Memorial Addresses on the Life and Character of William H. F. Lee Part 6

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 pa.s.sing out of fas.h.i.+on."

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 a.s.sociation outside of this Hall.

If I were to select in my acquaintance him who, as much as any other, deserved the t.i.tle, I would say of Gen. LEE 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 n.o.blest. A son of such houses, reared at such knees, influenced by such powers, he pa.s.sed 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 a.s.sociated with the best and the bravest volunteers of the Old Dominion herself.

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 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.

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 trespa.s.s; charitable in thought and word, as in deed; given to hospitality; at peace with his own conscience and with G.o.d.

We live, Mr. Speaker, in a heroic age. I constantly hear of this being an age of materialism, of the wors.h.i.+p 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.

This simple, kindly, unaffected, modest gentleman; this man, with his sweet calm smile, who met us every day, pa.s.sing 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 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.

To live in such an age, to be a.s.sociated with such men--and, thank G.o.d, 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 a.s.sociated with such men, to play a part, however obscure, in such drama, make life worth the living; make the hereafter n.o.bler for him who has been so blessed.

Mr. Speaker, to-day, in the midst of this the ending of the nineteenth century, we who will soon pa.s.s 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 G.o.d, in peace strove for nothing but the good of the people.

PROCEEDINGS IN THE SENATE.

EULOGIES.

MARCH 4, 1892.

The VICE-PRESIDENT. The Chair lays before the Senate resolutions from the House of Representatives, which will be read.

The resolutions were read, as follows:

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, _February 6, 1892._

_Resolved_, That the business of the House be now suspended, that opportunity be given for tributes to the memory of Hon. WILLIAM HENRY FITZHUGH LEE, late a Representative from the State of Virginia.

_Resolved_, 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.

_Resolved_, That the Clerk communicate these resolutions to the Senate.

Mr. BARBOUR. Mr. President, I offer the resolutions which I send to the desk.

The VICE-PRESIDENT. The resolutions will be read.

The resolutions were read, as follows:

_Resolved_, That the Senate has heard with profound sorrow the announcement of the death of Hon. WILLIAM H.F. LEE, late a Representative from the State of Virginia.

_Resolved_, That the business of the Senate be now suspended, in order that fitting tribute may be paid to his memory.

_Resolved_, That as an additional mark of respect the Senate shall, at the conclusion of these ceremonies, adjourn.

ADDRESS OF MR. BARBOUR, OF VIRGINIA.

Mr. PRESIDENT: The resolutions just read were pa.s.sed by the House of Representatives on the 6th day of February last in respect to the memory of WILLIAM H.F. LEE, deceased, late a member of that body from the Eighth Congressional district of Virginia.

Before asking the Senate to adopt the resolutions it is inc.u.mbent 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.

Gen. LEE 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 reelected 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.

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.

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 a.s.sociates in that body, and express in far more fitting terms than I could employ their estimate of his character, services, and virtues.

Gen. LEE came from a distinguished lineage. Two of the family signed our Magna Charta, the Declaration of Independence, and another was Attorney-General under Gen. Was.h.i.+ngton.

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. Was.h.i.+ngton, and familiarly called in his day the child of Mount Vernon.

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 enn.o.bling sentiment, and Virginians must be pardoned when tempted to refer to the ill.u.s.trious 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. WILLIAM H.F. LEE the State has lost one of her truest and worthiest sons and the Federal Government a faithful and patriotic Representative.

Although acquainted personally with Gen. LEE 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 n.o.bility 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 a.s.sociation.

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, combined, made Gen. LEE with all cla.s.ses of society an imposing and attractive figure.

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 ent.i.tled, as he pa.s.sed from the stage of action, to the plaudit, "Well done, good and faithful servant."

ADDRESS OF MR. PASCO, OF FLORIDA.

Mr. PRESIDENT: My acquaintance with WILLIAM HENRY FITZHUGH LEE commenced in the summer of 1854, when we met at Cambridge as members of the new freshman cla.s.s 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 a.s.sociations connected with the earlier history of the country, and many of the influential members of the cla.s.s belonged to such families.

He was rather older than the average age of his cla.s.smates, 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 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 cla.s.s 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 cla.s.smates, and his prominence and popularity were maintained during his stay among us.

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 cla.s.smates 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 cla.s.s to develop this disposition, cultivate social intercourse, and strengthen the bonds of good fellows.h.i.+p. 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 cla.s.s and college boat clubs, where he was welcomed as a valuable auxiliary.

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 cla.s.smates to those who have developed a superiority in any mental or physical excellence. When in after life the members of a cla.s.s 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 companions.h.i.+p, in kindly bearing, in generous conduct towards their a.s.sociates, 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 scholars.h.i.+p.

Thus it was that LEE established himself among his a.s.sociates during the three years that he remained among us, and though he contented himself with a medium standing in scholars.h.i.+p and exhibited no ambition to gain a high rank upon the college rolls, he won the regard and confidence and respect of all his cla.s.smates and held a warm place in the hearts of those with whom he was most intimate.

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 a.s.signed 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. LEE accepted this appointment, closed his connection with the college, and our paths in life diverged for more than thirty years.