Year: 1870

Of he arMies Of The Co,fsderacy, Il
! form an association on The occasion o,
hoaoring he remains Of General n
T.. Lee.


Mr.. President and comrades of the
Confederacy-I cannot trust the full
ness of my heart ut the moment oi
this meeting to prompt my lips with
the words becoming the bier of Gen
Robert l.. Lee, whose death has call
ed together some of his surviving com
rades.


1t is no occasion for any sketch oi
biography or history; eulogy upon his
life and death is vain; his character
excels all praise; his merits need moi
be disclosed, and his faults had nc
"dread abodes, for they all leaned to
virtues side. Whatever faults he bad
aud whatever blame belonged to him
no friend or foe could point them ou,
half rs readily as his truthful ingen.
iousness would admit and mourn
them. He was swifter than the accu.
ser to accuse himself; and ever gener.
Gus to faults of others, he was ever
foremost to acknowledge his own. Ii
nothing is to be said OF the dead but
what is good, there is superabun-
dance of good in his life and death to
compose volumes for the instruction
of mankind. He is departed aud
gone to his Father. but it cpnnot be
said of him that he is "no more. -
His fame is left to earth for all time
his great and good soul is in heaven
for all eternity; and from his example
proceeds, by moral power and di-
vine force which all the arms of earth
and powers of darkness cannot sub
due, wisdom and virtue which shall
hover over the land lie loved, and
spread it with the fruits of righteous
ness and truth. That is enough TO be
said of him, and it is left for us to
cherish his memory and keep the leg
acies of lessons he taught.


The fruit of his demise is the happy
result of bringing Us together for the
first time since he gave up the sword
which he accepted with the pledge to
devote it to the gods and the altars of
his home, and To sheath it only when
his work was finished. He sheatiied
it not until his whole duty WAS dis
charged and his work WAS done. He
him, and taught us how TO deserve
the honor, love and confidence of each
other: and | pray you now to rm II
brotherhood IN peace which shall per-
petnate our comradeship in war wor.
thy of the arni=s s of the Confederacy
and of their illustrious chief.


In its initiation let it he like what
the Cincinnati Society after the first
American Revolution was to Washing
ton, full of affections and memories
of which the great Chief was the cen-
ter, but let it never fail or expire as
the Cincinnati did, for reason or sus-
picion of any designs of paltry party
politics. Let our standards still be
the standard Of Robert Il. Lee-God,
Religion, Honor, Truth. and our
COuntE. Let US unite in one grand
Conzsderate brotherhood, with subor-
dinate, auxiliary organizations for each
Confederate army, 10 foster our affec-
tions, to cherish our memories. and to
preserve our history. There q ne
cessity for oil this; for we are scatter
ed and separated from each other,
and may lose our fellow-feeli e; we
are fast dying away from memory, and
may soon be forgotten; and the spoil
er is now busily and rapidly taking
from us by the per the truth of bisto-
ry, more precious to US than all the
spoils of war which were ever captur-
ed by his sword.


This, / trust, will be the main OBJ
iect of this meeting. Mourn we must,
In silent submission to Gods will, but
we must act to save what is most pre-
cious to us and our children, as we'll rs
grieve for what is lost.


We have lost much, but we did
much. We were obliged to fail, and
we did fail, but what men on earth ev-
er did more, or as much, in struggle
for "hope against hope?" Will Paris
with her millions, stand as long as
Richmond? VIII the Belle OF Ma
tons, that lilly of their garden,
France, endure against equal odds as
long as the devoted CoDfederacy stood
against all the odds of all the earth
Passing events point to the Justice due
us, and we will not be true to our
selves if we neglect or omit to claim
our own history. Contrasts now cast
ing lights and shadows on each a-e IL
Illustrating causes of failures in battles
and causes of the downfall of nations.
We fell in weakness of mere numbers
and there are causes for that weakness
which we must scan. And we have
not only affections to foster, memories
to cherish, truths to preserve, but lib-
critics TO be regained. This is great
work, and we ought to be up and
about it.


Monuments are but mites, compar-
ed with this work. Gen. Lees re-
mains are in the Temple of the Living
God, selected by himself for the de-
pository of his body amidst the last OF
his labors. Stone aud mortar can't
add one cubit to his stature; his mon
Eument is in the hearts of the Confed-
eracy; and on that topic have but a
word to add: that I would delight to
see design of true art placed over or
ut his tomb; no meretricious mockery
of all taste, such as Northern mechan-
les have put. upon the monument OF
George Washington in the Capitol
Square of this metropolis, but work
of some native artist of the South,
like that of Houdon, worthy of the
man it moulds. We have an artist