Memorial Addresses on the Life and Character of William H. F. Lee Part 9

ADDRESS OF MR. DANIEL, OF VIRGINIA.

Mr. PRESIDENT: The late Gen. WILLIAM H.F. LEE 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.

Thus, Mr. President, disappears one singularly endowed with the qualities that win the confidence and affections of mankind. His n.o.ble, 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 and influence in all the relations of society. His life was full of n.o.ble 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.

I will not penetrate the sanct.i.ty of the home bereaved by his death. The fond and n.o.ble 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.

As a Representative in Congress Gen. LEE was diligent in the service of his const.i.tuents 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.

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 pa.s.sage 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 claim by intimation that the clerical professors of the inst.i.tution 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 pa.s.sed.

Gen. LEE 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, G.o.d, and truth.

Gen. LEE 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. LEE 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 good man's sympathy, with the hopes of his race, his country, and humanity.

I would not speak of him as a brilliant man. He was more. He was a wise and good and true man. Gen. LEE 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 Coeur 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.

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 s.h.i.+ft, however the actors differ in the drama. Gen. LEE 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 Was.h.i.+ngton 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.

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 the thanks of Congress and a gold medal. In statesmans.h.i.+p as in soldiers.h.i.+p, he was the friend and follower of Was.h.i.+ngton. 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 Const.i.tution. When Was.h.i.+ngton died he was a member of Congress, and p.r.o.nounced 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.

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.

WILLIAM HENRY FITZHUGH LEE, 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 cla.s.s, 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.

Lieut. LEE 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.

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 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.

The nephew of Northern ident.i.ty kept place with the North. The more numerous cla.s.s of Southern ident.i.ty kept place with the South; the boy, a private in the ranks or cadet on s.h.i.+pboard, 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.

WILLIAM H.F. LEE 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.

I knew him well, respected him profoundly, and loved him 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 soldiers.h.i.+p, were instincts, and his Christian creed was the sum of his intuitions. Gen. LEE 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 s.h.i.+ne. He took deep and active interest in all that concerned his State.

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 inst.i.tutions 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.

If I have spoken of Gen. LEE'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 to subst.i.tute 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 inst.i.tutions 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.

No n.o.bler words have been spoken of the late Gen. LEE 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, n.o.ble character, and worthy achievement is the highest mission of republican inst.i.tutions. 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 ill.u.s.trious 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 inst.i.tutions and magnanimous sentiments upon the other, taking their place in the reunited columns of parted friends.h.i.+p, cementing anew by adaptive virtues the broken ties, marching again with the mutual magnanimities of companions.h.i.+p at the head of column.

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 a.s.similated 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. LEE 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 n.o.blest qualities of our kind and read the auguries of prolonged peace, progress, happiness, and stability.

The VICE-PRESIDENT. The question is on agreeing to the resolutions submitted by the Senator from Virginia.

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.