The Canton mail. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 18??-1882, 1875-07-03
THE FRATERNAL, ERA.

GEN. FttI-Hush Lees Speech mt Boston.
At the close of the MAYORS speech
introducing the noted confederate. Gen.
Lee stepped to the front of the platform
and was received with the widest en-,
thusiasm, rerfect babel of applause
rising from the vast audience: the men
threw their hats into the air and YELLED
themselves hoarse, while the ladies' in
the galleries waved their handkerchiefs
and clapped their hands. When quiet
was at last restored, Gen. Lee said ::
MIR. Mayor and Ladies and Gentlemen ::
L thank you for the most cordial well
come You have extended to nv comrades
and myself. came here with the Nor
folk Light Artillery Blues, n confo derate
organization, whose guns have roared
upon many han drought field. As we
arrived before your city, this afternoon
and were steaming up your beautiful
harb5 r, the first notes that reached me
from a band of music sent to meet me
were of that good old tune called Aud
Lang Syne, and 1 felt 1 was not going
to Boston, but that I was returning
again to common country and COM
mon heritage. Applause 1 should
have wished that nv poor presence
would have passed nnnoticed, or that I
might have been permitted to have re-
manned silent visitor in Boston. When
ponder that this is the first time /
have ever stepped on the soil of Massa-
chusetts, necessarily feel some embar-
rassment at addressing such a splendid
audience as is before me, but when 1
reflect that l am an American citizen,
that L, too, am a des cepdant of those
men who tonight on Bunker Hill, I feel
that l, too. have a right to be here, to
celebrate their splendid deeds. [Great
applause. We come here, fellow citi-
zens, to show that we appreciate these
achievements OF these patriotic fore
fathers of ours-these men who planted
the seeds from which our nation has
sprung. We are here to show by our
actual presence that we are fully in
sympathy with the sentiment which
found expires ion upon the recent deco
ration days. when loving hands entwined
beautiful flowers about the graves of
the soldiers of both armies without dis
tinction. [Great applause. I recall
that, right here in Boston, one hundred
years ago, particular divine spoke in
substance as follows: I'VE pray the
Lord, if our enemies are desirous to
fight us, to give them fighting enough,
and II there are more OF their way
oSiO'' wiz oSuS "O ptdN buSc, " LULU
TO sink them to the bottom of it. >
Laughter and applause. Now, when
1 see this magnificent demonstration,
when my eyes look On yours beaming
with kindliness and heartfelt good will
toward me and mine, feel that hereaf-
ter, if foreign or domestic foes threaten
our commo n country, Massachusetts and
Virginia, California and Florida would
shout with one voice, If they desire to
fight, let them have enough Great
applause. I may be pardoLed if I
recall to your minds that, in these days
of darkness, when the clouds of war
enveloped your commonwealth, my state
of Virginia, sent right he. into your
midst him, who in the language of my
grandfather, was First in war, first in
peace, and first in the hearts of his
countrymen,' whose character, in the
language of Andrew Jackson, cannot be
too profoundly studied and his example
too closely followed. Washington APP
peared here in your midst, brought
order out of confusion, and saved our
country. thank you, ladies and gen.
tlemen, most cordially, for the manner
in which you have received me. u
[Applause.