What a line of illustrious men to spring from the old
cavalier family that under the reign of Charles I settled in the county
of Northumberland, between the waters of the Rappahannock and Potomac,
since glorified by the pen of the historian and the lyre of the poet.
WILLIAM HENRY FITZHUGH LEE! How sweet does that name sound to me. What
recollections does it awaken. How quickly do I find my heart throbbing;
how rapidly my blood rushes through its channels.
Less than a twelvemonth ago he sat in yon seat or moved hither and
thither about this Hall and along these passageways, pausing here and
there to speak a pleasant word or exchange a friendly greeting. His tall
and commanding person, his open, frank, and benevolent face and courtly
bearing marked him among the membership of this House, and would have
marked him in any assemblage, whether in the glittering splendor of
royalty or in the plain dignity of our republican institutions. To see
him once was to remember him forever. His image is as distinct before me
this moment as if he stood in the flesh with his eye beaming forth the
goodness of his nature and his hand outstretched, as was his wont, to
receive mine.
Mr. Speaker, his illustrious father, when the shadows of Appomattox
closed round him, when the darkness of defeat enveloped him, when his
soul was rent and torn and his mind was filled with anguish and his
ragged and tired and worn veterans, reduced to a mere thin skirmish
line, the remnant of an army that had shed unfading luster upon the
American arms and the American soldier, gathered with tear-moistened
cheeks about him to bid him farewell and receive his blessing, gave
utterance to a sentiment just quoted by my colleague [Mr.
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