pardoned when tempted to refer to the illustrious names which
their State in the past has furnished to the nation. The name of Lee has
been a household word in Virginia for three generations of men. In the
death of Gen. WILLIAM H.F. LEE the State has lost one of her truest and
worthiest sons and the Federal Government a faithful and patriotic
Representative.
Although acquainted personally with Gen. LEE for many years, it was only
within a year or two before his death that I had the opportunity to
appreciate fully the high personal qualities of the man and to
understand the real nobility of his nature. The more I saw of him the
higher became my respect and admiration. He grew upon me with closer
contact and more intimate association.
I was greatly impressed with his invariable courtesy of manner and great
amiability and kindness of heart, to which was added a knightly bearing
and cordiality of greeting which, combined, made Gen. LEE with all
classes of society an imposing and attractive figure.
He has gone to his last resting place, mourned by his family and friends
and lamented by an extensive acquaintance throughout the country. He had
filled the measure of his duties in every respect, and was entitled, as
he passed from the stage of action, to the plaudit, "Well done, good and
faithful servant."
ADDRESS OF MR. PASCO, OF FLORIDA.
Mr. PRESIDENT: My acquaintance with WILLIAM HENRY FITZHUGH LEE commenced
in the summer of 1854, when we met at Cambridge as members of the new
freshman class at Harvard College. He was just then entering his
eighteenth year, was well grown for his age, tall, vigorous, and robust,
open and frank in his address, kind and genial in his manners. He
entered upon his college life with many advantages in his favor. The
name of Lee was already upon the rolls of the university, for other
representatives of different branches of the family had entered and
graduated in the years gone by and had left pleasant memories behind
them. His distinguished lineage made him a welcome guest in the older
families of the University city, and of Boston, its near neighbor, who
felt a just pride in the historic and traditional associations connected
with the earlier history of the country, and many of the influential
members of the class belonged to such families.
He was rather older than the average age of his classmates, and his life
had been spent amid surroundings that had enabled him to see a go
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