Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1870-10-20
GENERAL COUNCIL.
proceedings Upon the Death of
Gen. h. y. Lee.
Mrvputs October IS 1is7id

WITTY HALL,
MEnPHIs. October IS, 1870. !
At an adjourned meeting Of the Mayor
and General Council Of the city Of Mem
phis, in joint session, on Tuesday morn
ing October Is, 1870, for the purpose Of
commemorating the memory and at
tending the funeral obsequies of the late
illustrious, great and universally ac-
knowledged good man, Gen. X. Il. Lee.
Present: Hon. John Johnston, Mayor;
Messrs. President Thomas b. Norment,
Owen Dryer, Phil. 7. Mallon, James O..
Duff, Isaac L. Cartwright, Thos. Mofet,
J. p. Prescott, Jas. Rounds, Aldermen;
and Messrs. President Robert p Dun
can, John Zent, Patrick Kelly, William
Chase, John NJ. Graves, Montgomery
Pepper DR.. J. p. Dromgoole, Robert A..
Parker, II. NJ. James, Patrick Twohig,
Henry T. Hubert, G. w. Goye-, A. l..
Cummins, w. b. Richardet and George
Dixon, Councilmen.
A quorum being announced, Presi-
deuts Norment and Duncan took their
seats. President Duncan called the
members present TO order, and had the
roll of the General Council called.
Alderman Moffet, of the Joint Execu-
tive Committee, reported verbally that
the committee had conferred with the
committee of citizens and arranged to
act in entire concert in the procession.
Thereupon Councilman Hubert, Chair
man of the Joint Committee on Resolu-
tons, reported the following, which is
highly creditable to the head and heart
of the gentleman introducing the same.
GENERAL LEE Is Dead The national
heart walls in the throes Of almost NOR
tai agony, rnd Gods Providence crushes
down amid stricken people. 'Twere a
bitter mockery TO assert a sorrow cor
doned by the sympathies of the people
of the South. Justice, tardy and reluc-
tant to the living, cannot but canonize
the ashes of the great and illustrious
dead. Paint me as / dmr Numbered
Cromwell to the startled artist; omit
neither wrinkle, speck or blemish;' and
Immediately the flushing canvas glowed
with the reflected presence of the great
Protector. Paint RoBERT i. LEE, If you
eanl He challenges the embodied SEN
timent of the civilized world, and art,
abashed, is silent; the weird pencil OF
the thinner drops, and genius, humbled,
replies, "'Tis more than mortal to paint
almost more than mortal excellence"
The name itself eKhausts panegyric--
transcends all eulogy. 1t has been said
the praises of the dead fret not the liv-
ing. Can there be praise where parallel
is outbounded, and comparison fades in
the light of infinite contrast? But the
light of life is absorbed in eternity sun,
and the great CAPTAIN of the nineteenth
century passes away, peerless in his
grandeur and grand in the isolation of
eternal fame. This General Council can
therefore but
Resolve, To record solemnly this their
expression Of sympathy in the world s
sorrow at the death of General ROBERT
L. LEE the great, and the good.
2. That the City Hall, and other pub
lie buildings, be draped in mourning,
and the members of the City Govern
meut wear the usual badge for thirty
days. ta
3. That the Mayor be charged to COM
municate in appropriate terms the action
of the Council herein to the family of
the deceased, with the expression of the
sincerest coincidence in this the darker
hour of their measureless bereavement.
Adopted unanimously by the General
Council in joint session. Therenpon,
the body adjourned.
l.. r. RIcnARDs, City Register.