exhibited the soldierly instincts and the soldierly capacity +that seemed to be historically associated with it.</p> + +<p>With such a lineage and with such a history he came to this +House, and I believe I can offer no higher tribute to his memory +to-day than to say that in all his associations with us here +he was the embodiment of gentleness and modesty. Indeed, +Mr. Speaker, as I now recall Gen. <span class="smcap">Lee</span>, and explore with aching +heart the memory of a close and cordial friendship with +him, I can say with confidence that in the blending of these +rare traits I have never known his equal. They were a part +of his nature, not more illustrated in business and social intercourse +with fellow-members than in his relations with the page +who did him service and who learned to regard himself in some +way as the special friend and associate of Gen. <span class="smcap">Lee</span>.</p> + +<p>Many of us doubtless can recall the evident pride of the +little fellow who occasionally placed upon our desks the roses +which his kindly patron brought by the basketful in the spring +mornings from his Virginia home to brighten the sittings of +the House. And this gentleness and modesty were the more +attractive because they were the adornment of a sincere and +manly character. How much came to him as the rich legacy +of ancestral blood and how much was wrought into his nature +by the training of his youth it is idle to speculate. In both +respects he was lifted far above the common lot of men. Of +his mother it is said by those who knew her well that she was +one of the most accomplished and at the same time most +domestic, sensible, and practical of women. Of his father's +influence and teaching, to say nothing of his lofty example, +we have the striking proofs, if any were needed, in letters that +have been published. Let me cull but an occasional expression +from these unaffected outpourings of the heart of Robert E.<span class='pagenum'>[58]<a name="Page_58" id="Page_58"></a></span> +Lee toward the son he loved so well. "My precious Roon," as +he was wont to call him.</p> + +<p>When the boy was not yet ten years of age he closes a playful +letter, adapted to such tender years, with these earnest words:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Be true, kind, and generous, and pray earnestly to God to enable you to keep His +commandments and to walk in the same all the days of your life.</p></div> + +<p>A year later, writing from the ship <i>Massachusetts</i>, off Lobos, +to his two sons, a letter full of interest to boys, he urges them +to diligence in study:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>I shall not feel my long separation from you if I find that my absence has been of +no injury to you, and that you have both grown in goodness and knowledge as well as +in stature; but how I shall suffer on my return if the reverse has occurred. You enter +into all my thoughts, into all my prayers, and on you in part will depend whether I +shall be happy or miserable, as you know how much I love you.</p></div> + +<p>Ten years later, when the son had become a lieutenant in the +Army, he admonishes him:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>I hope you will always be distinguished for your avoidance of the universal bane +whisky and every immorality. Nor need you fear to be ruled out of the society that +indulges in it, for you will acquire their esteem and respect, as all venerate, if they do +not practice, virtue. I hope you will make many friends, as you will be thrown with +those who deserve this feeling. But indiscriminate intimacies you will find annoying +and entangling, and they can be avoided by politeness and civility. When I think of +your youth, impulsiveness, and many temptations, your distance from me, and the ease +(and even innocence) with which you might commence an erroneous course, my heart +quails within me and my whole frame and being tremble at the possible results. May +Almighty God have you in His holy keeping. To His merciful providence I commit +you, and I will rely upon Him and the efficacy of the prayers that will be daily and +hourly offered up by those who love you.</p></div> + +<p>A year or two later, on New Year's Day, 1859, he writes:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>I always thought there was stuff in you for a good soldier and I trust you will prove +it. I can not express the gratification I felt, in meeting Col. May in New York, at the +encomium he passed upon your soldiership, your zeal, and your devotion to your duty. +But I was more pleased at the report of your conduct; that went more to my heart and +was of infinite comfort to me. Hold on to your purity and virtue; they will proudly +sustain you in all trials and difficulties and cheer you in every calamity.</p></div> + +<p>So, too, when the young lieutenant had married and settled +down a typical Virginian farmer upon the estate left him by +<span class='pagenum'>[59]<a name="Page_59" id="Page_59"></a></span>his grandfather Custis, the well-known "White House" on +the Pamunkey, the home of Martha Washington:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>I am glad to hear that your mechanics are all paid off and that you have managed +your funds so well as to have enough for your purposes. As you have commenced, I +hope you will continue never to exceed your means. It will save you much anxiety +and mortification and enable you to maintain your independence of character and feeling. +It is easier to make our wishes conform to our means than to make our means +conform to our wishes. In fact, we want but little. Our happiness depends upon our +independence, the success of our operations, prosperity of our plans, health, contentment, +and the esteem of our friends, all of which, my dear son, I hope you may enjoy to the +full.</p></div> + +<p>With such counsels, glowing with a father's love and enforced +by the constant example of a father's life, it is no wonder that +the son grew into the manliness, the gentleness and modesty, +the charitableness of judgment, the unconspicuous and patient +devotion to duty, and the personal lovableness of Gen. <span class="smcap">Lee</span>.</p> + +<p>Mr. Speaker, I might say much more from the promptings +of a strong and unfeigned affection and from a sense of the public +merits of our late colleague, but where there are so many to +speak, it is not necessary for one to attempt a catalogue of his +private virtues and of his public services.</p> + +<p>Perhaps I may fitly add a word in closing as to Gen. <span class="smcap">Lee</span>'s +military career. From a captain of volunteer cavalry he rose +on his own merits at the age of twenty-six to the rank of major-general. +I have not searched the annals of war to recite his +military history, for it is not the soldier that I have been commemorating, +but I may recall a testimony not improper to be +placed on record here to-day. I happened to be in company with +Gen. Joseph E. Johnston about the time that Gen. <span class="smcap">Lee</span> was first +nominated for Congress. The old commander, who, as all +know, was not given to effusive speech, expressed to me his +hearty gratification at the event, and in doing so his high estimate +of Gen. <span class="smcap">Lee</span> as a man and of his ability as a soldier. His +<span class='pagenum'>[60]<a name="Page_60" id="Page_60"></a></span>praise was strong and unstinted, and no one will question its +sincerity. Mr. Speaker, what more need I add than to say that +in all the acts and relations of life, as son and soldier, as husband +and father, as private citizen and as Representative of the +people, as friend and as Christian, our departed colleague left a +memory we may well cherish and an example we may well +follow.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Address_of_Mr_Cummings_of_New_York" id="Address_of_Mr_Cummings_of_New_York"></a><span class="smcap">Address of Mr. Cummings, of New York</span>.</h2> + + +<p>Mr. <span class="smcap">Speaker</span>: Great as is our country, its history is comparatively +brief. Though brief, it is exceedingly instructive. +So far as there can be an outcome in ever-recurring events, it +is the outcome of a tremendous social and political struggle. +Sir, it hardly suits the occasion to refer to the origin of this +struggle or to trace its progress, but the effort for popular government +is discernible through many centuries. As we come +nearer to our time it becomes more intelligent and determined. +Our great Declaration was its best pronunciamento. Our written +Constitution was its most concise expression. The events +that produced them founded a normal school for patriotism. +In it was perfected a new departure. Fealty to lord and king +was supplanted by fealty to human rights. Proclaimed in +the council chamber, these rights had to be won in the field. +Yorktown completed our first endeavor at nation-making; +we graduated masters at Appomattox. The first proclaimed +the prowess of the Confederation, the second testified to the +strength of the Union. Both astonished the world. Both +transpired in Virginia.</p> + +<p>Conspicuous in this analogue of our history were the Lees of +Virginia. They have a lineage too illustrious for praise. Its +<span class='pagenum'>[61]<a name="Page_61" id="Page_61"></a></span>escutcheons are too bright for adornment. It reaches back for +centuries loyal to honor and to truth. Him we mourn to-day +was a gifted scion of that great name. His highest distinction +was won in Confederate arms.</p> + +<p>Thank God, I can now speak of our civil war with satisfaction +and not with reluctance. I allude to it with a satisfaction +akin to that one feels in gazing upon a plain fertilized by an +inundation. Flowers spring up, birds sing, and golden grain +nods in the sunlight. But our civil war was more like an +upheaval than like a deluge. It shook every timber in the +grand structure with which we had surprised the world. Other +governments have fallen of their own weight; our matchless +edifice could not be shattered by an explosion.</p> + +<p>Both contestants stood guard over the popular principle and +would not let it be mined. They were instructed in the same +school and by the same teacher. Local privilege was as strong +with the one as with the other. The dispute was whether the +Union should endure the strain of the race and slavery issue. +The long and vexing argument was adjourned to the battlefield. +In no other respect was our system even threatened. This +close connection at the root made the angry divergence begin +to assimilate at the very outset.</p> + +<p>So kindred was it, that when Grant met his heroic opponent +at Appomattox he says that he fell into such a reunion with +him that he had twice to be reminded of the occasion that +brought them together. He then conformed to it, and treated +those who surrendered not as conquered, but as reclaimed. +Lincoln went further. He found a Confederate legislature +ready-made to his hand, and promptly permitted it to repair +the situation. In thus mingling the gray with the blue he +was neither color-blind nor purblind. He knew what he was +<span class='pagenum'>[62]<a name="Page_62" id="Page_62"></a></span>doing. He desired to blend them, as emblematic of a more +perfect Union. Possibly the Confederate legislature suited his +purpose best.</p> + +<p>After this testimonial it looks to me something like treason +to that great name to try to exclude Confederate worth from +the annals of the strife or from the glory of its grand consummation. +Neither act nor actor can be profitably spared.</p> + +<p>Mr. Speaker, the other day in this very Hall I laid a chaplet +on the bier of a dead comrade. To-day I am trying to commemorate +the virtues of a Confederate colleague. Both died +while members of this House. That both were my countrymen +warms my heart. As my countrymen I can make no +invidious distinction. If living neither would permit it, and +he is more reckless than I who would profane the memory of +either.</p> + +<p>Mr. Speaker, I have said that I could speak of the civil +war with satisfaction and not with reluctance. The occasion +prompted me to say so. The occasion requires that, as a Union +soldier, I should state my reasons. We learn from experience, +and war is the toughest kind of experience. When it raised +its horrid front and began its work of seeming devastation, we +shrank back from its terrible promise. The world looked to +see us dismembered; but the great Republic, like a daring +cruiser, emerged from the tempest sound from keel to truck. +Not a brace swung loose, not a plank was sprung, no spar was +shivered. Within there had to be readjustment. Aloft the +Stars and Stripes rose and fell in graceful recognition of the +trial. The thunder of her broadsides proclaimed the value of +this object-lesson in nation-making.</p> + +<p>We had learned a juster appreciation of ourselves as a whole +people, and if this were all, it was worth the tuition. But we +<span class='pagenum'>[63]<a name="Page_63" id="Page_63"></a></span>had besides garnered into our storehouse of knowledge vast +consignments for the use of liberal economic government. We +had infused into our laws, our language, and our institutions +new vigor for conquest and for human enlightenment. Venality, +that dogs great efforts, undoubtedly there was. But the high +tide of the conflict showed no mercenary taint. On both sides +it was urged from the highest motives of patriotism and of +honor and in defense of the popular principle. That principle +with us means local self-government and representative +union. The rebel yell was because they thought local government +in peril. The Federal huzza was for representative +union. Together they were cheering the same deeply embedded +sentiment.</p> + +<p>Those who would study the phenomenon must remember +that where opinions approximate on parallel lines, but from +some interest or sentiment refuse to coalesce, the passions are +liable to ignite. Fusion then takes place in a terrible heat. +The heat must be sufficient to remove the obstacles that the +mass may become unified. We have as a result a firmly established +representative union of local self-governments. The +cooling and finishing process has left no flaw. Sir, what sort +of a soldier must he be who is not proud of having been tempered +in such a trial? If after the unmatched tournament this +is not the spirit of victor and vanquished, then the lights of +chivalry are burnt out and magnanimity is no more.</p> + +<p>Mr. Speaker, I know of no greater praise of a life than to +say it was one of honest endeavor. Whatever faculties comprise +it, this is the scope of human duty. When to this is added +a conscience adequate to all the suggestions of a great and busy +career, the sum of human excellence has been reached All +this I believe in my soul can be truthfully said of <span class="smcap">"Rooney"</span><span class='pagenum'>[64]<a name="Page_64" id="Page_64"></a></span> +<span class="smcap">Lee</span>. "Rooney" was his father's term of endearment, which +all who knew him, without distinction of age, race, or sex, delighted +to apply to him when absent. When present, it was +always "general." A thorough soldier, there was an idyllic +strain in his nature. He was essentially rural in his tastes. +He loved the wheat fields and tobacco plantations of his native +State. Its very air seemed to inspire him.</p> + +<p>The Blue Ridge was to him the perfection of natural beauty. +He was warm in his friendships and true to his kinships. Always +dignified, there was a heartiness in his greetings that was +irresistible. He was as broad as his acres. Riding or driving +over his vast estate or in its vicinity, his cheerful halloo rang +in the ears of those who had not seen him, and the cheery swing +of his hat, though paid to all, was a cherished compliment. If +the spirit of mortal be proud, it was not his spirit. Courteous, +sympathetic, unobtrusive, patriotic, knightly, and beneficent, +he was a part of the soil of Virginia itself. He had the loving +hospitality that would take all into the march of progress. How +much of these qualities was innate, how much he drew from his +high lineage, how much from the teachings of his illustrious +father, can never be known, but he blended them in a halo that +will not soon fade from his memory.</p> + +<p>Sir, others have spoken of the incidents of his life and of his +unabated fidelity to its claims. I can not add to his record. I +have met him in battle array; I have embraced him with a soldier's +warmth. We entered Congress together; we have fought +here side by side. It has fallen to my lot to eulogize him. This +I will venture: It would mar the catalogue of bright names of +which America is so proud if his were omitted from the roll.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'>[65]<a name="Page_65" id="Page_65"></a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Address_of_Mr_Cowles_of_North_Carolina" id="Address_of_Mr_Cowles_of_North_Carolina"></a><span class="smcap">Address of Mr. Cowles, of North Carolina</span>.</h2> + + +<p>Mr. <span class="smcap">Speaker</span>: Truly "in the midst of life we are in death." +There is scarcely one of the associates and colleagues of Gen. +<span class="smcap">William H.F. Lee</span> who knew him here and up to the closing +days of the late Congress who would have been deterred by the +thought of personal risk from exchanging the chances of life or +death with him for a few months; and yet, in so short a time +the dread summoner, who soon or late is to call us all, has taken +him from this life into that which fadeth not, neither does it die.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The hand of the reaper<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Takes the ears that are hoary,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But the voice of the weeper<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Wails manhood in glory.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The autumn winds rushing<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Waft the leaves that are searest,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But our flower was in flushing<br /></span> +<span class="i2">When blighting was nearest.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Yes, death, the unsolved and unsolvable mystery, has enveloped +him, and he has passed from our view never more to be +seen and known of men on this earth. But yesterday the living, +moving, brave, sympathetic, generous friend, and now, alas, +but a memory—and yet a memory dear to all who knew and +appreciated his noble attributes of heart and mind; a memory +which has left its impress upon his fellow-men for nobility of +character; a memory which can not wholly fade, but must influence +for good not only his own immediate posterity, but all +those who may come after him.</p> + +<p>My acquaintance with Gen. <span class="smcap">Lee</span> began in the early part of +the war between the States. It was upon a night march, as we +rode with the advance guard of the army, where we might expect +<span class='pagenum'>[66]<a name="Page_66" id="Page_66"></a></span>at any moment a hostile volley. He related to me in a low +impressive tone of voice an experience which had occurred to +him when his command by reason of surprise had met with +some disaster. What impressed me most at the time was that, +although others must have been to some extent culpable, he +took all the blame upon himself, and had not a word of complaint +for either officer or man who served under him.</p> + +<p>This trait of magnanimity, such a splendid companion to +personal courage, I found afterwards to be characteristic of the +man.</p> + +<p>Though springing from a long line of heroic and patriotic +ancestors, he had not a particle of pretentious pride, but to all +men, privates in the ranks as well as officers, so that they were +but brave and good soldiers, he always found "time enough for +courtesy." He never tried to appropriate another man's laurels, +but he possessed in a high degree that quality of courage +which is so well described by Emerson:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Courage, the highest gift, that scorns to bend<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To mean devices for a sordid end.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Courage, an independent spark from Heaven's bright throne,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By which the soul stands raised, triumphant, high, alone.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Great in itself, not praises of the crowd,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Above all vice, it stoops not to be proud.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Courage, the mighty attribute of powers above,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By which those great in war are great in love.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The spring of all brave acts is seated here,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As falsehoods draw their sordid birth from fear.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>In his friendship he was gentle and tender as one who is full +of love and human sympathy. You might have thought him +better fitted for the paths of peace, and yet upon the battlefield +he was brave as the bravest. Whenever and wherever duty +called him his personal safety was by him never considered. +Often have I seen him in the thickest of the fight, by his presence +<span class='pagenum'>[67]<a name="Page_67" id="Page_67"></a></span>and personal direction cheering and encouraging both +officers and men. Though the son of the general in chief of +the army, he took no favor by it.</p> + +<p>He never took advantage of his rank to keep to the rear and +send his regiments in. You could always measure his estimate +of you by the manner in which he met you. The soul of candor, +his heart shone in his eye, and placing a high estimate +upon manhood, he loved all in whom he recognized it. For +about two years during the latter part of the war I served in his +command, and had every opportunity to observe and know him.</p> + +<p>My acquaintance with him here was but a revival of old +memories. I always loved him as one who—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Spake no slander; no, nor listened to it.</span> +<hr style='width: 15em; margin-left: 0em; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;' /> +<span class="i0">Who reverenced his conscience as his king.</span> +</div></div> + +<p>Who, if he committed an error or wronged any man, was swift +to redress it; never laying his blame at another man's door. +Who excelled in all the virtues which go to make up a beautiful +private life in all the essentials of faithful friendship and +truthful character; who lived—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i6">Thro' all this tract of years,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wearing the white flower of a blameless life.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Think for a moment how much better and happier every one +would be if all men were earnestly to strive to live up to this +high standard and how much of pain would be spared the +world. He was one of the most faithful members upon this +floor; faithful to the public interest, and whenever any proposition +was under consideration which specially concerned his +own people, they always had in him an able advocate and +strong defender.</p> + +<p>He is gone! sincere Christian, loving husband and father, +<span class='pagenum'>[68]<a name="Page_68" id="Page_68"></a></span>trusted friend. The life that was given him has been taken +away. The widow and the orphan mourn, and their grief is +our grief; but a merciful Father has given him more than he +has taken away, and this strength and comfort through the +tender mercy of our Saviour is theirs—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>I am the resurrection, and the life, he that believeth in me, though he were dead, +yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.</p></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Address_of_Mr_Breckinridge_of_Kentucky" id="Address_of_Mr_Breckinridge_of_Kentucky"></a><span class="smcap">Address of Mr. Breckinridge, of Kentucky</span>.</h2> + + +<p>Mr. <span class="smcap">Speaker</span>: I never had the pleasure of Gen. <span class="smcap">Lee</span>'s +acquaintance, so far as I could recall, until he entered this +House as a Representative of the district which lies just across +the river; but there were many things in common between us +which soon caused a kindliness of feeling much warmer +than the frequency of our association would indicate. It happened +that we were almost of the same age, born within a few +weeks of each other, and that on all great questions of the day +we were singularly alike in our opinions, and, if I may use such +an expression, even in our prejudices.</p> + +<p>Amid all the trials of life we two found we had adhered to +simple beliefs of those Southern homes in which we were the +reared; that no advance in civilization, no pretense of progress, +had ever obscured our views as to the olden beliefs and the +simpler truths which had been inwrought into our being by +the venerable fathers and beloved mothers with whom we had +been blessed. The substratum of our beliefs was precisely the +same. And we found that we were not ashamed of that substratum, +that we were not given to apologizing for adhering to +so-called "obsolete" traditions or to creeds "that were passing +out of fashion."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'>[69]<a name="Page_69" id="Page_69"></a></span>We also found that on the political questions of the day we +were similarly in accord. We believed in the same political +principles. And so it was a very rare occurrence that when +the roll was called in this House we were not found voting, +even on what seemed to be trivial matters, upon the same side. +It was not strange that with these coincidences of belief and +with our having both served in the Confederate army and the +local accident of the nearness of our seats which threw us +together, there grew up a regard greater than was indicated by +our association outside of this Hall.</p> + +<p>If I were to select in my acquaintance him who, as much as +any other, deserved the title, I would say of Gen. <span class="smcap">Lee</span> that he +was a gentleman. All that had concurred in producing him +was of the best. The blood which gave him life, the soil out +of which he grew, the kindly influences which always surrounded +him, the molding powers to which he had been subjected—all +were of the noblest. A son of such houses, reared +at such knees, influenced by such powers, he passed early under +the influences of Harvard. Later he took his young experience +as a soldier under Albert Sidney Johnston. He began +his civil life in a delicious home, with the love of an exquisite +young wife. And in the Confederate service he was associated +with the best and the bravest volunteers of the Old Dominion +herself.</p> + +<p>It was not strange that the product of such influences should +be a gentleman. All that was courageous, all that was loyal +to truth, all that was courteous to those with whom he came +in contact, all that was gentle and kindly was not only the +heritage which he received with his name and his blood, but +it was developed by all the environments which he was so +fortunate as to have surround him. If I were to select a character +<span class='pagenum'>[70]<a name="Page_70" id="Page_70"></a></span>of which it might be said that it was round, without angles, +even without salient points, it would be his—not because +he was weak, but because the calmness, the serenity, and the +magnificence (if I may use a word that seems to be hyperbolic) +of the equipoise of his qualities made each of them seem less +important than it would have seemed if other qualities had +been less.</p> + +<p>It would not be extravagant to apply to him the paraphrase +of the apostolic description of a Christian gentleman—loving +without dissimulation; abhorring the evil; cleaving to the +honorable; preferring to confer honor rather than to receive it; +earnest in the work of life, and careful of time and opportunity +to labor; hopeful of all good; patient in tribulation; forbearing +to resent trespass; charitable in thought and word, as in deed; +given to hospitality; at peace with his own conscience and with +God.</p> + +<p>We live, Mr. Speaker, in a heroic age. I constantly hear +of this being an age of materialism, of the worship of the +"almighty dollar." I challenge all the past, in all the endeavors +of man, to reach a higher level, to equal the heroism +of the age in which we have been called to perform our part—the +devotion to duty, the readiness to make sacrifices, the willingness +to give all for the truth which have marked our generation—the +era in which we have to act our part.</p> + +<p>This simple, kindly, unaffected, modest gentleman; this +man, with his sweet calm smile, who met us every day, passing +in and out with a certain reticence of modesty, was himself +but the type of the age in which he lived and of the people +from whom he sprang. All modest as he was, he had +given up everything at the call of duty. All simple and +kindly as he seemed to be, he had at the head of charging +<span class='pagenum'>[71]<a name="Page_71" id="Page_71"></a></span>squadrons captured cannon, and with more heroic endurance +had lain without complaint in the cell of solitary confinement. +He carried about with him in the simple modesty of his everyday +life the heart that at a moment's notice was ready to still +its beating at the call of duty; and with the same simplicity, +with the same freedom from ostentation, with the same delicious +smile, he would have walked into the jaws of death if it +had become him as a gentleman to do so.</p> + +<p>To live in such an age, to be associated with such men—and, +thank God, they are not uncommon amongst us—the bar at +which I practice, the tables at which I sit in the kindliness of +social intercourse, the men with whom I have been blessed +enough to be called into contact, the very strangers who call +on business at my house, rank among them men just like unto +him. I say to live in such an age, to be associated with such +men, to play a part, however obscure, in such drama, make +life worth the living; make the hereafter nobler for him who +has been so blessed.</p> + +<p>Mr. Speaker, to-day, in the midst of this the ending of the +nineteenth century, we who will soon pass away, we who are +but the remnants of a generation of war, can proudly hand over +to those who shall come after us the example of lives that in +war feared nothing but God, in peace strove for nothing but +the good of the people.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'>[72]<a name="Page_72" id="Page_72"></a></span></p><p><span class='pagenum'>[73]<a name="Page_73" id="Page_73"></a></span></p> +<h2><a name="PROCEEDINGS_IN_THE_SENATE" id="PROCEEDINGS_IN_THE_SENATE"></a>PROCEEDINGS IN THE SENATE.</h2> + + +<h2>EULOGIES.</h2> + +<p class="right5"> +<span class="smcap">March</span> 4, 1892.<br /> +</p> + +<p>The <span class="smcap">Vice-President</span>. The Chair lays before the Senate +resolutions from the House of Representatives, which will be +read.</p> + +<p>The resolutions were read, as follows:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">In the House of Representatives</span>, <i>February 6, 1892.</i></p> + +<p><i>Resolved</i>, That the business of the House be now suspended, that opportunity be +given for tributes to the memory of Hon. <span class="smcap">William Henry Fitzhugh Lee</span>, late a +Representative from the State of Virginia.</p> + +<p><i>Resolved</i>, As a further mark of respect to the memory of the deceased, and in recognition +of his eminent abilities as a distinguished public servant, that the House, at the +conclusion of these memorial proceedings, shall stand adjourned.</p> + +<p><i>Resolved</i>, That the Clerk communicate these resolutions to the Senate.</p></div> + +<p>Mr. <span class="smcap">Barbour</span>. Mr. President, I offer the resolutions which I +send to the desk.</p> + +<p>The <span class="smcap">Vice-president</span>. The resolutions will be read.</p> + +<p>The resolutions were read, as follows:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><i>Resolved</i>, That the Senate has heard with profound sorrow the announcement of the +death of Hon. <span class="smcap">William H.F. Lee</span>, late a Representative from the State of Virginia.</p> + +<p><i>Resolved</i>, That the business of the Senate be now suspended, in order that fitting +tribute may be paid to his memory.</p> + +<p><i>Resolved</i>, That as an additional mark of respect the Senate shall, at the conclusion +of these ceremonies, adjourn.</p></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'>[74]<a name="Page_74" id="Page_74"></a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Address_of_Mr_Barbour_of_Virginia" id="Address_of_Mr_Barbour_of_Virginia"></a><span class="smcap">Address of Mr. Barbour, of Virginia</span>.</h2> + + +<p>Mr. <span class="smcap">President</span>: The resolutions just read were passed by the +House of Representatives on the 6th day of February last in +respect to the memory of <span class="smcap">William H.F. Lee</span>, deceased, late +a member of that body from the Eighth Congressional district +of Virginia.</p> + +<p>Before asking the Senate to adopt the resolutions it is incumbent +upon me, as one of the Senators from Virginia, as it is in +harmony with my own personal feelings, to submit some remarks +in explanation of their purpose and object; a sad and +mournful duty to be performed on my part.</p> + +<p>Gen. <span class="smcap">Lee</span> was my immediate successor in the House of Representatives, +and served with ability and efficiency in both the +Fiftieth and Fifty-first Congresses. He was reëlected to the +present Congress, but his career was arrested by that higher +and supreme Power to which we must all yield, and on the 15th +of October, 1891, he departed this life at his home in the county +of Fairfax, and in the midst of his family and friends.</p> + +<p>I do not consider it necessary in this presence or on this occasion +to go into much detail touching the life and character of +the deceased.</p> + +<p>The full and eloquent tributes paid to his memory in the +House of Representatives show the high appreciation in which +he was held by his associates in that body, and express in far +more fitting terms than I could employ their estimate of his +character, services, and virtues.</p> + +<p>Gen. <span class="smcap">Lee</span> came from a distinguished lineage. Two of the +family signed our Magna Charta, the Declaration of Independence, +<span class='pagenum'>[75]<a name="Page_75" id="Page_75"></a></span>and another was Attorney-General under Gen. Washington.</p> + +<p>On the paternal side he could refer to his distinguished grandfather, +Gen. Henry Lee, of the Revolutionary army, who was +known as Light-Horse Harry, the commandant of Lee's Legion, +so conspicuous in the annals of that period. His maternal +grandfather was the late G.W. Parke Custis, of Arlington, the +stepson of Gen. Washington, and familiarly called in his day +the child of Mount Vernon.</p> + +<p>His father, Gen. R.E. Lee, the chief military figure on his +side in the late civil war, was too well known for comment at +my hands. It is the boast of some of the old baronial families +of England that their ancestors rode with William the Conqueror +at Hastings. To a certain extent the pride of ancestry +is an ennobling sentiment, and Virginians must be pardoned +when tempted to refer to the illustrious names which their +State in the past has furnished to the nation. The name of Lee +has been a household word in Virginia for three generations of +men. In the death of Gen. <span class="smcap">William H.F. Lee</span> the State has +lost one of her truest and worthiest sons and the Federal Government +a faithful and patriotic Representative.</p> + +<p>Although acquainted personally with Gen. <span class="smcap">Lee</span> for many +years, it was only within a year or two before his death that I +had the opportunity to appreciate fully the high personal qualities +of the man and to understand the real nobility of his +nature. The more I saw of him the higher became my respect +and admiration. He grew upon me with closer contact and +more intimate association.</p> + +<p>I was greatly impressed with his invariable courtesy of manner +and great amiability and kindness of heart, to which was +added a knightly bearing and cordiality of greeting which, +<span class='pagenum'>[76]<a name="Page_76" id="Page_76"></a></span>combined, made Gen. <span class="smcap">Lee</span> with all classes of society an imposing +and attractive figure.</p> + +<p>He has gone to his last resting place, mourned by his family +and friends and lamented by an extensive acquaintance throughout +the country. He had filled the measure of his duties in +every respect, and was entitled, as he passed from the stage of +action, to the plaudit, "Well done, good and faithful servant."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Address_of_Mr_Pasco_of_Florida" id="Address_of_Mr_Pasco_of_Florida"></a><span class="smcap">Address of Mr. Pasco, of Florida</span>.</h2> + + +<p>Mr. <span class="smcap">President</span>: My acquaintance with <span class="smcap">William Henry +Fitzhugh Lee</span> commenced in the summer of 1854, when we +met at Cambridge as members of the new freshman class at +Harvard College. He was just then entering his eighteenth +year, was well grown for his age, tall, vigorous, and robust, +open and frank in his address, kind and genial in his manners. +He entered upon his college life with many advantages in his +favor. The name of Lee was already upon the rolls of the +university, for other representatives of different branches of the +family had entered and graduated in the years gone by and had +left pleasant memories behind them. His distinguished lineage +made him a welcome guest in the older families of the +University city, and of Boston, its near neighbor, who felt a +just pride in the historic and traditional associations connected +with the earlier history of the country, and many of the influential +members of the class belonged to such families.</p> + +<p>He was rather older than the average age of his classmates, +and his life had been spent amid surroundings that had enabled +him to see a good deal of society and the world, so that he +brought with him into his college life a more matured mind +<span class='pagenum'>[77]<a name="Page_77" id="Page_77"></a></span>and a greater insight than the student usually possesses at the +threshold of his career. He had enjoyed excellent advantages +in preparing for the entering examinations, and was well +grounded in the languages as well as mathematics, so that he +entered the class well fitted for the course of study to be pursued. +Thus, from the first, he was prominent in the university, +and soon became popular among his classmates, and his +prominence and popularity were maintained during his stay +among us.</p> + +<p>This was due not to superior distinction in any particular +study or in any one feature of college life, but rather to his +general standing and characteristics. He kept pace with his +classmates in the recitation room, not so much by hard and +continuous study as by his quick comprehension and ready +grasp of the subject in hand and the general fund of knowledge +at his command. He was of a friendly and companionable +nature, and there were abundant opportunities in a large +class to develop this disposition, cultivate social intercourse, +and strengthen the bonds of good fellowship. He had been +accustomed to an outdoor life in his Virginia home, and his +manly training had given him an athletic frame which required +constant and vigorous exercise. This he sought in active sports +on the football ground and in the class and college boat clubs, +where he was welcomed as a valuable auxiliary.</p> + +<p>In a large university—and Harvard had gained that rank even +as far back as those days—there are various fields of action, +and other honors are recognized than those marked on the catalogue +or contained in the degrees. The graduate who excels +in mathematics, the languages, the arts and sciences, is decked +with the highest honor on commencement day, but there are +unwritten honors given by general consent of classmates to +<span class='pagenum'>[78]<a name="Page_78" id="Page_78"></a></span>those who have developed a superiority in any mental or physical +excellence. When in after life the members of a class +meet on some public college anniversary or gather together at +a reunion and the memories and traditions of college life are +talked over anew, the merits of those who excelled in pleasant +companionship, in kindly bearing, in generous conduct towards +their associates, in outdoor games and sports requiring strength +and dexterity, are pleasant subjects to dwell upon, even if the +possessors failed to stand among the highest upon the roll of +scholarship.</p> + +<p>Thus it was that <span class="smcap">Lee</span> established himself among his associates +during the three years that he remained among us, and +though he contented himself with a medium standing in scholarship +and exhibited no ambition to gain a high rank upon the +college rolls, he won the regard and confidence and respect of +all his classmates and held a warm place in the hearts of those +with whom he was most intimate.</p> + +<p>Towards the close of our junior year, in the early part of +1857, upon the recommendation of Gen. Winfield Scott, he +received a commission as second lieutenant in the Army, and +was assigned to the Sixth Regiment of Infantry, which was +ordered into active service on the Western frontier, and took +part in the expedition to Utah which was commanded by Col. +Albert Sidney Johnston. <span class="smcap">Lee</span> accepted this appointment, +closed his connection with the college, and our paths in life +diverged for more than thirty years.</p> + +<p>In 1887 we both became members of the Fiftieth Congress. +I well remember his coming to me, with kindly face and outstretched +hand, on the first day of our session in December, as I +sat in my seat in this Chamber, expressing pleasure at meeting +me after so many years of separation and satisfaction that we +<span class='pagenum'>[79]<a name="Page_79" id="Page_79"></a></span>were to have opportunities of renewing the acquaintance and +friendship of our early days. Though the exacting duties of +Congressional life gave me fewer opportunities of associating +with him than I could have wished, yet I saw much of him during +the years we spent here together, and I shall always remember +those occasions with satisfaction. Sometimes it was only a +word in passing, a shake of the hand, a brief conference on public +business, but whether the interview was brief or prolonged +his manner and conduct were always kind and friendly and +sincere.</p> + +<p>While we were together in Congress he often referred to our +college life and its associations, and remembered them with evident +satisfaction. He became a member of the Harvard Club +here in Washington, and I recall a pleasant evening when he +was one of the after-dinner speakers there. In the summer of +1888 he went to Cambridge, to revisit the old scenes and once +more meet his friends and associates of the olden time. He +attended the commencement exercises and spoke pleasantly at +the class supper. His classmates who then met him will long +cherish the remembrance of that last visit, his hearty greetings, +his cordial manners, the interest he manifested.</p> + +<p>The renewal of our acquaintance soon satisfied me that the +experience of life had strengthened and developed all that was +good and noble and manly in the young student. The same +warmth and cordiality which had endeared him to his classmates +won the regard and affection of his associates here. The +same general ability and rotundity of character which had made +him prominent in the little world of college life made him useful +and influential in various lines of duty in the wide field of +Congressional legislation.</p> + +<p>During the intervening years the manly bearing, the physical +<span class='pagenum'>[80]<a name="Page_80" id="Page_80"></a></span>superiority, the nobility of spirit which had characterized +him in the earlier days had made him a leader among men +when the storm of war raged over the land. Brief as were the +days of the unacknowledged Southern Confederacy, his name +was enrolled in bright letters upon the pages of its history, +and his brave deeds will in future days be chronicled in song +and story by those who admire true courage and recognize all +that was gallant and noble and heroic in the lives of all those +who fought on both sides of our great struggle as worthy of +preservation and commemoration.</p> + +<p>When <span class="smcap">Lee</span> first left college his military duties, as has been +already stated, carried him to the far West, and he there saw +some rough service. The Utah expedition was a training +school for soldiers and generals, and many who afterwards +gained renown and fame, under the different standards were +there associated together in a common duty. Besides the leader +and commander, Col. Johnston, were Robert E. Lee, Hardee, +Thomas, Kirby Smith, Palmer, Stoneman, Fitz Lee, and Hood. +When the Army first entered upon this service there was a small +cloud of war in the horizon, but it soon cleared away, and the +company to which <span class="smcap">Lee</span> was attached was assigned to a dull and +monotonous routine of garrison life. This possessed no attractions +for the young lieutenant, and there were other influences +drawing him towards his native State. He resigned his commission, +returned to Virginia, and settled at the White House, +in New Kent County, where George Washington had married +the widow Custis.</p> + +<p>The plantation had descended to her son, George Washington +Parke Custis, and from him through <span class="smcap">Lee</span>'s mother to the +grandson. He soon established his cousin, Miss Wickham, as +queen of this historic home, and he was here with his little +<span class='pagenum'>[81]<a name="Page_81" id="Page_81"></a></span>family amid these surroundings, with everything to make life +attractive, when Virginia and her sister States of the South +passed their ordinances of secession and sent delegates to +Montgomery to unite in the attempt to form a Southern Confederacy. +<span class="smcap">Lee</span> never doubted that allegiance was due first to +his State, and when war followed he drew his sword in defense +of Virginia.</p> + +<p>As long as the strife continued he avoided no danger, he +shunned no peril, he feared no adversary.</p> + +<p>Now with a company, now a squadron, now a regiment, now +a brigade, now a division of cavalry behind him, he went upon +the march, formed the line of battle, or rode into the enemy's +lines. Whatever duty was assigned to him, he entered upon its +discharge with energy and vigor. In the varying fortunes of +war he was wounded, captured, held as a hostage; but the day +of recovery and exchange came, and he once more headed the +brave followers who loved and honored and trusted him, and +during the last year of the struggle he again shared their +hardships and privations and dangers. But the end came at +last, the issue was settled, the arbitrament of war was decided +adversely, and he sheathed his sword and returned to the place +where his home had been.</p> + +<p>The year 1865 marked a low ebb in the fortunes of the +Southern people, and perhaps it may not be unprofitable to +dwell briefly upon their conduct when under the shadow of +defeat and disaster. The distinguished father of him to whose +memory we are this day paying tribute went from the head of +a great army to train the new generation of young men of the +South in the halls of a university to usefulness in the various +walks of citizenship. The students who enjoyed the privilege +of sitting at the feet of this grand college president there +<span class='pagenum'>[82]<a name="Page_82" id="Page_82"></a></span>learned lessons of patriotism. They were advised to build up +the places left waste and desolate, and to look hopefully forward +to a reunited country and a more prosperous future.</p> + +<p>Whatever public disappointment or private grief or loss he +suffered was buried in his own breast. He advised his countrymen +that the great questions which had long divided the +country, and upon which opinions had been so diverse that +legislative debate and administrative action had failed in finding +a solution, had been finally settled by the sword, and that +henceforth their duty was to the Union restored and indissoluble.</p> + +<p>With so illustrious an example the immediate restoration of +peace and good order all over the South is not to be wondered +at. The annals of all nations may be searched in vain for a +parallel. It is an easy task for men who have accomplished all +they desired to lay down their arms and return to their homes +and resume their former avocations.</p> + +<p>The Southern soldier did all this after failure and defeat. +The cause was lost; his efforts availed nothing. The homes +of many were in ashes; sorrow was in every household; many +were stripped of their all. The labor system of the country +was destroyed; commerce was dead. Many had not seed to +plant their lands. The workshop, the manufactory, the shipyard +were silent as the grave. The arts of peace seemed to +have perished. The soldiers were disbanded without the means +of reaching their homes, and the few survivors of those who +went forth with bright hopes, proud and confident in their +strength, returned one by one weary and footsore and disheartened.</p> + +<p>The history of other nations would have suggested to the +historian that the result must be open riots and secret assassinations, +<span class='pagenum'>[83]<a name="Page_83" id="Page_83"></a></span>a reign of violence and terror, years of turbulence +and lawlessness, before society would settle down to its former +condition. But how different was the result. The parole upon +which the soldier was released was in no instance violated. +The situation was accepted without a murmur or complaint. +The laws were obeyed. The terms imposed were acceded to. +Soon the busy hum of industry was heard through the land. +The arts of peace were revived. Agriculture and trade once +again flourished, and our fair country began to bloom again +into something like its old-time beauty and prosperity.</p> + +<p>There were few Southern soldiers who returned to a greater +desolation than did our late associate, Gen. <span class="smcap">Lee</span>. Fate seemed +to have done its worst. The beloved wife and the two dear +children who had made his home at the "White House" a +paradise had died in 1863, while he was held as a prisoner and +a hostage at Fort Lafayette and Fort Monroe. The place +had been occupied by Union troops; the mansion, with all its +surroundings, had been destroyed by fire, and, as has been well +said by another, there was "not a blade of grass left to mark +the culture of more than a hundred years." Had he been an +ordinary man he would have sunk with the load of sorrow and +trouble which weighed him down. But he had a brave heart, +which defeat and affliction and disaster with united effort could +not conquer.</p> + +<p>With the same noble spirit which had actuated his father, +the elder Lee, he threw aside his discouragement and took up +the duties of life and citizenship anew. He had made himself +famous as a soldier; he now began in earnest to cultivate the +arts of peace. It was no easy task, for the era of reconstruction +immediately succeeded the war, and only those who were +actually under its ban can realize the burdens and hardships it +<span class='pagenum'>[84]<a name="Page_84" id="Page_84"></a></span>entailed upon an unfortunate people emerging from a disastrous +conflict.</p> + +<p>He rebuilt and reëstablished his home at the White House +plantation. He was married November 27, 1867, to Miss Mary +Tabb, daughter of Hon. George W. Bolling, of Petersburg. +In 1874 the family removed to Ravensworth, in Fairfax County.</p> + +<p>At both these places he cultivated his broad acres and interested +himself in all matters relating to agricultural progress +and development. He advanced and promoted these interests +as president of the Virginia State Agricultural Society. He +represented his county for a term in the State senate, but declined +a reëlection, and returned to his plantation and the enjoyment +of home life. After a few years of quiet he was called, in 1886, +to a new field of activity by neighbors and political friends, +who desired his services at the national capital, and he became +the Representative from the Alexandria district in the Fiftieth +Congress, and he was in his third term, when, on the 15th day +of October, 1891, the hand of death removed him from his +career of usefulness. For weeks his strong constitution and +vigorous frame had resisted disease in his Ravensworth home. +All that kindness and skill could suggest was done in his +behalf, but skill and kindness were of no avail, and he bade +adieu to home and family, companions and associates, earthly +duties and surroundings, and entered upon his eternal rest. +His mortal life was closed.</p> + +<p>I well remember a day spent in his company nearly four +years ago, and its occurrences gave me an opportunity to witness +the regard in which he was held by those among whom he +had lived and to whom he was best known. It was on Decoration +Day, in a section of country where he had seen service +as a soldier, not far from where he had lived in his early childhood.<span class='pagenum'>[85]<a name="Page_85" id="Page_85"></a></span> +He was the orator of the occasion. Many of his old +companions in arms and members of their families were among +his audience, and they listened eagerly as he made appropriate +reference to the departed comrades who slept under the little +hillocks near by them, bright and fragrant with the flowers of +early summer, which the loving hands of woman and childhood +had heaped upon them. As he descended from the platform +he was surrounded by old and young, who thronged about him +to shake his hand or give expression to a friendly greeting. +Admiration and affection were expressed upon their countenances +for the brave man before them, whose gallant deeds had +been told at every fireside in the country around, and who was +loved and honored because, in addition to his own merits and +virtues, he represented the great leader whose name was the +embodiment of a precious memory.</p> + +<p>I have portrayed <span class="smcap">William Henry Fitzhugh Lee</span> as a +student, a soldier, a planter, a public man representing his +people in the State legislature and the National Congress.</p> + +<p>Some have united in paying tribute to his memory because +they were born and reared in the State which gave him birth, +some because they shared with him the hardships and dangers +of his military career, some because they were associated with +him in Congressional life and committee work. But while I +take a great pride in all that he accomplished in the after +years, it is more pleasant to me to recollect him as the student, +for in that relation I was first drawn into companionship with +him; it was during that period of our lives that I first learned +to regard him, and my tribute is to my classmate and friend +of auld lang syne. May he rest in peace in the bosom of the +honored State he loved so well and served so faithfully.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'>[86]<a name="Page_86" id="Page_86"></a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Address_of_Mr_Stewart_of_Nevada" id="Address_of_Mr_Stewart_of_Nevada"></a><span class="smcap">Address of Mr. Stewart, of Nevada</span>.</h2> + + +<p>Mr. <span class="smcap">President</span>: The biography of <span class="smcap">William H.F. Lee</span> has +been furnished by his colleagues and associates. I do not propose +to dwell upon the details of his public or private career, +or that of his distinguished ancestors, who acted so conspicuous +a part in the history of the American Colonies and in the trying +times of the Revolution by which our independence was gained.</p> + +<p>I had the good fortune to form the acquaintance of Gen. <span class="smcap">Lee</span> +and his estimable wife at the beginning of the Fiftieth Congress. +I was strongly impressed with his noble presence, and his +genial, modest, and dignified bearing. He seemed to me an +ideal specimen of true American manhood. His wife was a +lady whose appearance at once attracted attention and whose +qualities of head and heart charmed and delighted friends and +associates. He was a devoted husband. His tender and gentle +bearing toward his wife were natural and unaffected. The +daily life and conduct of both were a conspicuous example of +the benign influence of a husband and wife who love, honor, +and respect each other.</p> + +<p>My impressions of him were so favorable and agreeable as to +create a desire on my part to cultivate his acquaintance and +know more of his character. We met frequently, and discussed +freely the social and political topics which engaged the +attention of members of Congress at the national capital. He +was modest and unobtrusive in the expression of his opinions; +but as I knew him better I was profoundly impressed with the +scope and breadth of his information.</p> + +<p>His judgment of men and measures was as free from local +<span class='pagenum'>[87]<a name="Page_87" id="Page_87"></a></span>prejudice and partisan bias as any man's I ever met. He was +induced by his generous nature to attribute good rather than +unworthy motives to those with whom he differed. He was +honest, true, and unsuspicious. On all occasions he expressed +attachment to the Union of the States, and manifested a patriotic +devotion to the Constitution as the charter of our liberties.</p> + +<p>He was a brave soldier, and fought on the losing side in a +war that convulsed the continent and astonished the civilized +world; and as a brave soldier he accepted without reservation +the verdict of the war. It is to be regretted that his heroic +services were not on the side of the Union, but the conditions +which placed him in hostility to the flag of the United States +are forever removed. Every cause which produced that terrible +conflict was eradicated and obliterated in carnage and +blood. The horrors of that fratricidal war are now history. +The glorious results achieved are being realized in the abolition +of slavery; in the Union of the States restored, strengthened, +and cemented; in the respect, confidence, and just estimation +of the people of all the sections for each other, and in +the establishment beyond question of the capacity of the citizens +of the Republic to dare and to do in great emergencies what to +all the world seemed impossible.</p> + +<p>To-day the virtue, the patriotism, and the renown of the +fathers of the Revolution and the founders of our free institutions +are the common heritage of all the people, both North +and South. The gallant and daring exploits of Legion Harry +or Light-Horse Harry Lee, the grandsire of the deceased, inspire +the same admiration and respect in the sons of the North +as in the sons of the South. It is most gratifying that the descendants +of the comrades in war and associates in council +who gained the independence and established the Government +<span class='pagenum'>[88]<a name="Page_88" id="Page_88"></a></span>of the United States are again united in stronger bonds of interest, +good fellowship, and respect than ever before existed.</p> + +<p>Generations to come will enjoy not only the fruits of the Revolutionary +struggle and the establishment of constitutional liberty, +but they will be blessed with liberty that knows no slavery +and with a Union forever indivisible, and they will contemplate +with no partisan feeling the sacrifices which were necessary to +secure such results. The type of manly virtue of which our deceased +friend was a conspicuous example is one of the best fruits +of free institutions. His death in the prime of his manhood and +in the days of his usefulness was a great loss to the country and +a bereavement to his family for which there is no earthly compensation. +But he has left for them in his good name, his unimpeachable +character, and his many virtues an inheritance +more valuable than gold.</p> + +<p>He has gone where all must soon follow. The wealth of his +example is an inspiration to the living to emulate his virtues, +enjoy a conscience void of offense, and leave to surviving relatives +the inheritance of an honored name. Such an ambition +is worthy of an American citizen, and the value to humanity +of such a life as that of Gen. <span class="smcap">Lee</span> can hardly be overestimated.</p> + +<p>Why should death be regarded as a calamity? It is the inevitable +fate of all the living. May it not be a part of life? +The hope of immortality is the greatest boon conferred upon +the living. On an occasion like this words will not soothe the +grief of those who are near and dear to the deceased. Their +consolation must be in the hope of reunion beyond the grave.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'>[89]<a name="Page_89" id="Page_89"></a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Address_of_Mr_Colquitt_of_Georgia" id="Address_of_Mr_Colquitt_of_Georgia"></a><span class="smcap">Address of Mr. Colquitt, of Georgia</span>.</h2> + + +<p>Mr. <span class="smcap">President</span>: It is a difficult and delicate task to draw with +justice and propriety the character of a public man. Fulsome +panegyrics have often been pronounced upon the character of +the dead either out of flattery to the deceased or to gratify the +ambitious desires of the living.</p> + +<p>In paying a tribute to <span class="smcap">William H.F. Lee</span> I am not influenced +by any such questionable views. To do honor to his +memory I need only say what justice and truth dictate. There +is little danger, in speaking of him, of committing the offense +of exaggerated eulogy. There is more danger of doing the +injustice of understatement in commemorating a character so +rounded and symmetrical.</p> + +<p>As a son, Gen. <span class="smcap">Lee</span>'s filial piety was so marked as to make +him an example worthy of all imitation by the youth of his +country. In every post of honor or trust to which he was called—and +they were many and exalted ones—he met his engagements +with such fidelity and courage as never to incur censure +and seldom provoke criticism.</p> + +<p>His bearing as a private citizen was of such dignity and benevolence +as to secure the love, while it evoked the admiration, +of all who knew him.</p> + +<p>His character was made up of blended chivalry and courtesy +and adorned with the mild luster of a religious faith.</p> + +<p>He was frank and open, plain and sincere, speaking only +what he thought without reserve, and promising only what he +designed to perform.</p> + +<p>As he was plain and sincere, so he was firm and steady in +his purposes; courteous and affable, he was not influenced by +<span class='pagenum'>[90]<a name="Page_90" id="Page_90"></a></span>servile compliance to his company, approving or condemning +as might be most agreeable to them. He was a man of courage +and constancy, qualities which, after all, are the ornaments and +defense of a man.</p> + +<p>He had in the highest degree the air, manners, and address +of a man of quality; politeness with ease, dignity without +pride, and firmness without the least alloy of roughness. He +loved refined society, but he had great respect and sympathy for +those who had been reared in simple habits and the toils of life.</p> + +<p>He possessed an even and equal temper of mind. Those +who best knew him can testify of him what has often been +asserted of his great father, that they never heard an acrimonious +speech fall from his lips; that his whole temper was so +controlled by justice and generosity that he was never known +to disparage with an envious breath the fame of another or to +withhold due praise of another's worth.</p> + +<p>Mr. President, the friends of Gen. <span class="smcap">Lee</span> do not claim for him +brilliant talents and the gifts of genius. It is doubtless a +beneficent ordination of Providence that the best interests of +society are not solely dependent on what in common parlance +is called genius. Fortunately for the good of mankind, great +gifts and powers of mind are not indispensable to our happiness +or to a safe and salutary development of social conditions.</p> + +<p>Patient industry and impregnable virtue are the essential +cardinal qualities that make the man, in the vast majority of +cases, worthy of love and honor, and which conserve the best +interests of the world.</p> + +<p>That man who in his career and relations to society has gone +on from day to day and from trust to trust, never disappointing +but always realizing every just expectation, it seems to me is +the character who deserves of his fellow-men the highest meed +<span class='pagenum'>[91]<a name="Page_91" id="Page_91"></a></span>of praise, and gives in his person and example the surest guaranty +that the world will be all the better for his agency in +shaping its affairs.</p> + +<p>The friends of Gen. <span class="smcap">Lee</span> enjoy the perfect assurance that in +every walk of life, on every occasion when duty called him, +his responses were ever marked by a dignified and intelligent +performance of the tasks assigned him.</p> + +<p>What higher honor can we ask for him than this: that weighty +as were the responsibilities that devolved upon him by inheritance +and high as the expectations which were the natural implications +of this inheritance, he fully and nobly met them. +Much as was expected of him, he more than realized the claims +and obligations of a noble lineage. His fellow-citizens and his +contemporaries regard his career as an honor and his companionship +as a delight and a resource that adds poignancy to their +grief in the loss of so loved and valued a friend.</p> + +<p>I might refer to the incidents of his military career to illustrate +his courage and fidelity, but it may not be considered appropriate +to the time and the occasion. It is cheering, however, +to believe that in this exalted body there is not to be found +that spirit of truculent uncharitableness which refuses any credit +to an honorable adversary.</p> + +<p>Time, which touches all things with mellowing hand, has +softened the recollections of past contests, and they who looked +upon him as a foe now only remember the glory of the fight, +and would join hands with us to weave the garland of his fame.</p> + +<p>Securely may the friends and admirers of this noble character +rest in the belief that his name for generations to come will be +enrolled in the glorious list of worthies that has for all time +made the name of Virginia illustrious and among the foremost +of all the commonwealths of the ages past.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'>[92]<a name="Page_92" id="Page_92"></a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Address_of_Mr_Butler_of_South_Carolina" id="Address_of_Mr_Butler_of_South_Carolina"></a><span class="smcap">Address of Mr. Butler, of South Carolina.</span></h2> + + +<p>It was my good fortune, Mr. President, to know Gen. <span class="smcap">William +H.F. Lee</span> with the intimacy of personal friendship for more +than a quarter of a century, and I can pass no higher encomium +upon him than by saying he had all the qualities that constitute +a true gentleman, a gentleman in the highest and best +sense. He inherited from a very illustrious and distinguished +ancestry a prestige rarely enjoyed in this country, and yet he +was as unpretending, unaffected, and modest as the humblest +man. His self-contained dignity of character never deserted +him. His placid, well-balanced, well-poised equanimity always +sustained him.</p> + +<p>It would be extravagant to say he inherited the commanding +abilities of his illustrious father, but it would be entirely +within the line of a just criticism to affirm that he did inherit +many of the highest characteristics and qualities of that great +man. In personal demeanor, in that suave, gracious, considerate, +self-respecting, and respectful bearing which give assurance +of the perfect gentleman he very much resembled his +father. He was always approachable and cordial, and yet I +doubt if any man ever attempted an improper liberty or ventured +undue familiarity with him. His high character and +affability of manner protected him against such relations.</p> + +<p>In the late civil war we served side by side in the same cavalry +corps in the same army almost continuously from the +beginning to the end. I therefore had the best opportunities +of forming a correct estimate of him as a soldier and man, and +it is within the bounds of just judgment to place him among +<span class='pagenum'>[93]<a name="Page_93" id="Page_93"></a></span>the most distinguished in that brilliant array of American soldiers +and men of that eventful period.</p> + +<p>I recall with vivid recollection my first association with him +at Ashland, Va., in June, 1861, where he was stationed as a +young captain of cavalry at a school of instruction. Thence he +rose by regular gradations to major-general of division, resigning +his sword with that rank.</p> + +<p>Gen. <span class="smcap">Lee</span> never aspired to be what is sometimes called a +"dashing" soldier. He was quite content with the serious, +earnest, steady performance of his duties. It would be no compliment +to say that a son of Robert E. Lee and grandson of +"Light-Horse" Harry Lee had courage. Such a quality is a +necessary ingredient of such a man's character. But his courage +was not of that frothy, noisy kind so often paraded to attract +attention. In battle he was as steady, firm, and immovable as +any soldier who ever wielded a sword or placed a squadron in +the field. In his relations to his subordinates he was the perfection +of military propriety, always considerate and kindly, +but firm and impartial in the enforcement of discipline.</p> + +<p>Towards his equals and superiors in rank he bore himself +with a knightly chivalry that at once commanded respect and +confidence. How could he have been otherwise, descended +from such a noble sire, with such an example of courtly dignity +and untarnished manhood?</p> + +<p>After the close of hostilities, having discharged his whole +duty as he understood it with fidelity and courage, he retired +to his native State, to his farm, and there, by the same quiet, +honorable, manly course of conduct devoted himself to the +duties of civil life, establishing by his example a standard of +citizenship worthy the great Republic to which he renewed his +allegiance.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'>[94]<a name="Page_94" id="Page_94"></a></span>The people of the Commonwealth of Virginia could not and +did not permit a man of his exalted character, sound intellectual +qualities, and safe, conservative judgment to remain in private +life. His services and example were too valuable to the public, +and he was called into the public service, first as senator in the +State legislature, later into the lower House of Congress.</p> + +<p>There, as elsewhere, he soon took rank among the wisest +and safest legislators in the body pursuing the even, modest +tenor of his way with that faithful regard for his duty to his +constituents and his country that characterized every relation +and position of his life.</p> + +<p>Those of us, Mr. President, who were favored with his +acquaintance recall with a respect bordering on reverence his +commanding figure as he came in this Chamber, his courtly +presence, his gentle bearing, persuasive conversation, amiable, +respectful manners. The consciousness that we shall never see +him again is a sad and depressing reflection, and a mournful +reminder that it is only a question of time—how long mortal +man can not foretell—when those of us who survive him must +obey a similar summons, and disappear, as he has done, from +the scenes of life forever.</p> + +<p>In paying tributes of respect and affection to departed friends +I know how hard it is to impose restraint upon our partiality +for them and how strong the temptation to indulge in expressions +of exaggerated eulogy. Knowing Gen. <span class="smcap">Lee</span> as I did, I +can say of him with absolute sincerity and truth that he was as +free from the small and petty faults of our nature as any man I +have ever known. In his private relations he was literally +without guile or deceit. Straightforward, honorable, just in all +his dealings, he was a model citizen and faithful friend.</p> + +<p>In his public life he proved himself equal to every station.<span class='pagenum'>[95]<a name="Page_95" id="Page_95"></a></span> +Zealous, attentive, conscientious, untiring, he met every responsibility +with fidelity and confidence. He never disappointed +a friend, betrayed a trust, or took unfair advantage of +an opponent. In a word, Mr. President, he lived a perfect +gentleman, discharged faithfully every duty of life, and died +honored and beloved by his friends.</p> + +<p>Others have spoken of the life and character of this distinguished +man more in detail, more eloquently, with more finished +oratory, but I yield to none in the sincerity of my humble +tribute to his memory.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Address_of_Mr_Dolph_of_Oregon" id="Address_of_Mr_Dolph_of_Oregon"></a><span class="smcap">Address of Mr. Dolph, of Oregon.</span></h2> + + +<p>Mr. <span class="smcap">President</span>: The echoes of the voices of those who +pronounced eulogies upon the life and character of the late +distinguished Senator from Kansas have hardly died away in +this Chamber, and we have again laid business aside to pay our +tributes to the memory of a late honored member of the House +of Representatives and a distinguished son of Virginia.</p> + +<p>These sorrowful occasions, which are deprecated by some +as involving a loss of the time of the Senate and needless +expense to the Government, I can not think are unprofitable to +us or to the country. Surely in the mad rush and hurry of +business we may be permitted to halt long enough to take +notice of the invasion of our ranks by death and to voice our +esteem for a departed member. The death of an eminent member +of the Senate or of the House is not only a loss to his +immediate constituency, but to the whole country, and, in +accordance with a long and honored usage, demands from his +former associates formal and appropriate action.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'>[96]<a name="Page_96" id="Page_96"></a></span>After such an hour spent in the contemplation of the common +end of all that live, in introspection and retrospection, +who of us does not again take up the burdens of life with +renewed resolutions to redouble our energies to faithfully +discharge every public and private duty.</p> + +<p>My acquaintance with Mr. <span class="smcap">Lee</span> was not intimate. I frequently +met him socially, but he did not belong to the party +with which I am affiliated, and no fortuitous circumstance occurred +to bring us together in the discharge of public duties. +The incidents of his life, his public services, and his domestic +relations have been fittingly alluded to by others, and it only +remains for me to cast an evergreen upon his grave, to add my +poor tribute to his memory, and give expression to the emotions +awakened by the occasion and the exercises of the hour. +Coming from a long line of distinguished ancestors, serving +with marked distinction in the Confederate army until the +cause he championed was hopelessly lost, honored by the people +of his State by election to high civil positions, in which he +did credit to himself and honored them with a rounded character +and well-developed manhood, at once the incarnation of +gentleness, tenderness, and courage, it is not to be wondered +at that sorrow for his death hung over his State like a funeral +pall, and all parties vied with each other in giving expression +to the universal sense of private and public loss.</p> + +<p>He was the son of a distinguished sire, who in life was the +idol of the people of Virginia; but he was held in the highest +esteem by the people of his State not so much on account of +his illustrious father as on account of his own ability and +worth. His public services and his blameless life, touching, +tender, and beautiful, won the tributes to his memory pronounced +by his colleagues at the other end of this Capitol.<span class='pagenum'>[97]<a name="Page_97" id="Page_97"></a></span> +Fortunate, indeed, is the man who can win such admiration +from his associates.</p> + +<p>What higher eulogy can be pronounced on any man than +that in every station, public and private, he was true to himself +and faithful to the people and was equal to the duties of +his station? Not every man can become great; genius is the +gift of the few, but goodness and fidelity to duty are within +the reach of all. He has gone the way of all the living. He +has found the level of the grave. Our words of eulogy can +not reach him there.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Can honor's voice provoke the silent dust,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or flatt'ry soothe the dull, cold ear of death?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Solomon, summing up this question, said:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither +have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.</p> + +<p>Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they +any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.</p></div> + +<p>To human reason the death of him we mourn was untimely. +He was born May 31, 1837, and died October 15, 1891. He +was therefore in the prime of manhood, and apparently had +many years of useful life before him. But death sometimes +strangely selects his victims. No season, no station, no age is +exempt from his fatal shafts. When death comes to the aged +as the end of a fully completed life we regard it as natural. +But when death comes to the young, the gifted, and the promising, +we with our finite vision look upon it as sad and mysterious. +We are constantly reminded that—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Await alike the inevitable hour.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The paths of glory lead but to the grave.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'>[98]<a name="Page_98" id="Page_98"></a></span>It is creditable to our humanity that at the grave animosities +are buried, and those who speak of the dead remember their +virtues and pass over their frailties.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Death is a mighty mediator. There all the flames of rage are extinguished, hatred +is appeased, and angelic pity, like a weeping sister, bends with gentle and close embrace +over the funeral urn.</p> + +<p>The reconciling grave swallows distinction first that made us foes; there all lie +down in peace together.</p></div> + +<p>To the grave, "the world's sweet inn from pain and wearisome +turmoil," we are all hastening. Earth's highest station +and meanest place ends in the common receptacle to which we +shall all be taken. Dark and gloomy indeed would be the +grave without a hope in a personal immortality, a belief that +the soul survives the body, and that to this immortal part the +tomb is the gate to heaven. When one feels like Theodore +Parker when he said:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>When this stiffened body goes down to the tomb, sad, silent, and remorseless, I feel +there is no death for the man. That clod which yonder dust shall cover is not my +brother. The dust goes to its place; man to his own. It is then I feel my immortality. +I look through the grave into heaven. I ask no miracle, no proof, no reasoning +for me; I ask no risen dust to teach me immortality. I am conscious of eternal +life.</p></div> + +<p>Or like Byron when he wrote:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>I feel my immortality oversweep all pains, all tears, all time, all fears, and peal, +like the eternal thunders of the deep into my ears this truth—thou livest forever!</p></div> + +<p>Death loses its terrors and the grave becomes a welcome goal +for weary and buffeted mariners on life's stormy sea—the gate +to endless life.</p> + +<p>By these oft-repeated scenes in this Chamber; by the frequent +visits of the stern messenger to both Houses of Congress +to summon a member from his field of labor here to the bar +of the Supreme Ruler of the Universe above; by the constant +changes going on around us in obedience to the inevitable law +<span class='pagenum'>[99]<a name="Page_99" id="Page_99"></a></span>of nature, by which death everywhere succeeds to life, we are +reminded that we shall not long continue as we now are. It is +possible that as we are startled by the announcement of the +death of an associate we mentally ask ourselves, Who will be +called next?</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">So live, that when thy summons comes to join<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The innumerable caravan which moves<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To that mysterious realm where each shall take<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His chamber in the silent halls of death,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thou go not, like the quarry slave at night,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Scourged to his dungeon; but sustained and soothed<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like one that wraps the drapery of his couch<br /></span> +<span class="i0">About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Address_of_Mr_Daniel_of_Virginia" id="Address_of_Mr_Daniel_of_Virginia"></a><span class="smcap">Address of Mr. Daniel, of Virginia.</span></h2> + + +<p>Mr. <span class="smcap">President</span>: The late Gen. <span class="smcap">William H.F. Lee</span> was conspicuously +connected with the public affairs of his State for more +than thirty years. He was deservedly honored, loved, and +trusted by the people. For two terms he represented the Eighth +district of Virginia in Congress and he was elected for a third +term, but when Congress met in December last his chair was +vacant. Surrounded by his beloved family and bemoaned by +all who knew him he peacefully breathed his last at Ravensworth, +his home, in Fairfax County, on the 15th day of October, +1891.</p> + +<p>Thus, Mr. President, disappears one singularly endowed with +the qualities that win the confidence and affections of mankind. +His noble, honest face, beaming with intelligence and +benevolence, was a true index to his nature. Strength of character +and sweetness of disposition made him a man of mark +<span class='pagenum'>[100]<a name="Page_100" id="Page_100"></a></span>and influence in all the relations of society. His life was full +of noble uses. Respect for the rights and tenderness for the +feelings of others stamped his conduct on every occasion. He +fulfilled Sidney's definition of a gentleman, "high thoughts +seated in a heart of courtesy," and I know of no better legacy +that a father could leave his household or a patriot leave his +country than such a record as he has left to attest his virtues.</p> + +<p>I will not penetrate the sanctity of the home bereaved by +his death. The fond and noble wife and the sons who miss +the husband and father, who was representative to them of +life's dearest boons, have in his memory whatever earth can +give them of consolation, and they learned from none more +than from him to look above in sorrow and affliction.</p> + +<p>As a Representative in Congress Gen. <span class="smcap">Lee</span> was diligent in +the service of his constituents and in behalf of policies which +commended themselves to his favor. He seldom spoke, but it +was not because he could not speak well and forcibly. He was +not noted as the peculiar champion of any of the great measures +before Congress, but it was not because he did not comprehend +them nor take great interest in them, and I doubt if there be +many Representatives who have had a more wholesome or further-reaching +influence.</p> + +<p>His fine character and engaging manner made friends for him +and for his people. His excellent judgment had great weight +in council, his political ideas were eminently liberal, and his +tact and attention reached results where perhaps more aggressive +qualities would have been ineffectual. On one occasion +that I recall he was urging the passage of the bill to pay for +use and occupation of the Theological Seminary near Alexandria +during the war. He became the mark, in doing so, of +inquiry and badinage, and some one, meaning to disparage the +<span class='pagenum'>[101]<a name="Page_101" id="Page_101"></a></span>claim by intimation that the clerical professors of the institution +had been enemies of the Government, called out to him, +"How did they pray?" He answered instantly, "For all sinners." +His ready pleasantry put everybody in good humor +and the bill was passed.</p> + +<p>Gen. <span class="smcap">Lee</span> was a representative man in a larger sense than +that of official designation. He was a representative country +gentleman, and the flavor of his native soil was in his character. +He was born in the country, at beautiful Arlington, with the +woods and fields and streams and mountain vistas around him. +He lived in the country all his life, and died in the country, at +his home in Fairfax County, an owner of land, loving the land; +his home, a fine old country seat of colonial pattern, the scene +of domestic peace and love and hospitality; his voice, that of +the good people of his vicinage; his life, daily tasks, intermingled +with daily studies and contemplation; his aims, those of +the patriot and Christian, his country, God, and truth.</p> + +<p>Gen. <span class="smcap">Lee</span> was a representative American of broad gauge and +vision. Many of us—and I have felt myself amongst them—are +quite provincial. We know our own neighborhoods and their +people, and we grow slowly into knowledge of other sections +and their people. Local caste, prejudice, interest, and bias warp +us and minify our usefulness. Gen. <span class="smcap">Lee</span> was not of this kind. +There was no sectionalism in his caste, no bigotry in his creeds. +His strong local attachments, natural to a true nature, neither +dwarfed his opinions, soured his reflections, nor darkened his +vision. His was a ripe mind and his a generous nature. He +understood men, because he understood mankind. He had respect +for all men, because he respected manhood. He dealt considerately +and justly with all men of all races, creeds, opinions, +and aspirations, because he respected men and because he had a +<span class='pagenum'>[102]<a name="Page_102" id="Page_102"></a></span>good man's sympathy, with the hopes of his race, his country, +and humanity.</p> + +<p>I would not speak of him as a brilliant man. He was more. +He was a wise and good and true man. Gen. <span class="smcap">Lee</span> was a representative +of our racial history. The story of his family began +when his remote ancestor rode with the Norman knights at +Hastings. Another led a company of English volunteers with +Cœur de Lion on the third crusade to the Holy Land, and was +made the Earl of Litchfield. Still another was that Richard +Lee who, intense loyalist as he was, became a commissioner +from Virginia and urged Charles II to fly for refuge to the Old +Dominion when his throne was trembling under him. Quarrel +and fight as we may and as our fathers did before us, the continuity +of race achievement is unbroken.</p> + +<p>The growth of race ascendency and the expanse of race domination +are unceasing. The picture is unique and the nation one, +however the theater enlarges, however the scenes shift, however +the actors differ in the drama. Gen. <span class="smcap">Lee</span> was a representative +democrat or republican, for I use the words in their generic +sense. His grandfather was that young American Capt. Henry +Lee, the ardent youth of nineteen, who at the head of his company +of Virginia horse reported to Washington for duty when +the first army of Continentals were ranging themselves upon +the plains of Boston. He was the first to break the record of +his line for loyalty to the Crown of England in espousing the +cause of American independence, the first to draw his sword +for the new king proclaimed at Philadelphia—the sovereign +people.</p> + +<p>As "Light-Horse Harry" Lee he goes down to history and +renown; distinguished in general orders of the army and in +promotion from Congress for one exploit, and for another with +<span class='pagenum'>[103]<a name="Page_103" id="Page_103"></a></span>the thanks of Congress and a gold medal. In statesmanship as +in soldiership, he was the friend and follower of Washington. +In the Virginia legislature, when the resolutions of 1798 were +debated, he took sides against them, and in his speech you may +find nearly all the arguments which are used in favor of the +Federal construction of the Constitution. When Washington +died he was a member of Congress, and pronounced upon him +the memorable words, "First in war, first in peace, and first in +the hearts of his fellow-citizens." He was one of those virile +men who could write, speak, and fight.</p> + +<p>When Gen. Winfield Scott led the American Army to Mexico +there rode by his side Capt. Robert E. Lee, the son of +Henry Lee, an officer of engineers upon his staff. He was four +times brevetted for gallant conduct and came back famous. +When Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston led the Utah expedition in +1858 there marched on foot in his columns Lieut. <span class="smcap">William +Henry Fitzhugh Lee</span>, the son of Robert E. Lee. He was +not a soldier by education, but by instinct. A graduate of +Harvard College and the stroke oar of his class, he was well +prepared for military life, and the third of his line to bear arms +for the United States. But no war ensued; the canker of a long +peace was settling on military aspirations.</p> + +<p>Lieut. <span class="smcap">Lee</span> resigned, married, and settled on his farm, the +White House, on the Pamunkey. With the prattle of little +children around his knees and pastoral scenes before him, his +prospects were those of domestic tranquillity and joy.</p> + +<p>What a rush was there to the standards when war broke out in +1861! Americans acted like Americans. They divided in conviction. +They did not differ as to the method of dealing with +conviction. To divide was the propulsion of conditions, to fight +the law of blood. Not one of the Lees had provoked war, but +<span class='pagenum'>[104]<a name="Page_104" id="Page_104"></a></span>not one stood back. The whole family of Lees became representative +soldiers of their people; Gen. Robert E. Lee commanded +the greatest of the Southern armies and his brother +became an admiral of the Southern navy. His sons and +nephews were soldiers and sailors.</p> + +<p>The nephew of Northern identity kept place with the North. +The more numerous class of Southern identity kept place with +the South; the boy, a private in the ranks or cadet on shipboard, +the young men leading companies and regiments and +winning brigades and divisions, the sire and chief commanding +all. Their names are interwoven with war's dread story and +splendid deed. Not one had any reproach; not one struck a +blow below the belt. The woman, the child, the captive found +a fortress in the hand of Lee, the foeman met his peer. The +history of two continents and many centuries was written over +again on fields of blood.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">William H.F. Lee</span> raised a company of cavalry at the beginning +of the war and surrendered as a major-general of cavalry at +Appomattox. He fought his way to his rank and suffered all +of war's vicissitudes save death. His men believed in him and +followed him. He was wounded; he was twice a prisoner; he +was held as a hostage in solitary confinement with death impending. +His wife and his children died while he lay wounded +and in prison. Whatever man may suffer he suffered to the +uttermost. Amongst his first acts when he emerged from +prison was to visit, shake hands with and congratulate the +Federal officer for whom he had been held as hostage. He was +a representative Christian, void of vindictiveness and uncomplaining; +he made no outcry of pain; he sealed his lips to +reproach.</p> + +<p>I knew him well, respected him profoundly, and loved him +<span class='pagenum'>[105]<a name="Page_105" id="Page_105"></a></span>dearly. I have often heard him speak at gatherings of old +soldiers and on a variety of occasions; sometimes those of turbulence. +I have marveled at his self-poise and reserved +power. Never once did I hear him say ill of any man, nor +allude to his own sufferings or deeds, nor utter words of bitterness. +He took his lot as it came to him, as a man who does +the best he can and leaves the rest to the Disposer of events. +His conscience and his human sympathy, like his soldiership, +were instincts, and his Christian creed was the sum of his +intuitions. Gen. <span class="smcap">Lee</span> was a representative of the times in +which he lived, eccentric in no opinion, even-tempered, wise, +cautious, prudent, steadfast, and gentle; he sought to be useful +rather than to shine. He took deep and active interest in all +that concerned his State.</p> + +<p>As a State senator he could be relied upon to support liberal +and progressive measures; as president of the State Agricultural +Society he did much to excite interest and develop improvements; +as a trustee or visitor to educational institutions he +rendered valuable practical service to the cause of popular +enlightenment. In political life he had sharp contests; friend +was surprised and opponent discouraged when emergency +brought forth the reserve forces of his character and ability. +If modesty cloaked his powers in retirement, opposition elicited +them; and the fluency, tact, and ability with which he +discussed issues and met exigencies were remarkable in one +whose experiences of early life had separated him from civil +pursuits and training.</p> + +<p>If I have spoken of Gen. <span class="smcap">Lee</span>'s ancestral distinctions, it was +not because either he or his people have ever presumed upon +them. On the contrary, no people whom I have ever known +have rested less of claim upon their antecedents or less sought +<span class='pagenum'>[106]<a name="Page_106" id="Page_106"></a></span>to substitute reminiscences for achievements. The independent, +honest, and simple Republicans and Democrats of our country +justly despise a pretender who boasts the shadow of a name; +but that of which the individual may not boast becomes his +country's pride; and I count it great glory to our country that +its institutions have nourished and the highest characteristic +of our race that it has produced successive generations of men +who preserve the continuity of sterling virtues. I count also +as the star of hope for this grand Republic that a distinguished +soldier of a lost cause becomes the beloved statesman +of the cause that won, and finds around him the old-time +comrades and old-time foes, all his friends and each other's +friends united in the service of our common country.</p> + +<p>No nobler words have been spoken of the late Gen. <span class="smcap">Lee</span> than +by soldiers who fought against him, and I respond to them with +honor and praise. The production of men who may maintain +the rights their fathers won, and ever grow in liberal thought, +noble character, and worthy achievement is the highest mission +of republican institutions. From Hastings, A.D. 1066, to +Boston in 1776, the name of Lee was blended with the glories +of our fatherland. But from Boston to Appomattox it grew +the more illustrious with grander opportunities. Victorious +through a track of eight hundred years to the 9th of April, 1865, +it has been still more victorious since—rising to the height of +harder trials and sterner tasks and grander duties than those of +leading embattled lines. The glorious nation of which he was +a type and the glorious band of which he was the son come +forth from ruin and desolation on one side, moved by gracious +institutions and magnanimous sentiments upon the other, taking +their place in the reunited columns of parted friendship, +cementing anew by adaptive virtues the broken ties, marching +<span class='pagenum'>[107]<a name="Page_107" id="Page_107"></a></span>again with the mutual magnanimities of companionship at the +head of column.</p> + +<p>If a race that has won liberty and made it a birthright lets it +slip away through hands of weakness or deeds of folly, and if +the self-made man of to-day loses the vantage ground of his +life work with his fleeting breath, the careers of nations would +be brief, the story of liberty would be a nurse's tale, and the +careers of individuals would be vanity of vanities. The prepotent +blood that made an empire of an insignificant island +and stamped its language and its laws upon it made also here +the most splendid Republic of the earth out of a savage wilderness +and assimilated to itself all tributaries. That Republic +delegates its unfinished tasks to a posterity that will lift higher +the monuments of its greatness and strengthen the foundations +of its endurance; and in the lives of Gen. <span class="smcap">Lee</span> and those of his +worthy compatriots of all sections who unite as friends the +moment conditions cease that made them foes, I see exemplified +the noblest qualities of our kind and read the auguries of +prolonged peace, progress, happiness, and stability.</p> + + +<p>The <span class="smcap">Vice-President</span>. The question is on agreeing to the +resolutions submitted by the Senator from Virginia.</p> + +<p>The resolutions were agreed to unanimously, and under the +last resolution the Senate (at 4 o'clock and 20 minutes p.m.) +adjourned until Monday, March 7, 1892, at 12 o'clock m.</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Memorial Addresses on the Life and +Character of William H. F. 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