The Washington herald., 1907-01-20

tie acquainted with my character as 10
suppose that my name could be bought at
any price" particularly impressed the
gathering
Following Justice Brewers address, the
band played an old plantation melody.
and then Congressman Williams was in
troduced and held his hearers in rapt at
tentioa for many minutes.
His address was lightened by good
natured shafts Of -aillery aimed at Jus
/ tiee Brewer, the Senate, and the House
! OF Representatives. IN part Mr.. VIII
/ fans speech was as follows:
Tribute from Mr.. williams.
Representative John Sharp Williams. o.
Mississippi. quoted from the poem, The
Sword Of Robert Lee, the couplet-
Nor brighter land had cause so grand
/ Nor cause a chief ike Lie.
/ The cause, he said. was not a lost cause.
SO much of what hung about and seemed a
part Of the cause as was lost, and would
| remain lost was nonesse ntiaI-an Incl
dent. a means, remedy. a method per
/ haps-not the cause itself Secession was
a means resOrted to to assert the cause.
/ The war settled the issue for all time. As
/ to the defense Of slavery il had been
! found unnecessary for racial defense, for
/ the integrity and identity Of the people
had been completely preserved. National
! independence. though the only sure way
Of preserving local self-government. was
La nonesseutial for seIf-government ex-
isted without IL, and he emphasized the
fact that there was less hatred between
/ the sections nOw than there had been
since the question Of the Missouri Com
! promise came up. That the South had
| escaped the naturalization that ensued in
| Haiti and other countries where the ne
SrOes had been emancipated Mr. Williams
| charged 70 the stern discipline Of war
which trained tie people for other stern
/ tasks. The fact that the South was to
be maintained alone by the white mans
! law and government was never more gen
orally recognized than to-day
| I believe" continued MIR Williams
history will mark Lee for its own as
the greatest aI-TOund general and
strategist that the Engltsh-spea peO-
pie have pr0duced-greater than Mari
borough, even greater than that incom-
prehensible eccenTlCity OF eCcentTiCitieg,
Charles MOrdaunt, Duke OF Peterb0r-
ough, wagering to take cities and raise
isieges, winning his wagers and returning
Ito his wine and women; greater in poise
and completeness as "a general. though
nobody could have been greater in elan
and, in some other respects. than Stone
wall Jackson himself
Getting Credit from All.
There are those yet who viii doubt
that he was greater than either Of the
two Union generals-Sherman. the strate-
gist, CT Grant The sIedge-hammer-bu-
the number of the dOubters is decreasing.
as we get farther from war feeling and
the halo Of success and more into the re-
gion Of calm, dispassionate, historical
judgment
But ii was afterward when all that
war could gain or maintain was LOST,
that he was greater yet Then he was -
longer the citizen-soldier. but simply The
citizen. In war he has shown his willing
ness 10 live and die for Dixie IN peace
he proved q more difficult willingness to
live and die IN Dixie He deemed il
. just as cowardly to desert his people, %
/ leave his soldiers and their wives and
children tnaccompanied in their new en-
J viroument and uEtried conditions. as il
would have been TO refuse in war time ~
set his fact with theirs on the single
/ cast OF the die.
r ''Cnassumingiy. without blare of trump
cts. without play 20 the galleries, without
display Of strenuosity. the simple gentle
man did his simple duty, a Lee, a gen
tieman.
Greatest as Gentleman.
1T was not without reason that. in
his fathers day George Washington
+, pointed with pride 10 four successive gen
: erations Of Lees. nurtured under Virgini5n
Ilfe-conditions. and challenged any royal
or titled family in the Old World to show
comparison Of four generations their
equal in character. conduct. and sense
But the fifth IN Robert Edward Lee did
+. cap them all Great as soldier and a
citizen, he was greater yet as a gentle
, man-a much-abused word, but a thing
. of precious. indeed priceless. actually
= when found.
! NO man who does not know the peo-
e pie OF the South and their ways Of think
p ing and feeling can realize how much
T it was the gentleman in Lee which at
Q tached TO MIN the devotion and blind con
fdence Of the soldiery Of the Confederacy
= and OF the women at home.
: At any rate, the sweet land Of Dixie
= would not give her buried son for all the
+ sons Of living mold-and still counts that
j. TO be the son Of one who followed him is
an inheritance Of greater real riches than
2 to be the son Of a millionaire.
I may be provincial and foolish, but 10
" my poor sense Of what man was made t.
= live and die for. I think the striving for,
or even the far-off admiration OF this Old
: time ideal, is more ennObIing than the
setting before ones self OF either riches
. or power, or popularity. as a goal.
After all. there was not even one
generation between Lee and the men OF
- the Revolution. He was the son Of
revolutionary father and born 100 years
ago. Perhaps that was one reason why
he was simple, plain, unobtrusive, unas-
suming old-fashioned-a man recognizing
# duty as the nOblest word in the Eng
! Ish language
~ Favorite Hymn Sung.
n The opening prayer was offered by Rev.
ir Roland Cotton Smith, D. D., and Rev.
s William T. Thompson, D. D., read a Sc
s lection from the Bible. During the even
# ing the vested choir OF the Church Of
~ the Epiphany sang two hymns. the sec
a ond of which, How Firm "a Foundation
u. Ye Saints of the Lord was Gen. Lees
a favorite. At the close of Mr. Williams
n address the Cross Of Honor was presented
!, 20 several members Of The veterans or
CARNATIONS and the Daughters Of the
. Confederacy. When this ceremony was
- completed the Marine Band played
- America" which was sung by the entire
audience. Rev. Henry Yates Satterlee
pronounced the bencdiction.
The committee in charge included the
following: William a. Gordon chairman,