E •I Book. rrf 9- ^^7 4 17^ CEREMONIES ,# CONNECTED WITH THE UN¥EILING OF THE STSTUE OF GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE, RT LEE CIRCLE, NE¥ ORLEANS, Lfl,, FEB. 22, 1884. o^ORATION^ "W BY HON. CHAS. E. FENNER POEM, By H. F. REQUIER, Esq. HISTORICAL SKETCH OF R. E. LEE MONUMENTAL ASSOCIATION. NEW ORLEANS: VV. B. StanslJury & Co. Print, 38 Natchez Street. 1SS4. JJJL CEREMONIES Vf f CONNECTED WITH THE UNVEILING OF THE STKTUE OF GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE, HT LEE CIRCLE, NEW ORLESNS, LH., FEB. 22, 1884. it ORATION ir By HON. CHAS. E. FENNER I POEM, By H. F. REQUIER, Esq. HISTORICAL SKETCH OF R, E. LEE MONUMENTAL ASSOCIATION, NEW ORLEANS: \V. B. Stansbury & Co. Print, 3S Natchez Street. 1SS4. .L4 L4^ «*• *f CHAAfGft <1^ SI- LEE- 3Y H. F. KEQUIEK. 11^ Kear aloft the solid columu— Rear it higli that men may see How tiie valiaut ijonor valor — How the brave remember Lee. Poise him on the lolty summit Of the white enduring stone, Where his form may linger, teaching In dumb majesty alone. Never braver spirit battled, Never grander soldier shone, Thau this victor— vanciuished only When his hosts were overborne. Give him greeting wJiile he rises On this monument to-day, A» the warrior who led armies To the enemy's dismay; As the hero thrice encompissed — Thrice outnumbered by the foe — Who with all the odds agaiust him, ytili resisted overthrow. He, the leader of the legions— fie, the chieftain of the brave- He, the model nian and Christian, Sleeping where the willows wave - Shall be numbered with the noblest That have ever swayed the world, Though his cause be lost forever And his fated dag be furled . God anoint us in tiiis moment Of memorial for the dead — For the once contending armies Now united overhead — For the Blue and Gray together That so bravely fought and fell, When the North and South divided- Faced the dashing flame of hell. They are looking fiom the Heavens On this hallowed scene to-day. And the pipes of peace are playing To their spirits gentle sway. While we rear the solid column, Kear it high that men may see How the valiant honor valor- How the brave remember Lee. ^ ORATION ^ FOR THE UNVEILING OF THE ROBERT E. LEE MONUMENT, - BY — HON, CHAS, E. FENNER. Ladies and Gentlemen : If I appear before you in the double capacity of President of tlie E. E. Lee Monumental Association and of orator of the day, it is not of my seeking, but in obedience to the unanimous wOl of my brother officers and directors, who have imposed on me the task of commemorating the character, the deeds and the cause of Lee, in words, as this monumental tribute was designed to commemorate them in perennial bronze and stone. It is now nearly two years since this summons came to me ; and during that 'time, at such intervals as a somewhat busy life aiforded, 1 have devoted myself to the study of the memorial records of Lee, with growing wonder at the purity of his life, the moral grandeur of his character and the splendor of his achieve- ments. Amazed at the glowing picture, and little disposed to believe in human ijerfection, I have, with the eye of the critic, sought to discover whether eulogy had not distorted truth, and whether, after all, this man was not too great to be so good, or too good to be so great as he is painted. Unless it was my honest and considerate belief I would not insult the divine modesty of the spirit of Lee by proclaiming as I do that he was "the cuniiing'st pattern of excelling nature" that was ever wanned by the "Promethean heat." For surely never revealed itself to the human mind a more deligiitful sub- ject for contemplation than the life and character of Lee. ^The phenomenal elevation of his soul was developed by every fertilizing influence that could tend to stimulate and strengthen, 6 ORATION. by the antecedents of his race, by tlie snrronndings of his life, by the lofty character of his edncation and profession. The blood which coursed in his veins descended in purest strain through an illustrious ancestry running back to William the Conqueror, every record of which indicates a race of heredi- tary gentlemen. That the blood of Launcelot Lee, who landed with the Conqueror, and of Lionel, who fought with Coeur de Lion, had not dengenerated, as it percolated through the cen- turies, is evidenced by the history of the American Lees, whose founder was Eichard Lee, a cavalier of Charles the First, who removed to the Xew World, and is described by Bishop Meade as '^a man of good stature, comely visage, enterprising genius, sound head, vigorous spirit and most generous nature." From his stock sprung a host of illustrious Virginians, the most con- spicuous of whom were that Eichard Henry Lee, who, in the Congress of the Colonies, moved the resolution adopting the Declaration of Independence, and proclaiming tliat the American colonies ''are, and of a right ought to be, free and independent ;" and the father of our hero. Light Horse Harry Lee, the Eupert of the Eevolutiou, the friend of Washington, elected by Congress to deliver the eulogy of that illustriouvS man at his death, and who conferred upon him the memorable title of "first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen." Born in the same county with AVashington, and thus bound to his memory by the ties of hereditary friendship, fate seems to have determined that this illustrious exemplar should "rain influ- ence" upon Lee from every source. It gave him to wife Mary Eandolph Custis, daugther of the adopted son of Washington, the nearest representative of his house, and a woman whose ex- alted virtues were derived by lineal inheritance from the wife of Washington. This marriage transferred his residence to beautiful Arlington, the repository of the Washington relics, where he lived surrounded by objtects so freighted with the dearest memo- ries and associations of the liero's life, that the very atmosphere of the place seemed instinct with the brooding influence of his spirit. From his very infancy Lee seems to have been enamored of virtue. In writing of him at an early age his father says : "Eob- ert, who was always good, will be confirmed in his happy turn of mind by his ever watehfnl and affectionate mother." ORATION. 7 Tliat mother was an invalid, and so tender and dntiful was he in his attentions to her, even during his rough boyhood, that when he left her to go to West Point she exclaimed : " How can I live without Robert ! He is both son and danghter tome." And here we catch the earliest glimpse of that epicene nature, the highest type of humanity, combining feminine gentleness and modesty, quick sympathy and capacity for self-abnegation, with masculine strength, energy and inflexible purpose — a com- bination which, in its highest form, makes man, indeed, "the beauty of the world, the paragon of animals ! " Free from perilous precocity, his boyhood and early youth gave ample evidence of that vigorous and symmetrical intellectual or- ganization, which, at every stage of his career, rose to the level of the highest tasks imposed upon it, solved all the problems of life, whether great or small, as they presented themselves, with infal- lible judgment, lifted him to the summit of the profession of his choice, and, by the evenness, roundness and fullness of its devel- opment, left no doubt that, in any other sphere of human activity, it would have enabled him to achieve equal eminence. Bountiful nature had endowed him with exceptional gifts of physical beauty. The eye of the South Carolina poet, Hayne, once rested upon him in the first year of the war, when he was already on the hither verge of middle age, as he stood in the fortifications of Charleston, surrounded by officers, and he has left the following pen picture of him : "In the middle of the group, topping the tallest by half a head, was, perhaps, the most striking figure we had ever encountered, the figure of a man seemingly about fifty-six or fifty-eight years of age, erect as a poplar, yet lithe and graceful, with broad shoulders well thrown back, a fine, justly proportioned head posed in unconscious dignity, clear, deep, thoughtful eyes, and the quiet, dauntless step of one every inch the gentleman and soldier. Had some old English Cathedral crypt or monumental stone in Westminster Abbey been smitten by a magician's wand and made to yield up its knightly tenant restored to his manly vigor, with chivalric soul beaming from every feature, some grand old Crusader or Eed Cross warrior, who, believing in a sacred creed and espousing a glorious principle, looked upon mere life as nothing in the com- parison, we thought that thus would he have appeared, unchanged in aught but costume and surroundings. And this superb 8 ORATION. soldier, the glamour of the antique days about him, was Robt. E. Lee." If such was the Lee of fifty-six years, what must have been the splendid beauty of his youth ? The priceless jewel of his soul found fit setting in this grand physique, marked by a majestic bearing and easy grace and courtesy of gesture and movement, sprung from perfect harmony and symmetry of limb and muscle, instinct with that vigorous health, the product of a sound mind in a sound body. Such was the magnificent youth who graduated from West Point with the honors of his class, and dedicated himself to the service of his country. It was easy to see that "Fate reserved him for a bright manhood." Xot his the task, by the eccentric flight of a soaring ambition, to "pluck blight Ilonor from the pale-faced moon," or with desperate greed, to "dive into the bot- tom of the deep and drag up drowned Honor by the locks." This great engineer laid out the road of his life along the undeviating line of ])uty, prepared to bridge seas and scale mountains ', to defy foes and to scorn temptations ; to struggle, to fight, to die, if need be, but never to swerve from his choseu it^th. Honor and Fame were not captives in his train. Free and bounteous, they ambuscaded his way and crowned him as he passed. Needless to dwell upon the incidents of his life from his grad- uatiou to the Mexican war. Tliis period of his early manhood was passed in the study of his profession ; in the cultivation of his mind; in the exercise of every virtue; in the enjoyment of domestic life ; in the rearing of children who, in the fullness of time, were destined to repay his care by lives not unworthy of the paternal example. At the Oldening of tlu^. Mexican war he was, jjcrhaps, as per- fectly equipped in the science of soldiership as any living man. Although but a captain of engineers and debarred from rapid l)romotion by the rules of the regular service, he achieved a dis- tinction, if not so noisy, deeper than Avas gained by any subordi- nate in that war. No name figured so conspicuously in the reports of the general commanding for brilliant and important services. At its end, while the nudtitude was sounding the noisier fame of others, the judicious few, who weie familiar with the interior of the camjiaigns, aAvarded the palm t)f soldiership to the modest oflicer of engineers, and already fixed on him as ORATION. 9 tlie coming' captain o± America. Tlie man most competent ot all to jndge, tlie hero of Lundy's Lane himself, did n.ot hesitate to dec'lare that "Lee was the greatest living soldier of America," and that "if a great battle was to be fought for tlie liberty or slavery of America, and I were asked my judgment as to the ability of a commander, I would say with my dying breath, 'Let it be Eobert E. Lee.' " One of the name of Lee has defined hai)piuess in the following homely but thoughtful words : "Peace of mind based on piety to Almighty God; unconscious innoceiice of conduct, with good will to man ; health of body, health of mind and prosperity in onr vocation ; a sweet, affectionate wife ; children devoted to truth, honor, right and utility, with love and respect to their parents; and faitliful, warm-hearted friends, in a country jjoliti- cally and religiously free — this is my definition of happiness." I know not where a better can be found; and if ever man enjoyed these blessings in bountiful measure, supplemented by ji wealth of golden opinion in the minds of all his countrymen, it was Eobert E. Lee, as the current of his life flowed peacefully through the years preceding tlie great civil war. Nothing disturbed the placidity of its course save the shadows, rapidly lengthening and thickening, cast by the dread events which were coming with the impending future. Lee lo\ed the ITujoii. It was emjjluitically tlie Union of his fathers, M'hose cunning hands had wrought in its con- struction. Jt was the Union of Wasliington, the idol of his worship. It was his own Union for which he had fouglit, and in whose service the "dearest action" of his life had been spent. The tenor of his way had removed him from the growing exacer- bation of i)()]itical strife. The l)itterness of sectional hate had not entered liis soul, lie loved the whole Union. To his acute prevision, its threatened disruption meant chaos and inevitable, desi)erate Avar. He opposed secession. He lilted his voice against it in words of solemn warning and protestation. In vain ! AVho can lift his hand against fate, and, with feeble gesture, stay or divert its course '? The inevitable swept on re- sistless, remorseless. Sna])ped, in quick succession, the cords which bound State after State to the Union ; and, at last,' with mighty effort, Virginia tore asunder the "hoops of steel " which encircled her, and, standing in the solitude of her original 10 ORATION. sovereignty, with imperial voice, in her honr of peril, summoned all her children to her side. Lee she called by name, singled him out as chiefest of her sons, lier Hector, the pillar of her house. Stern mother, as she was, she held out to him the baton of her armies and bade him take it and prote(!t her honor, or die in its defense. The crisis of his life had come. His known love for the Union, his avowed opposition to secession, his devoted attachment to the venerable Commander-in-Chief of the Federal army, his edu- cation at West Point, his life spent in the Federal service — all kindled hopes in the supjiorters of the Union that his services would not be wanting to their cause, and he was semiofficially advised that the chief command in the tield of the Federal forces then being organized was subject to his acceptance. Eloquent lips have pictured the struggle which it cost Lee to resist this glittering- temptation. And, indeed, viewed from the standpoint of mere personal interest and professional ambition, the alternative presented was "all the world to nothing." But my study of his character forbids me to believe that such con- siderations ever assumed the dignity of a temptation -to him. Amongst the records of his written or spoken thcmghts I find no evidence of even a nuunent's hesitation in his choice. Duty, the guide and guardian of his life, never spoke to Lee in doubtful accents. Its voice Mas ever as clear as the trumpet's note, and by him was never heard but t(j be instantly obeyed. With gracious mien, he put aside all contrary solicitations, surrendered to the Union the unstained SMord which he had worn so worthily, and parting from the friends and associations of his youth and manhood in sorrow, but not at all in anger, bent his steps to his mother, Virginia, and kneeling reverently at her feet, received from her hand the chieftain's SAvord, and there kissing its hilt, swore eternal fealty to her cause. For this act he has been denounced as a deserter from his flag, and a traitor to his country. For this act he went down to his grave a disfranchised citizen of a restored Union. For a, like act there yet rests the stigma of disfranchisement upon a single num out of millions, the chivalric chieftain of the lost cause. [To Mr. Davis. Venerable man ! while the smirking littlenes- ses of official life deny you the bauble of an unsought amnesty, that providence which, in the end, surely guides aright the uiti- ORATION. 11 mate judgments of mankind, is eloquent in your behalf to tlie awakening conscience of the American people. Malice and slander have exhausted their power against you. We congra- tulate you that the kindling splendors of that fame which will light up the centuries, already illumine the declining years of a life which has illustrated the hist(ny of two nations by valor in battle, wisdom in council, eloquence in debate, temperance in triumph and inexpugnable fortitude in adversity. O, pater patruc! living as it were "in an inverted order," and mourning, sternly and inconsolably, over the dead country, ftalve et vale !] If these charges against Lee are true, the urgent question presents itself : What do we here to-day; erecting a monument to a deserter or a traitor ? To magnify the deeds of our heroes, without, at the same time, vindicating the cause for which they were done, would be to ignore that which gives to those deeds their highest merit and grace and beauty. Mere brute courage and even the highest military skill are not, of themselves, fit subjects for commemora- tion in monumental brass. A pirate captain has often fought in defense of his black Hag with as deperate bravery and as con- summate art as [Helson at Trafalgar or Lawrence on the decks of the Constitution. A bandit chief miglit display as much devo- tion, skill and courage in defending some mountain pass, the key to the lair of his band, as were exhibited by Leonidas at Ther- mopyhie. But we do not build monuments to these. We cannot afford to sink our heroes to the level of mere prize fighters, who deluged a continent in blood witliout just right or lawful cause. Remembering that we are here, as Americans, to do honor to one of the greatest of Americans ; gratefully acknowledging the presence of many of those who fought against Lee, and who have chivalrously accepted our invitation to participate in these ceremonies ; I have anxiously asked myself whether I might, without just censure, undertalve to speak in defense of the cause of Lee. Two decades have passed since the Confederate flag w^as folded to its eternal rest. The Union is restored. The wounds of in- ternecine strife are healed. An affluent tide of patriotism, welling from the hearts of a reunited people, rolls, with resist- less ebb and flow, through the length and breadth of a common 12 ORATION. country, and breaks, with equal volume, upon the Southern, as ui)on the ISTorthern confines of the Eepublic. All men agree that we live to-day under a Constitution, the meaning- and effect of which have, in certain particulars, been as delinitely settled in a sense opposed to that contended for by the Southern States in the recent conflict, as if it had been, in those respects, expressly amended. Tliis has l)een effected by the inveterate res adjudieata of war, from which there is no appeal and no desire to appeal. We, the i)eople of the South, have renewed our unreserved al- legiance to the Constitutiou as tlius authoritatively construed. By the bloody (Ji^sarian, operntion of the war, the right of seces- sion has, indisputably, been eviscerated from the fundamental law. Blistered be the slanderous tongue, and cankered the coward heart, which would pervert what I am about to say, into an at- temj^t to revive dead issues or reopen settled controversies. The constitutional dispute between the States as to the right of secession is, to-day, as purely a historical question as the questions between the colonies and Great Britain about the right- fulness of the stamp act and of taxation without representation. As such I feel myself charged with the solemn duty of discussing it, to the eiul that 1 may aid in distributing and perpetuating for the benefit of this and coming generations, a knowledge of the grave and sul)stantial grounds u])on which their forefathers be- lieved, when they " stood i' the imminent, deadly breach," in de- fense of the States, of wliich they were citizens, that they were acting in their right, in obedience to lawful authority, ami in violation of no riglitful allegiance due by them to any earthly power. Standing by the grave of this dead and buried right of seces- sion, we inscribe upon its tomb the solemn '■'•requieseat in pace,^' we admit that the sepulchre wherein it is "inurned" may never "ope his ponderous and marble jaws to cast it up again ;" but fanaticism itself cannot deny us the privilege of asserting that it once " lived and moved and had its being," sprung from the womb of the Constitution, begotten of the loins of the Fathers, in its day a leader of hosts as true and valiant as ever struck for the "altars of their country and the temples of their gods." Follow me, therefore, oh fellow-citizens of a reunited country, whether from the North or from the South, while, with reverent ORATION. 13 lioart, in tin- spirit of impartial liistory, and in necessary vindica- tion of tlie cause for wiii(;li lie fought in whose memory this mon- ument is erected, I seek to trace the origin, the foundation and tlie history of the right of secession, bearing ever in mind that I speak not from the standpoint of to-day, but of that eventful moment in the already distant past when Lee was called ui)on to determine, by the lights then surrounding him, whether Ids allegiance was due to his iiative State or to the Federal Government, from which she had withdrawn. Down to the days of Hobbes, of Malmesbury, kingship founded its claim to authority on Divine right. Tlobbes origina- ted the doctrine that political authority was derived from the consent of the governed, and based that consent upon the fiction of an "origiujjl contract" or imjdied covenant, wliich created ''that great Leviathan called the commonwealth of State." The right of secession, even in the form of revolution, had no place, however, in the theory of Hobbes, because he held that this "original contract" was irrevocable, and thus laid for des- potism a firmer foundation than that which he had destroyed. Locke made a prodigious advance. Adopting Hobbes' theory that politicid authority was derived from the consent of the governed, he repudiated the doctrine of irrevocability, and held that the power of rulers was merely delegated, and that the people, or the governed, had the right to withdraw it when used for purposes inconsistent with the common weal, the end which society and government were formed to promote. By thus recognizing the responsibility of rulers to their subjects for the due execution of their trusts and the right of resistance by the people in case of abuse thereof, he established tlie sacred right of revolution, in the assertion of which the people of England expelled the Stuarts from the throne, iuid the American colonies established their independence. On emerging from a. revolution in which their rights of self- government had been so strenuously denied, in which they had endured such suft'erings and perils and had so narrowly escaijed from complete subjugation, it might naturally be expected that in thereafter establishing a general government among them- selves, the colonies would have been careful in guarding the nature and terms of their consent thereto and in leaving open a safe and peaceful mode of retiring therefrom, whenever, in their 14 ORATION. judgment, it should endanger their rights or cease to promote their welfare. Their experience had taught them the danger, difficulty and possible inadequacy of the mere right of revo- lution. Accordingly, we find that hi the Federal Governments, which they instituted, both in the articles of confederation and in the constitution of 17a(;t, it would be difiQcult to disprove its right of doing so." I must halt here in the enumeration of the plain historical facts and overwhelming authorities upon which rested the great doctrine that the Constitution of the United States was purely a federal compact between sovereign and indeijendeut States, de- riving its force and authority from the free and individual con- sent of the several States in their separate political capacities. In these essential respects it did not differ from the articles of confederation, but only, as before stated, in the extent and mode of execution of the powers granted to the general government. The entire argument against the right of secession rested on a denial of this doctrine. That denial was never made by any respectable authority until, during the nullification and agitation of 1831-3, Webster and Story stepped into the lists as champions of an indisso- luble Union. These were great men and great lawyers. They saw, and in- deed a reference to their works will show, that they admitted that, if the doctrine above stated were correct, the right of se- cession could not be successfully disputed. They therefore took bold ground against it. They denied that the Constitution was a comx^act at all. They denied that, even if a compact, it was one to which the States were the parties. Thej" asserted that the government created thereby was a ISTa- tional, and not a Federal Government. They asserted that the Constitution was ordained and established by the consent, not of the States, but of '^the whole people of the United States in the aggregate," and could only be uudone by like consent. In view of the historical record which I have faintly sketched, and which might have been indefinitely extended, the mind is stui)efled at the utter impotence of human language as a vehicle of thought, when it encounters such opposite interpretations of a written instrument, and discovers that after the lapse of forty years, time sufficient to have consigned to their tombs nearly every one of those who had aided in its confection, a construction should be advanced diametrically oj)posed to what they had declared, in every form, to be their veritable meaning'. Of course, it would not be possible for me, within the limits of 18 OEATIO^'. this address, to state all the arguiuents advanced by Webster and Story, in support of their theory, or the answers made to them ; but one or two of the most salient deserve attention. To show that the government was National and not Federal, they seized upon the first resolution adojJted by the convention, which declared that a "National Government ought to be estab- lished, consisting of a supreme legislative, executive and judi- ciary. " This resolution was proposed before the convention was full; and how shall we restrain our wonder at the reliance placed upon it, when, in the record of the further x)roceediugs of the convention, we learn that, upon motion of Ellsworth, of Connec- ticut, and upon his expressed objection to the term "National, " the resolution was altered, nem. con., so as to read that " the Government of the United States ought to consist, " etc. Thus the convention expressly repudiated the term " National Gov- ernment," and substituted therefor words expressive of the Fed- eral character of the government; and, indeed, as already shown, in the letter recommending the ratification of the Constitution, the convention expressly described it as the " Federal Govern- ment of these States. " /The grand cheval de hattaille of their argument, however, was the preamble of the Constitution itself, which declares that "We, the j)eople of the United States. ******* ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." There is no doubt that these words, more than all other con- siderations combined, have lent force to the argument of those who supported the National theory of the goverimient; and had the plain explanation of their use which has since been given, been advanced at the time when the question arose, it is doubtful if that theory would ever have attained the acceptation which it received. What is that exxjlanation, so ax)parent and conclusive, and yet, so far as I am aware, first advanced, after the war, by that great publicist, Albert Taylor Bledsoe ? It is this : The original draft of the Constitution, instead of using in its preamble the words "We, the peoi)le of the United States," used the words "We, the people of the States of Virginia, Massachusetts, etc.," specifying each State by name as parties to the compact. So matters stood until the language of the Constitution was submit- ORATION. 19 ted to the revision of a "(M)iniiiittee on style." Tliat coiuniittee discovered that under the provisions rehitive to the nH)de of rati- fication Avliich directed that the accession of any nine States shonld carry the Constitution into effect, tiie naming- of all or any of the States in the i)reanil)le was impracticable, because it might well be that all the States would not ratify, and it would be im- possible to state in advance which nine of them Avould do so. How then were they to be named ? It thus became absolutely necessary to strike out the enumeration of the States, and to substitute some general phrase which should embrace those States which should ratify and exclude those which should reject the Constitution. Such a i)hrase was discovered in the words, "the people of the United States," by which the convention surely did not intend to alter the entire nature of the instrument, but only meant the respective ])eoi)les of the several States, not named only because unknown, which should thereafter become parties, and, by consenting to the proposed Union, become thereby United States. Gouverneur Morris, of Pennsylvania, was chairman of the committee on style which rei)orted this al- teration in the preamble, and he informs us in one of his letters, that the Constitution, in its final shape, was "written by the fin- gers w^hich write this letter." He, therefore, wrote the words, "We, the people of the United States," in the preamble, and should have known better than any other what was their true import. He was one of the most pronounced advocates of a strong government. The record shows that he had actually moved the reference of the Constitution for ratification to "one general convention chosen and authorized by the people, to con- sider, to amend and establish the same," but that his motion had not even received a second. What becomes, then, of the argu- ment based on this expression of the i^reamble, when we find that Gouverneur Morris, its author, with his well known desire to establish a j!^ational government, himself declares in his writ- ings, that "the Consitution was a compact, not between individu- als, but between political societies, the people, not of America, but of the United States, each (State) enjoying sovereign power, and, of course, equal rights." Time and the occasion admonish me that I must arrest here the discussion of this interesting historical question. I have, of course, barely indicated the faint outlines of the grand argument 20 ORATION. sustaining the right of secession. Those who desire to go deei)- er may consult those great storehouses of facts and principles, the works of Calhoun, Bledsoe, Stephens, Sage, and our iiiiniortal leader, Jefferson Davis. It is not for 7ne dogmatically to proclaim that we were right and that the supporters of the Union were wrong. I shall have accomplished a duty, and shall, as T believe, have rendered a service to the whole Union, if what I have said shall contribute to confirm the Southern peoi)le in the veneration and respect justly due to the cause for which their fathers fought, and, at the same time, to moderate the vehemence with which many of the Northern people have denounced that cause as mere wicked and unreasoniug treason. The war may have established that the Constitution no longer binds the States by a mere love tie, but by a Gordian knot, which only the sword can sever ; yet all patriots will admit that the safest guarantee of its permanence must lie in the mutual respect and forbearance from insult of all sections of the peojjle toward each other. Far be it from me to impugn the motives of those who ad- vocated and enforced the indissolubility of the Union. tn union the States had achieved their independence. In union, at a later time, during the infancy of the Republic, they had defied again the power of the mightiest nation of the earth, and had vindicated their capacity to protect and defend the rights which they had so dearly won. In union they had sub- dued the savage, leveled primeval forests, subjected vast wilder- nesses to the sway of peaceful populations and happy hus- bandry, borne the ensign of the Republic to the capital of a foreign foe, extended their frontiers till they embraced a continent and swelled their population to a strength which might defy the world in arms. In union the sails of their com- merce whitened every sea, wealth poured in affluent streams into their laps, education flourished, science and art took root and grew apace, and those ancient foes, religion and toleration, lib- erty and law, public order and individual freedom, locked hands and worked together to magnify and glorify the grandest, hap- piest and freest people that ever flourished ''in the tides of time." The contemplation of this exhilarating spectacle naturally tightened the bands of the Union and inflamed the minds of the ORATION. 21 pooi)le with a deep patriotism, whicli tended more and more to centre round the Federal Government. Wlien, in 18,3;3, Avliile the glorious panorama I have just sketched was still being unrolled, upon a comparatively trilling occasion, behind the absurd spectre of Nullification appeared the gigantic figure of the Eight of Sescession, panoplied though it was from head to foot in the armor of the Constitution, it struck terror to the souls of the lovers of the Union, and shook even the firm poise of the aged Madison. It threatened at a touch and upon inadequate cause to crumble into ruin the grand fabric which had been builded with such pain and had risen to such majestic height. It conjured up before the quick inmgination of Mr. Webster that terrible vision of a Union quenched in blood, of " States discordant, dissevered, belligerent," of strength frittered away by division, of liberty imperilled by the conflicts of her de- votee's, of the high hopes of hnmanity blasted by the ambi- tions, dissensions and conflicting interests of jarring sovereign- ties. In my humble judgment Mr. Webster's was the grand- est civic intellect that America has produced. The most prodi- gious achievement of his eloquence and genius was the success with which 'he darkened and, to the minds of many, actually ol)literated the clear historical record which I have heretofore exhibited, confuted the very authors of the Constitution as to the meaning and effect of their own language, and may be said substantially to have created and imposed upon the American people a new and ditterent Constitution from that under which they had lived for so considerable a period. Yet we must forgive nuu'h to the motives and inspirations upon which he acted. Ah, well had it been if all the followers of Mr. Webster had been inspired by his own deep respect for the guaranties and limitations of the Constitution. Time and inclination alike restrain me from any i)articular notice of the direct causes which provoked the actual assertion of the right of secession. Suftice it to say that events occurred and conflicts arose which rendered imi)ossible the continuance of a voluntary union. The predestined strife was not to be averted, rassion usnri)ed the 22 ORATION. seat of reusoii. Disseiisiou swelled into defiance, chiding grew into fierce recrimination, constant qnarrel ripened into liate. In vain ort of an army operating nortli of it, and as the only point having railroad connections with tlie South sufficient for transi)ortatiou of necessary supplies. The position of the Federal capital on tlie banks of the Poto- mac, and the exposure of the Southern border of the United States along the line of Maryland and Pennsylvania, made it of transcendent imi)ortance tliat the country intervening between Eichmond and Washington should be made and kept, as far as possible, the theatre of the war. The retirement of the Con- federate forces from Kentucky, Tennessee and Missouri, thus practically relieving the Southern border of the United States from menace in that direction, had removed a great source of alarm to them, and had liberated for operations at other points tlie vast forces which would have been required for the defense of that line. Had we been forced to retire from Virginia also, besides the immense moral and material loss, the removal of the seat of war entirely away from the Northern capital and terri- tory, would have freed the large forces constantly engaged in their protection to concentrate around us in a narrowing circle of fire, eventuating inevitably in our ultimate destruction. The Conf(Hleracy fell with the forced evacuation of Eichmond. It is certain it could not long have survived its earlier voluntary abandonment. The task of defending Eichmond was, as I have said, the task 24 ORATION. of Lee ; and it was the moist difficult one ever assigned to any soldier. The prime necessity was to avoid a siege. Once shut up in the fortifications of Richmond, the city was lost, for the difficulties of its defense would have been insuperable ; because it would have involved the protection of long lines of railroad, without which the army could not be sustained, and in view of the enormous forces which could liave been concentrated by the enemy, this would have been impossible. Yet conceive the difficulty of avoiding such a siege, when you reflect that bj' tlie undisputed i)OSsession of the James and York rivers, and with the aid of their powerful flotillas of transport ships and gunboats, the enemy was able, at any time, without the possibility of opposition by us, to land an army within a day's march of our cai)ital, and to support it there by deep water lines of supply, which we could neither d<\stroy nor interrupt. No invading army ever had such advantages as the Northern Army of the Potomac. The greatest difficulty of successful in- vasion, the protection' of its lines of communication with its base of supplies and re-inforcements, was practically eliminated from the problem; for not only were the water routes of the James and the York open almost to the gates of Richmond, Imt even when it finally moved from the direction of Culpeper Court House, its path lay across successive lines of commnnicatioii, so that, in the words of a philosophic commentator on the campaigns, "it abandoned one, only to find another and a safer at the end of every march." At Culpeper Court-House, the Orange and Al- exandria Railroad was its line. When it abandoned that, its halts at the Wilderness and Spottsylvania Court-House opened up a new line via Ac(]uia Creek. As it advanced to the Annas, the Rappahannock at Port Royal furnished another efficient water line. W^hen it reached the Pamunkey, the York riA-er and Chf^sapeake Bay gave it one still more efficient; and finally, when its last march brought it to the James, that great river formed a perfectly safe avenue to Washington. When these facts are considered, in connection w itli the enorm- ous disparity of numbers and resources now demonstrated be- yond the possibility of (juestion by the historical records of the two armies, Lee's successful defense of Richmond for three years must take its place in history as one of the grandest military achievements of ancient or of modern times. Had like success ORATION. 25 atteiuled the Confederate operations iu other directions, the baclvbone of the war wonkl, undoubtedly, have been broken. As it was, the tremendous bh)ws of Lee so staggered his adversary that tlie issue hiy in doul)t to the very last, and at more than one period in the contest the Northern cause barely escaped col- lapse. Follow me now in a rapid sketch of the mere outline of the marvelous campaigns. After the indecisive battle of Seven Pines, and the unfortunate wounding of the tirst commander of the Army of Northern Vir- ginia, that skillful soldier, Josei>li E. Johnston, his successor in command. Gen. G. ^Y. Smith, had retired the army to its encamp- ments near llichmond, and there it was when, on June 2, 1SG2, Lee assumed command. Its effective strength, using round luim- bers, (as I shall continue to do) was fifiy-Kix thoiis((nd men. Mc(Jlcllan, an able comnmnder, who, in the first year of the war, adopted that route to Kichmond, the return to which after many disasters, at last led to its ca|)ture, at that moment lay, pos- sibly within sight of the spires, certainly Avithin sound of the bells of the churches of Kichmond, with a ])resent effective force of one hundred and five thousand. McDowell, yvit\i forty thousand men, the flower of the Federal Army, was en route to reinforce McClellan, Mhile strong forces under Jlaidvs and Fremont were operating in the Valley. Jackson, with a force never exceeding sixteen thousand, was still engaged in that wonderful series of operations in the Valley which resulted in the successive defeats of Banks, Fremont and Shields, and in the utter paralysis of the moven)ent of 3IcDowell to reinforce McClellan. It was still evi- dent, however, that this paralysis was l)ut temi)orary, ami that with renewed concentration of the vast though shattered forces ot the enem.y, Jackson, with liis litth^ army reduced by forced marching and constant fighting, would have no alternative but to retire to the defenses of liichmond, which would be reduced to a state of siege by the combined and overwhebuihg Federal armies. Nothing less than the genius of Lee could have relieved such a situation. To await the tard}' attack of McClellan, while the movement for tlie annihilation or forced retreat of Jackson and the reinforcement by MclJowell was resumed, would be fatal. 26 ORATION. With iidditioiial troops already received, and by calling Jack- son to liim, Lee wonld have a force of cif/lifi/ fhoiisdnd men with which to engage the one Jnindrcd and fire ihousaiid of ]McCleK Ian. While the latter General was clamoring for reinforcements and matnring his i)lans of assault, Lee determined to order Jack- son to his support, and with the bulk of his army to march rapidly out of bis lines, cross the Chickahominy, gain McClellan's right and there assault him on his flank. The brilliant audacity of this plan maybe appreciated when you remendier that in its execution he left but twenty-live thou- sand men between the army of McClellan and liichmond, and exx)osed his own rear without a man intervening between it and the large force of McDowell. Its profound strategic wisdom is demonstrated by the result of the glorious seven days' battle which followed, at the end of which we find the grand army of McClellan, its dream of tri- umphal entry into the Confederate capital vanished, cowering, shattered and demoralized, at Harrison's Landing, on the James, under the protection of the iiowerful gunboats, Avhich alone saved it from old feat had the effect of checking- all serions advance on tlu', part of l*ope, and of so alarming the Washington authorities for the safety of their capital, that they accomplished the very i)nrpose of Lee, by ordering the transfer of McClellan's army to the snpport of Pope. This enabled Lee to dispatch the rest of his own force in the same direction. Mc- Clellan's forces were being rapidly transported to Alexandria and moving to the sujjport of Pope. If sntfered to complete their jnnction the force of the enemy wonld be overwhelmingly snpe- rior. The only hope was to annihilate Pope before the whole of McClellan's force could reach him. To accomplish this, an at- tack upon Pope's front, even if successful, would be unavailing, because that would only drive him back upon ^IcC'lellan. Lee, therefore, determined u]>()n a mov<'ment unsurpassed for boldness in the annals of war. lie threw his whole army entirely around the right tlank of Pope, and, by rapid marching, gained his rear, thus establishing himsell directly bietw^een the two hostile armies, each outnumbering his own. His safety depended upon the prompt defeat of Pope. Failure was destruction. Lee had Jifty thou- sand, Poi)e seventy-Jive thousand men. Under these cii'cumstances the great battle of the second Manassas was delivered, resulting in the complete defeat of Pope and the retirement of his entire army within the defenses of AYashington. Thus, within ninety days from the date of his assuming com- mand, the genius of Lee, operating against over-whelming odds, had completely reversed the relative situation of the contending forces, and rolled back the tide of war from the fortifications of Eichmond to the outposts of Washington. But the task of the Confederate commander was like that of Sysiphus. He stood victorious in battle, but what was he to do with his victory ? The attempt to besiege or assault the Federal army in 28 ORATION. the defenses of Washington was too absurd for serious contem- plation. He coukl not maintain his army in its then advanced position, because the country was stripped of supjilies, and there Avas no railroad communication with Richmond nearer than the Eapidau. To fall back would be to forfeit the prestige of suc- cess, and to leave the enemy, with his overwhelming numbers free to organize another exi)edition, by the water route of the James, to the gates of Eichmond, and thus to reinstate the peril which had just been averted. The bokl resolve was quickly taken to cross the Potomoc, find subsistence on the enemy's soil, force his adversary to leave his fortifications and meet him on a battlefield of his own selection, where a victory might arouse the discontented i)eople of Mary- land, and lead to other advantages of incalculable value. A formidable Federal force oHwelve thousand men lay at Harper's Ferry, on the flank and rear of his intended movement. It was ab- solutely essential that this force should be captured or dispersed. This must be done certainly and quickly, and, to make sure, a strong force must be dispatched for the purpose. He therefore, detached Jackson with five divisions to sweep tliis obstacle from the iiath, and then by rapid marching to rejoin him in time to join battle witli tlie army of McClellan. Lee retained, in the meanwhile, only three divisions to confront that vast force, trust- ing that Jackson's task would be accomplished before McClellan should discover the weakness of the force . left to oppose him. There is no reason to doubt that the plan would liave succeeded, but for one of those accidents whicli "turn awry" the best laid schemes. One of Lee's orders to his general officers formulating the movement, was lost in some way and fell into the hands of the enemy. McClellan, thus fortuitously i!pi)rised of the depart- ure of Jackson and of the slight force left to oppose him, was quick to hurl his army ui)on the latter, confident of annihilating it before Jackson could come to its rescue. Tlie situation was fraught with peril, but the heroic resistance of this small force at South Mountain Pass ancY (Brampton's Gap, held McClellan in check until Jackson by tremendous forced marches, having ac- complished the object of his detour, was able to rejoin it; and Lee was thus enabled, at last, to concentrate his army for the battle of Shari)sburg. Tlie accident of tlie lost order, however, de- stroyed the chance of that success which might otherwise have ORATION. 29 attended tliis brilliantly planned expedition. The divisions with Lee leached Sliarpsbnig worn and fatigued, and with ranks decimated by the severe fighting they had undergone, while the extraordinary forced marches to which Jackson was driven, had strewed his route with exhausted and broken-down men. Lee delivered bnttle in this engagement with titirty-jive thous- (oid men, worn out and exhausted as we have seen, against eighty-seven thousand under McClellan. The result was a drawai battle, both sides resting on their arms the following day, on the night of which Lee, quietly and without molestation, retired his army across the Potomac. But for the lost order, nothing indicates a doubt that, after the success of Jackson's movement, Lee would have eft'ected an un- opposed and leisurely concentration of his forces, in a position chosen by himself, where, with at least fifty thousand men, fresh and elated with victory, he would have met the onslaught of Mc- Clellan. The result of the engagement actually delivered, as well as of past contests, leaves little doubt that an overwhelming victory would have been achieved, the consequences of which no man can now divine. Xot until October, 18G2, did the Federal army recross the Po- tomac. A new commander, Gen. Burnside, now leapt into the saddle. His career in that capacity was si)eedily ended by the crushing defeat at Fredericksburg, where, with one hundred thousand men, he had the temerity to assault Lee in strong* x^osi- tion with seventy-Jive thousand. This was the easiest victory of the war, intiicting terrific loss uj^ou the attacking force, while that of Lee was insignificant. The next act of this tremendous drama opens with the spring of 1863, when Lee, with Hfty-seven thousand men, confronted Hooker, the new Federal commander with one hundred and thirty- tico thousand. JSTow, Lee, look to thy charge ! These be odds which might well strike terror to the stoutest heart. Sedgwick, with a strong force, crossed the river below Fred- ericksburg and demonstrated against Lee's front, while Hooker, with the bulk of his army, swept around Lee's left, crossing at the upper fords, and concentrated at Chancellorsville, in posi- tion, not ten miles removed, to assail Lee in left flank and rear. The ordinary commander would have escaped from this cul-de-sac 30 ORATION. by promi)tly retiring his army and establisliing it between his enemy and coveted Riclunoud. But Lee never failed to find, in the division of his adversary's forces, an opportunity to neu- tralize, as far as possible, the odds against him, by striking him in fragments. Lee's resolve was promjitly taken. Leaving the gallant Early with only nine thousand men to handle Sedgwick,, he himself with the forty-eight thousand remaiiniig, marched straight for Chancellorsville, vigorously assaulted the advance of Hooker and soon placed that portion of the Federal army on a serious defensive. No time was to be lost. Sedgwick would soon drive back the inferior force of Early, ajid come thundering on his rear. Hooker must be disposed of promptly, or all was lost. Hooker had serenty-five thousand men well entrenched, which was inci eased to ninety thousand before the battle was over. Direct assault was desperate, if not hopeless. ''The lion's skin is too short, we must eke it out with the fox's." By a movement whose inconceivable boldness alone insured its success, lie still further divided his force, and remaining with only 14,000 men in Hooker's front, he sent Jackson with the rest of his army to march across Hooker's line of battle clear around his right, and there, to dash upon his ilaidv and rear, while by simultaneous assault upon his front he would be inevitably crushed. AYith that rapidit}' and perfection of execution which charac- terized him, Jackson, unobserved, reached the coveted position, stood with Fitzhugh Lee alone ui)on an eminence from which he looked down upon the unsuspecting camps of the enemy, de- ployed his forces for assault and hurled them upon the astonished foe. This took place in the afternoon, and before night had sus- Ijended operations Hooker's discomfiture Avas assured. The ad- vantage was promptly and vigorously pushed on the next morn- ing ; in the course of which Lee and Stuart (who had succeeded to the command of the wounded Jackson), again touched elbows, swept Hooker's army out of its works at Chancellorsville and sent it reeling and broken back upon the Eappahannock. Hooker thus disposed of, now for Sedgwick. Early had, by his gallant resistance, gained i^recious time and given serious occupation to Sedgwick, but the immensely superior numbers of the latter had at last forced Early back and were advancing ux)- on Lee's rear towards Chancellorsville. Lee now gathered up ORATION. 31 the most available of his victorious forces and rushing- to the re- inforcement of Early, speedily converted Sedgwick's advance in- to a swift retreat ; which would have resulted in his capture had not the friendly cover of night checked pursuit and enabled him to cross the liappahannock. So ended the operations of Chancellorsville, at the close of which Gen. Hooker found his army, demoralized by defeat and weakened by tremendous losses, in those very camps opposite Fredericksburg, fr<^m which they had so recently set out to imagined victory over an infe- rior foe. Chancellorsville ! brightest and saddest of Confederate tri- umphs. Brightest, because the military history of the future must ever point to it as the most conspicuous example of the power of consummate genius in a commander, by audaci(ms wis- dom of conception, celerity of movement, and knowing how and when to venture on risks which, by the very sublimity of their rashness, escape anticipation or discover}', and thereby become prudent and safe, to accomplish the apparently impossible and to snatch victory from overwhelming odds. Saddest, because in its tangled thickets and in the shades of that night which fell upon the most brilliant achievement of the war, the immortal Jackson, busy in organizing' the sure victory of the morrow, rode upon that death, which leaves the world yet in doubt as to whether the fatal bullet that caused it did not, at the same time, deal the death-wound of the Confederacy. If Lee was the Jove of the war, Stonewall Jackson was his thunderbolt. For the execution of the hazardous plans of Lee, just such a lieutenant was indis- l^ensable — one in whose lexicon there was "no such word as fail," for whom the imi^ossible did not exist, and who, in com- bined manoeuvres depending for success upon separate and con- sentaneous movements, ever assumed that one which was most difficult and made it the most certain of execution. Never his the task of giving good, bad or indifferent reasons for the non- execution of any order confided to him, or for not executing it in the manner, or within the time contem])lated. xVlas ! we now aj)- proach the critical and disastrous campaign of Gettysburg, the whole history of which, on the Confederate side, is made up of controversies as to why this, that, or the other order of the com- mander was not executed, or executed too late, or executed im- perfectly, and at everj" turn of which we involuntarily exclaim, 32 ORATION. " Wliero, oh where was Jacksou theu ? One Wast upon his bugle horn were wortli a thousand men ! " The motives for the advance into Pennsylvania were similar to those already indicated as prompting the movement into Mary- land of the previous year. The campaign was attended with misfortune from the start. The miscarriage of Stuart's cavalry deprived Gen. Lee of its co- operation and left him in a strange and hostile country without its necessary aid in feeling his way and keeping him apprized of his surroundings. This precipitated the unexpected clash at Gettysburg, which took place without premeditation on either side. I shall not enter into the details of this tremendous battle, be- cause I cannot do so without involving myself in the controvers- ies already suggested. The failure to press the advantage gained in the first day's fighting, as ordered by Lee, and thus to gain the historic heights of Gettysburg ; the delay to deliver the assault ordered for the early morning of the second day until four o'clock in the evening, thus allowing the enemy to increase his forces, strengthen his position and to occupy the eminence of Bound Top ; the disjoint- ed character of the assault when made, in which the advantage gained by our right wing was lost because the delay of the left wing in advanciug,left the former Avithout necessary support; the like miscarriage and failure of the general assault ordered for the following morning, in which the advance of our left wing was paralyzed because not responded to by the simultaneous movement of the right; and the final tremendous blunder, by which the immortal charge of Pickett's and Heth's divisions, launched across half a mile of open plain swept by an over- whelming fire of artillery, against fortified heights occupied by vastly superior numbers, and culminating in their actual capture and the planting of standards upon the guns of the enemy, was robbed of its results by the lack of support — these errors blasted the fair hopes of a victory which might have changed the result of the war. I leave to history the task of adjudging the blame for these errors. I content myself with declaring, as the result of my study of the evidence, that Lee was not in fault. The electric cord which bound the great Lieutenants of Lee to each other, OEATION. 33 and to their couimaiider, and wliich on so many other fields made them invincible and crowned them with imjjerishable laurels, seems, on that day, to have sped but a broken current. As Lee was eager to save them from blame and to say "it was all my fsinlt," their generous souls would be the first to exonerate him and repudiate his self-sacrifice. The battle of Gettysburg was delivered by Gen. Lee with •sixty-two thousand men of all aruis against one hundred and Jive thousand of the enemy. Considering that Lee was the attacking party and was repulsed, it must be accepted as a Confederate defeat. l>ut such, was the imijression produced upon the enemy by its fierce assaults that he was ignorant of his victory, and the question engaging his attention seems to have been, not whether he should x)ress a defeated adversary, but whether he should himself await a repetition of the attack. Crimson with the setting of the sun which fell upon the field of Gettysburg, boding storm and tempest to the Confederate cause; yet it substantially ended the campaign of 1863, and left the Federal army farther from Richmond than it was at its ox)en- ing. Lee recrossed the Potomac at leisure and 's^'ithout serious mo- lestation, and none but minor operations intervened until the sirring of 1864. We now approach that last and matchless campaign in which the " consummate flower " of Lee's soldiership burst into its full- est bloom, and witched the world with its beauty. The grim hero of Vicksburg and of Missionary Eidge, a man of inflexible will and desperate tenacity, who measured his own resources and those of his adversary with merciless precision, stepx^ed to the head of the Army of the Potomac. That army was now swollen to an enormous host of one hundred and forty- one thousand men, while his home Government, weary of fail- ure and desperately in earnest, gave him the assurance of rein- forcement whenever required. Lee confronted him with sixty -four thousand men, precious men, the death or capture of every one of whom was a loss not to be repaired. The grandest compliment ever paid by one soldier to another was paid by Grant to Lee in the famous " attrition" order of the former. It openly abandoned competition with hijn in the fields 34 ORATION. of strategy and inaiupuvre, and siiii])ly in'(>i)()sed to liuii sui)erior against inferior i'orces until, " l)y tlie mere force of attrition," tlie latter should be annihilated. Whatever else may be said of it, the plan seemed sure of success, and it succeeded ; but at the cost of such enormous destruction to the superior force as the Federal general could hardly have contemplated. The situation was, from the first, a desperate one for Lee. The odds against him and the enemy's unlimited capacity for main- taining and increasing them, left little chance for a decisive vic- tory. He might not liope that Grant would divide his forces, and give him the chance, so often i)roflted by in the past, of whipx^iug him in detail. The policy of retreat, however "mas- terly," could lead to but one result — the final sulmiission to a siege within the defenses of Eichmond, and consequent abandon- ment of the capital. The only course which jiromised the possibility of success was to fight from the start, to attack regardless of odds whenever op- portunity offered, to dispute every step of the advance, to hold every position to the last, and to take those chances which, upon the most unequal fields, genius sometimes finds, to snatch vic- tory from the very jaws of despair. There is something magnificent in the audacity with which, as soon as Grant had crossed the Eapidan, and set his vast force on the advance to llichmoud, Lee marched straight for him, and in- stantly grappled with him in the Wilderness. A. terrible wres- tle ensued, lasting for two days, in which the advantage Avas on the Confederate side. It was Grant, and not Lee, who retired from this struggle and sought by a rapid fiank movement to gain Spottsylvania Court-House. But Lee anticipated his design, and reaching that point simultaneously with Grant, again ojjposed his army to his advance on RichmonJ^igu may be said to have ended with the next move- ments of Grant, which brought him in front of Petersburg, within the entrenchments of which by the invalual)le co-operation of Louisiana's foremost soldier, Beauregard, Lee succeeded in estab- lishing his army, and the siege of Petersburg was begun. Take now a brief retrospect of the campaign. Grant started with over 0)U' hundred and /orfy-o)ie fhoi(s<(Hd men against sixty-foHr thousand men. He received reinforcements swelling his aggregate engaged in the campaign to one hundred and ninety-two thousand men, while Lee had received hnt fourteen thousand reinforcement. Lee had so managed his inferior force as to confront his adversary at every halt and to be read}" for battle whenever offered. Such skill had he displayed in the selection of his positions and the disposition of his ti'ooi)S that he repulsed every assault, won every battle and forced his adversary to retire from every field. According to the authority of S^vinton, the Federal historian, Grant had lost sixty-thoTisand men, a number nearly equal to the entire force of his opponent. And what had the Federal commander accom])lished ? He had reached a point on the James Kiver, the water route to Eichmond always open, where, in much less time and without the loss of a man, he might have established himself at the opening of the campaign. The siege of Petersburg ! How shall I commemorate it ? How shall I do justice to the heroism displayed in the defense of those immortal lines ? During nine weary months the great Federal leader, with all his intrepid daring, with his unquestioned mili- tary talent, with his vastly superior force, with all the expedients of science and art at his command, and with unlimited supplies of everything essential for his oi^erations, struggled in vain to surmount them. He tried to get over them by assault. He tried to get under them by subterranean mining. He tried to get around them by flanking. He tried to move them out of his way, by explosion. In vain ! The genius of Lee met and foiled him at every point. 36 ORATION. And wliat shiill be said of that little band of immortal lieroes, the Don Quixote of armies, who, with unfaltering- devotion and unflinching- courage, stood by Lee during the long months of this renowned siege ? For four years they had fought, and it might have been sui^poscMl that they were weary of strife. Hunger often gnawed at their vitals, and famine sometimes stared them in the face. With tattered garments, and often shoeless feet, they shivered in the freezing winter winds. Disasters everywhere to the Confederate cause robbed them of the soldier's solace, the hope and confidence of ultimate triumph. Turning- from their own cheerless lot to their distant homes, the tidings they re- ceived from wives and children and aged parents told of burning- roof- trees, of flight before invading- armies, of want, desolation and despair. And yet tliey fought on ; defied ill-omened augury ; dared fate to do her worst; and with a sublime confidence and matchless devotion such as, I dare to say, no other cause and no other com- mivjider ever inspired, they stood by Lee to the very last. And when the end came, when Gordon had '■'fought his coriJS to a frazzle," and when in fierce combat every other corps had been torn into shreds; when a mere remnant was left surrounded on every side by foes in such overpowering- numbers that further resistance would have been a wanton sacrifice of precious lives; and when, at last, Lee submitted to the inevitable and yielded his sword to the victor, these grim aa arriors gathered round him, seeming- more affected by his humiliation than by their own calamity, and with tearful eyes and kissing- the very hem of his garments, gave him their affectionate adieux, and sadly turned to the new lives which ojDened before them. Success is not always the test of soldiership. Hannibal ended his carreer as a soldier in the overwhelming defeat of Zama, and died a fugitive in a foreign land. Charles XII of Sweden, that meteor of war, defeated at Pul- towa, sought safety in exile, and on returning to his native land, met death in a vain attempt to restore his fallen fortunes. Napoleon died, a prisoner and an exile, after his complete overthrow on the field of Waterloo, where he encountered odds less than those which w ere opposed to Lee in any battle which he ever fought. Considering- the importance of his operations, the large forces OKATION. 37 engaged, the immense superiority of his adversaries m iimiil)ers and resources, the skillful commanders whom he successively vanquished, the number of his victories, the brilliancy and suc- cessful audacity of hi>s strategy and tactical manteuvres and the magnificent teuacity Avhich yielded, at last, to destruction rather thau defeat — I challenge for Lee an exalted rank amongst the very greatest captains of the world. The only obstacle which Lee encounters to the universal re- cognition of his greatness lies in the perverseness of human na- ture, which exacts, as compensation for the admiration accorded to great qualities, the privilege of criticising the faults, weaknesses and excesses with w hicli they are usually accouq)anied. His freedom from eccentricities, the absence of merely per- sonal ambition, and the simple and perfect eqniperfeetion would permit. The moralist may recognize in it a tribute to a friend of humanity to whom i)ride and self-seeking were unknown, and whose uncouscious nobility of conduct answers to the descrip- tion of a virtuous man given by the imperial i)hilosopher, Marcus Antoninus : "He does good acts as if not even knowing what he has done, and is like a vine which has produced grapes and seeks for nothing more after it has produced its proper fruit. Such a man, when he has done a good act, does not call for others to come and see, but goes on to another act, as a vine goes on to produce again tlie grapes in season." The social philosopher will see in it a tribute to the highest type of gentleman, in birth, in nuinners, in accomplishments, in appearance, in feeling, in habit. The lover of the heroic will find here honor paid to a chivalry and courage which place Lee by the side of Bayard and of Sid- ney, "I'rom s^mr to i)lume a star of tournament." It is fitting that monuments should he erected to such a man. The imagination might, alas ! too easily, picture a crisis in the future of the llepublic, when virtue might have lost her seat in the hearts of the people, when the degrading greed of money- getting might have undermined the nobler aspirations of their souls, when luxury and efleminacy might have emasculated the rugged courage and endurance upon which the safety of States depends, when corrui)tion might thrive and liberty might languish, when pelf might stand above patriotism, self above country. Mammon before (lod. and when the patriot might read on every hand the sure passage : "111 fares the laiul, to liasteniiig ills a pi'ey, Where wealth aeciumilates and nieu decay !" 40 ORATION. In sucli an hour — quam DU avertite — let some inspired orator, alive to the peril of liis country, summon the people to gather round this monument, and, pointing to that noble figure, let him recount his story, and if aught can arouse a noble shame and awaken dormant virtue, that may do it. The day is not distant when all citizens of this great Rej^ub- lic will unite in claiming Lee as their own, and rising from the study of his heroic life and deeds, will cast away the prejudices of forgotten strife and exclaim : "We kuow liiiu now; all uarrow jealousies Are silent, and we see him as he moved— How modest, kindly, ali-accomplished, wise. With what sublime repression of himself— Wearing the white tiower of a blameless life." But, proudest, tenderest thought of all, the people of this bright Southland say, through this monument, to all the world: "Such was he ; his work is done, But while the races of mankind endure, Let his great example stand, Colossal, seen of every land. And keep the soldier firm, the statesman ijure, ♦ Till in all lands and through all human story. The path of Duty be the way to glory !" HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE — R, E, LEE MONUMENTAL ASSOCIATION The E. E. Lee Moniiinental Association of New Orleans, had its origin in tliat grand outbnrst of tribntaiy grief at the death of Lee, which, while it covered his tomb witli the votive offerings of tlie good and wise of all civilized nations, prostrated the peo- ple of the Southern States of this Union in peculiar and unut- terable woe. The Association was organized November 10th, 1870, with the following officers and directors : Wm. M. PERKINS, -------- President. G. T. BEAUREGARD, - - - 1st Vice President. A. W. BOSWORTH, - - - - 2d Vice President. Wm. S. pike, - Treasurer. Thos. J. BECK, ------ Recording Sec'ty. JAMES STRAWBRIDGE, - - - - Corres. Sec'ty. Directors. Hugh McCloskey, Henry Renshaw, R. S. Morse, A. M. Fortier, Edward Barnett, Samuel Boyd, Chas. E. Fenner, George Jonas, S. H. Kennedy, Wm. B. Schmidt, Abram Thomas, Newton Richards, Wm. H. Damcron, Lloyd R. Coleman, Jas. Jackson, W. N. Mercer, Ed. A. Palfrey, E. A. Tyler, M. O. H. Norton, Arch. Mitchell, Ed. Bigney. It is unnecessary to say why the enterprise languished. It was in tljose dark days when jioverty sat by every honest hearth- stone in New Orleans, and when tlie scanty remnant left by the 42 HISTORICAL SKETCH. greedy tax-gatlierer was too soi'ely needed for the necessities of the living to be spared for building monuments, even to the most illustrious dead. In the course of years, it came to be remembered that the small fund which had been accumulated by the first efforts of the founders of the association, was lying i