The Opelousas courier. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1852-1910, 1870-11-12

history will never let die. you come to
the hame-the only name in the annals
or Amcrlcan history that can be named
III the perilous connection-o Robert E.
Lee. App|ause.] The sccopl WASH
lngton. Applause.] Well mafuVirgini;,
De proud of her twin sons. [tsaplausc
Born almost century apart, 1T shining
like those binary stars which open their
glory and shed their splendor on tile
darkness Of the world. Sir, it is not an
altiiicc of rhetoric which suggests this
parallel between two great names in
American history; for the suggestion
springs spontaneously to every mind.
and men scarcely speak of Lee without
thinking OF mysterious connection
which binds the two together.
Ih"y were alike i'll the presage of
Their LiSt"rH-the history Of their boy
hood. Both earnest, grave, studous-
both alike in that peculiar purity which
belongs only to a nohle boy, and which
makes him brave and noble man, filing
the page Of history spotless until closed
III death - alike in that commanding
presence which seems to he the signature
OF Heaven sometimes placed on Il great
soul when to that soul is given Il fit
dwelling place alike in that noble car
rlage and commanding dignity -exercis-
ing a mcsmeric influence, and a hidden
pow: which could not he represScu on
all that came within its charm; alike in
the remarkable o,i:!ination and sym
mctry OF their intellectual attributes,
all brough up to the same level, no fac
ulty OF the mind overlapping any other
all so equal, so we'll developed, the
Jrdgmcnt, the reason, the memory. the
fancy. that you are almost disposed to
deny them greatness. because no single.
attribute OF the mind was projected upon
ltSc.f-!lst as Objects appear sometimes
smaller to the eye from the exact SYM
mctry and beauty OF their proportions
alike above all in that soul lgreatnesss,
that Christian virtue, to which so beau
t'iul tribute has been rendered by my
friend whose high privilege it was to be
compecr and comrade with the ilnmor-
tai dead, although in another branch
and >pi,ere-;'nd yet, alike, Mr.. Pr,>i-
dent. in. their external fortune, so
strangely dissimilar-tIle one the repre-
sentative and the agent of stupendous
3 bless, and give birth to one Of the
the representative and agent of a similar
revolution, upon which it pleased high
Heaven to throw the darkness of his
irown; so that bearing On his generous
heart the weight of this crushed cause.
he was at length overwhelmed and
the nation whom he led in battle gathers
: with spont$ncity of grief over this land,
whic!, is plowcd with glavcs and red
dcned with blood, to render the tears of
the widow over his cold grave. APP
plausc.
But. sir, these crude suggestions, which
fall almost impromptu tl"n my lips,
; suggest that which desire to offer be-
for. this audience tonight. | accept
Rnbt. f. Lee as the true type of the
American man, and the Southern gen
tleman. [Applause. \ brilliant Eng
lish writer has sell remarked. with
touch of sound philosophy, that when a
nation has rushed upon its fate, the
whole force of the national life Will
sometimes shoot up in one grand charac-
ter, like the aloe which blooms at the
end of hundred years, shooting up in
one spike of glory. and then expires.
[AppIause. And wherever philosophy
culture and refinement have gone upon
The globe. it is possible to place the fin
.cr upon the individual mcu who are the
cxemplars of a nations character. those
typical forms under which others less
noble, less expanded, have manifested
themselves.
Why, sir, that gentle, that perfect
moderation, that self-comnand winch
enabled him to he 80 self possessed
amidst the trying difficulties OF his pub
lie career, a refinement almost such as
marks the character of the purcst wo
man. were blended in him with that mas
i sive strength, that mighty endurance
that consistency and power which gave
him and the people whom he led sucl
momentum under the disadvantages OF
the struggle through which he passed.
Born above the general level OF Amer
lean society, blood of noble ancestry
flowed in his veins, and he was type
of the race from which he sprans. Sucf
was the grandeur and urbaneness OF hl'
manner, the dignity and majesty OF MI
carriage, that his only peer in social III
could be found in courts and among those
educated amidst the refnements o
courts and thrones. ln that regard there
, was something beautiful and appropriate
, that he should become in the latter year
> of his lifethe educator of the young. Sir
it is q cause of mourning before h'g'
Heaven tonight, that he was not spared
> for thirty years to educate generation
) for the time that is to come; for as il
the days when the red banner. stIeame'
, over the land, the South sent their son
to fight under his banner and beneatI
| the wave of his sword, these sons hav
!, been sent to sit at his feet when he wa
, the disciple Of the MUSES. and the teache
of philosophy. [Applause.] Oh, tina
, he might have brought his more than re
, gal character, his majestic frame, all hi
Intellectual and moral endowments, t.
: the task of fitting those that should com
} in the crisis of the future, to take tn
: mantle that had fallen from his shonl
; ders and bear it to the generations tina
were unborn.
:, Gen. Lee l accept as the representa-
, tive of his people, and of the tempe
. with which this Whole Southland enter
+ I :>4o 4b,,+ ~; r,,,f;x, that DrOIOnO Oeu an