The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1870-10-14
CJJL CO / JJ.NLR B 6 i IS. i slaJ. j.
Friday Morning. 0otobar Ia la70.S



Tns Utstn ss, easnsTal III. 1ai hsSS. .,S IS 1. g
As announced. il Thursds dsya q i PAGa1x. Pa lsis
q public meeting Of, citizens, was held,
yesterday morning, for the purpose Of
paying ah pssner: tribute 10 the memory
Of Gen. Robert r. Lee: The meeting
was to have been held in Palmetto En-
gihs Hopse. but Judge Melton having
adjourned the Court--the Court House
vaA substituted, The hells Of the Epis;-
c6pal and Presbyterian Churches were
telled during the morning, and Of ~
celack. by order OF Meyor Alexander,
the city bell proclaimed to the people
the general loss, which had been sus-
tanned. AT half-past IL O'Clock, the
meeting was called to order by Col. A.
O. Haskell, Who stated that the object
was for the purpose Of paying proper
tribute OF respect to the memory of Gen.
Robert p. Lee.i and proposed that Gen.
Wade Hampton take the chair, which
was unanimously adopted. John D.
Caldwell, Esq was appointed secretary.
Gen. Hampton 'then addressed the
meeting: ,%ot2 sl;<l.h" - :.
FrniIow. CITIZENS: WE ars called to-
gethar tu.daylot1y an damn 6nncetuent
which will canse profound sorrow
thro1ghout the civilized world, and
which comes to US bearing the additional
grief OF personal and Private bereave-
ment. The f0remost man of .all the
world is no more; and as that news is
carried by the speed 6f lightning through
every town and village. and hamlet of
this land which, be Moved 90 we'll, and
amongst those .peop1n who loved and
honored and venerateH him sdprofound-
ly, every true heart In the stricken South
will feel that. the c1pn tty has lost it's
pride and glory, and that the citizens of
that country haye ]pst father. I dare
not venture tospeaks of him as I feel.
Nor do we come ID eulogiss him. Not
only wherever the English language is
spoken, but, whereyer civilization ex-
tends, the sorrowT-a'part, at least, of the
sorrow we feel-wltl be. felt, and more
eloquent tongtes thin mine will tell
Robert J.. Lee. We need not come to
praise him. We come, only. to express
our sympathy, our grief, our bereave-
ment. We come not to moufn him, for
we Know that it is well with him. We
come only: to extend our sympathy to
those who are bereaved.
Now that he is fallen, I may mention
what I have never spoken Of before, to
show you not only what were the feel
ings that actuated him in the duty to
which his beloved countrymen called
him, but what noble sentiments inspired
him, when he saw the cause for which lie
had been fighting 30 long about to per-
ish. Just before the surrender, after a
night devoted to the most arduous du-
ties, as one of his staff came in to see
him in the morning, he found him worn
and weary and disheartened; and the
General said to him: f'How easily
could get rid of this and be at rest. I
have only to ride along the line, and all
will be over. But" said he-and there
spoke the christian patriot-''it is our
duty to liDs, for what will become Of the
women and children of the South if we
are not here to protect them" That
same spirit of duty which had actuated
him through all the perils and all the
he had waged go heroically-that same
high spirit of duty, told him that he
must live to show that he was great
greater, if that were possible, in peace
than in war-livei to teach the people
whom he had before led to victory, how
to bear defeat-live to show what great
and good man can accomplish-live to
set an example to his people for all time
live to bear. if nothing else. his share
Of the sorrows and the Affections aud the
troubles which had come upon his peo-
pie. He is now at rest; and surely we
Of the South can say of him, rs we say
of his great examplar, the "Father of
his Country" that he was first in a0ar,
fret in peace, and first in Ne hearts Of his
countryn1en.
OoionelJ. z. Thomas then addressed
the meeting as follows:
Mr.. CHAIRMAN AND FELLOW. CITIZENS:
Allow me to say that it is from circum-
stances. rather than choice, that I am
given the somewhat prominent position,
which I assume with diffidence on this
occasion. feel, fellow citizens and
Mr.. Chairman, my comparative unwor-
thiness to be the enlogist of the
eminent Southerner, who has recently
breathed his last within the classic con
fines Of the grand old State OF Virginia;