tation, it seems to me is the character who deserves of
his fellow-men the highest meed of praise, and gives in his person and
example the surest guaranty that the world will be all the better for
his agency in shaping its affairs.
The friends of Gen. LEE enjoy the perfect assurance that in every walk
of life, on every occasion when duty called him, his responses were ever
marked by a dignified and intelligent performance of the tasks assigned
him.
What higher honor can we ask for him than this: that weighty as were the
responsibilities that devolved upon him by inheritance and high as the
expectations which were the natural implications of this inheritance, he
fully and nobly met them. Much as was expected of him, he more than
realized the claims and obligations of a noble lineage. His
fellow-citizens and his contemporaries regard his career as an honor and
his companionship as a delight and a resource that adds poignancy to
their grief in the loss of so loved and valued a friend.
I might refer to the incidents of his military career to illustrate his
courage and fidelity, but it may not be considered appropriate to the
time and the occasion. It is cheering, however, to believe that in this
exalted body there is not to be found that spirit of truculent
uncharitableness which refuses any credit to an honorable adversary.
Time, which touches all things with mellowing hand, has softened the
recollections of past contests, and they who looked upon him as a foe
now only remember the glory of the fight, and would join hands with us
to weave the garland of his fame.
Securely may the friends and admirers of this noble character rest in
the belief that his name for generations to come will be enrolled in the
glorious list of worthies that has for all time made the name of
Virginia illustrious and among the foremost of all the commonwealths of
the ages past.
ADDRESS OF MR. BUTLER, OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
It was my good fortune, Mr. President, to know Gen. WILLIAM H.F. LEE
with the intimacy of personal friendship for more than a quarter of a
century, and I can pass no higher encomium upon him than by saying he
had all the qualities that constitute a true gentleman, a gentleman in
the highest and best sense. He inherited from a very illustrious and
distinguished ancestry a prestige rarely enjoyed in this country, and
yet he was as unpretending, unaffected, and modest as the humblest man.
His self-contained dignit
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