Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1875-04-22

GEr. RoBEEr Lxr.-A brilliant
assenb!age Of 6 rs Of Baltimore -
sisted . few nigh since 1t tie Aca-
DENY Of Musie lid of the fund Of
the Lee Memoir Association, and II
u understood 0vf fuo thousand dollars
wererealized. ! Valentine. thesculp-
tor, Of Richmon< VA. has completed
the design for - memorial statue,
which is . rccun ent sleeping figure
OF General Lee e. camp couch, over
marble sarcopla s- Tie memorial
and the remains ! General Lee are to
be placed in . able building TO be
erected On eroun1 given by the WASH
ington and Lee University ut Lexing-
ton, Va, near u spot where he died.
The great evenf Of the evening was
the address Of ~. g. Teackle Wallis.
whose eloquenccon the subject has never
been surpassed b any previous effort.
Our limited sPsce pEeeanaes the pub
icatiou Of the whole address. but We
are able to make koom for the follow
ing extracts whie< will be read, We think,
with special int1st.
And here = permitted, BY the
kindness Of fr5qnd, to read some ex-
tracts from le1er. of the illustrious
soldier, which Is never seen the light
before, and y Ieh win show through
what sad stEdggies of both heart and
mind he passed to what he felt to be
his duty. ! doubt not-nay, ! know
that many = gallant gentleman who
fought beside him, and many another
in the opposing host, grieyed, with as
deep q grief a. Lee, to draw his sword.
The letter that I speak of bears the
date of January Is, 1861, and was writ
ten from Fort Mason, near San Anto-
Mo, Texas. It was addressed to a
young lady, relative of his, for whom
he had great affection, and the passages
of which, speak were written as q
message to her father. Abiding to the
homes of two families offriends he said ::
Il think of the occupants of both
very often, and hope some day to see
them again. / may have the opportu-
nifty soon, for if the Union is dissolved
/ shall return to Virginia to share the
fortune If my people. But before so
great calamity befalls the country l
hope all honorable means of maintain
ing the constitution and the equal
rights of the people will be first ex.
hausted. Tell your father he must not
allow MARYLAND to be tackled on to
South Carolina before the Just de-
mands of the South have been fairly
presented to the North and rejected
Then, if the rights guaranteed by the
constitution are denied us, and the cit
liens of one portion of the country are
granted privileges not extended to the
other, we can, with a clear conscience,
separate. / am for maintaining all our
rights, not for abandoning all for the
sake of one. Our national rights, lib
erty at home and security abroad, our
lands, navy, forts, dockyards, arsenals
and institutions of every kind. 1t will
result in war I know, fierce, bloody war.
But so will secession, for it is revolution
and war at last, and cannot be other
wise, and We might as well look at it in
its true character. There is long mes
sage, A, for your father, and a very
grave one, which 1 had not intended to
put in my lettU you, bnt il is sub
iect on which my serious thoughts Of
ten turn, for as'an American citizen /
prize my government and country high
", and there is no sacrifice / am not
willing to make for their preservation,
save that of honor. trust there is
wisdom and patriotism. enough in the
country to save them, for / cannot an
ticipate so great a calamity to the ma
ton as the dissolution Of the Union"
Alas! alas i! that the hand which
wrote those touching, anxious words
was not near enough to the helm to
avert the shipwreck Alas alas that
no voice should have been lifted in the
land potent enough to bid the whirl-
wind stay! Who lacked the wisdom
who lacked the patriotism-which Lee
invoked, it is not for me, in this place,
at least, to say. If they existed, they
were dumb and helpless, and the whirl-
wind came. But I have read enough
to YOU to show the stuff of which some
men were made whom they call ''rebels"
enough to show that they who fought,
at last, against the Union, were not al
WAYS they who loved it least, or would
least willingly have died to save it.
rApplause.