The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-06-12
STATUE OF GEN.
 5. D. LEE UNVEILED

(Centinued from Page One.)
 of the Huguenots. cannot tell one from t'other. particularly after 10 o'clock in the evening"
 Monument Disclosed.
 As Mir watterson ceased speaking. two little boys stepped out, palled two strings, and the flags which had low ingiy shrouded the great monument nuttered and fell away. Tner- Ma: an instant's silence, a tribute to tn lifelike representations of the famous Southern soldier. then a spontaneous cheer burst forth from the throats of thousands grouped around 1t. while above the cheers came the bomb of the artillery salute.
 The two little boys who unveiled the statue were John G. Lee and Lee Har-, rison, grandsons of General Lee while the Generals son. Blewett Lee. of Chi cago. stood at their side and directed them.
 When the noisy enthusiasm had died down bit General Clement A. Evans. commander in chief of the Confederate veterans, formally presented the statue to the Federal government on behalf of the people of Mississippi and the Con- federate veterans.
 General Evans spoke as follows:
 The presentation today, in this noted National Military Park. of the monument in honor of Lieutenant General Stephen Dill ernment through one of its distin- guished officers, Gen. Fred D. Grant, Is much more than gratifying event. The whole ceremony will speak clearly, forcibly and eloquently for itself. It is also one of the highly interesting facts of this occasion that the love of the son for his father, the fraternal feeling of the veteran soldiers of two great armies, (once enemies, now friends), and the patriotic impulses of fellow countrymen, are all cordially blendid in the united offering of this monument to ~their common country. The gift. therefore. honors the hearts of the givers. who are thus united by the best ties tfiat bind mankind to- gether. Filial, fraternal and patriotic sentiments in all the heights and depths of their influence, are here, concretely allied. to honor the givers and the Government. as we'll as the heroic Southern soldier and citizen to whom the tribute Is paid:
 Civil government, fashioned like ours. reaches farthest and surest into the profound depths of popular affection when it expresses practically its sym
 
 the people. Our country Is never to be regarded as soulless legal cor poration, created to promote material wonderful national life organized by the great souls who styled themselves, we. the people of the United States" The true uses of good government are all Important, but none are as im- pressive as those functions through which the people themselves are made great-hearted in their allegiance and srfus f%o oh vi fAl rtf n of their common Government. Wash ington is called by affection the Fa- ther of his country. instead of the indeed. iIads a f} }rue % fatherRood as wei as a brotherhood in free civil government; and as for us, let our country be our fatheriand and our fellow eountrymen . brotherhood foreveri
 will not. and cannot. suppress at this memorable hour the pathos which our survey of this national milt- aud it's monuments arouses. I would not divest this scene of the pathetic drapery which our memories let fall all around us: We cannot forget the comradeship of soldiers created by the sufferings of war in which they mu- tually shared, and we will preserve all that was best in the conflict of brave men which presaged and made possible this national memorial ground. in this place at this hopr and every where, the harmonies, and not the dis
 
 tremuIous strings of our patriotic mem Our thoughts and feelings today concentrate htly on the patriotic life of Lieutenant General Lee. as we shall always associate him with the great events in which he acted his distin- guished part. will make his we'll known life the theme, his character an example, and his career the suggestion of the citizens patriotic duty. What a noble man he wasl Not merely a titular nobleman without the noble graces. but monumental nobtlitSe proven by his deeds, belonged to hin without other escutcheon. This monu- ment declares his fame, and our coun- try will accept 1t as a part of it's own His comrades and his countrymen know the great activity of his service and its wide area; first, in his native State, and then Virginia, and the States beyond the Potomac; after that the great Middle States of the Confeder- acy, and at Vicksburg, where he shared of the city's fall. When exchanged he was promoted Major General command ing Confederate cavalry over several great cavalry leader. General Bedford Forrest, until. rising to the rank of Lieutenant General. he commanded his CaroIinas to the surrender of John ston's army. In a review of these va ried services In actual battle, 1t was said Of nim ey MT: h' DAVIS not Iong De- one of the very best all round soldiers we had. I tried him in artillery and he handled the guns so superblY that I thought we could never spare him from that arm of the service. I tried him in cavalry. and then thought he was born for that service, and when I nut him to command infantry he was as equally able in that position"
 I have compressed into a paragraph the four years brilliant military ca reer of a great Confederate soldier, which may be expanded into volumes by narratlng the wonderful incidents of that vast war in which he achieved to honor. At the close of his war life.