Mr. SPEAKER: Of all picturesque spots on the face of the earth there is
perhaps none that can rival in scenic beauty Mount Arlington, in the
State of Virginia. Shaded by the primeval forest to the rear, and in
front beautified by the gently sloping lawn, decorated by variegated
flowers and artistically trimmed shrubbery, with the dark-green waters
of the Potomac ebbing and flowing not far away and in full view the
mighty nation's splendid capital city, stands the stately old mansion,
with its classic columns, where nearly fifty-five years ago was born
our departed friend and colleague, and one of the beloved
Representatives of the people of Virginia--Gen. WILLIAM H.F. LEE. Born
in Virginia, he remained a Virginian continuously to the hour of his
death.
Inheriting the martial genius of his eminent ancestry, he early aspired
to a career in the military service of his country, and at the
comparatively early age of twenty we find him bidding adieu to his
college studies at Harvard and uniting with the Army in its expedition
to Utah in 1858, where he first experienced the fatigues and hardships
incident to the life of the soldier in the long march over the arid
plains and through the mountain canyons into the Mormon territory. The
prospect of inaction, with a long period in garrison, proved a
disappointment to so ambitious a spirit, and he resigned his commission
and returned to the domestic welcome of his Virginia farm.
Soon, however, the indication of a long peace proved delusive, and the
scene shifted. This time it was decreed that he should behold the
terrible conflict in which one portion of his unhappy country was to
engage in deadly array with another portion. Obeying what he conceived
to be the mandate of his State, he followed the impulse of his feelings
and the example of his kindred and his friends, and periled all in that
belief. He participated at once, and most actively, in some of the most
sanguinary engagements of the civil war. Wounded at one place, taken
prisoner at another, then exchanged, and again in the van of battle, we
find him following the forlorn hope until the close of the struggle at
Appomattox, when he again returned to the old farm.
He possessed the undivided confidence of his constituents. He was
regarded by them, as he was so long observed by us in our intimate
associations with him in this Hall, and especially in the committee
rooms, as an intelligent and conscientious legislator, a laborious
servant of the people, a courtly gentleman, a generous and devoted
companion. Loyal as he was to his political convictions, he was yet the
most considerate and the most conservative in his relations with those
who radically differed with him. He admired frankness; he despised
duplicity. While he was obedient to the reasonable edicts of caucus and
party organization, we recall occasions when he was prompt to rise above
the partisan. He was as broad-gauge and comprehensive in the study and
performance of his duty toward all parts and all interests of his
reunited country as he was anxious for the obliteration of sectional
animosity and sincere and generous of heart in his social obligations to
all of his fellow-men.
The most touching remembrance we bear of Gen. LEE's goodness of heart
has reference to his custom in springtime of bringing to this Hall from
his farm great quantities of lovely roses, and having them distributed
to his associates of both political parties on this floor with his
compliments. Here we have a practical illustration that flowers are the
interpreters of man's best feelings. In oriental lands the language of
flowers was early studied and made expressive. As Percival says:
Each blossom that blooms in their garden bowers,
On its leaves a mystic language bears.
With Gen. LEE they bore tidings of good will to partisan friend and
partisan foe alike. They bespoke in mute eloquence the expansive heart
of one "that loved his fellow-men." Little, however, did he think at the
time that these beautiful roses were especially speaking to him as
emblems of a near immortality. Awakening from their sleep of winter,
they were also harbingers of a brighter day to him and of the bloom of
a glorious resurrection. The Germans have a saying that "he who loves
flowers loves God." If this be applied to Gen. LEE, we have the blessed
assurance that he has approached close to the celestial throne.
Gen. LEE belonged to one of the most historic families of America.
Looking back to the early settlement and the pioneer struggles of the
peninsula and then through the plantation and colonial period of entire
Virginia, we everywhere discover the genius, the dauntless courage, the
independence, and the resolute patriotism of the Lees. It has been well
said, sir, that Virginia is the mother of Presidents; and this is true.
A momentary reflection does not suffice to demonstrate the various
causes which combined to bestow upon the Old Dominion this prominence. A
mature study, however, will serve a double purpose. It will teach us not
only how Virginia more than any other State became the nursery for
Presidents and statesmen, but how at the same time were given character
and fame to its distinguished family--the Lees.
The permanency and prosperity of states and political bodies are as much
due to the character of their superstructures as are the strength and
stability of the material edifice to the foundation upon which it rests.
The Argonauts of Virginia united in a remarkable degree the pride and
culture and learning and loyalty of the Cavaliers with the conviction of
purpose and martial courage and discipline of the followers of Cromwell.
First came the heroic vanguard--the men like Capt. John Smith--who
blazed the way through the forests of the James, the York, the
Chickahominy, and Pamunkey. Then followed the refined, enthusiastic, and
chivalric gentlemen of the polished court of Charles I, with many of the
clergy, who brought with them their intense loyalty to the Crown, as
well as to the episcopal government and Anglican ritual. Among these,
too, were the proselyted royalists; old and honorable families after the
defeat of Charles, seeking exile in the far distant yet faithful
Virginia. Then came those who triumphed at Naseby, and overthrew the
kingly office and maintained the constitution of the realm and the
integrity of Magna Charta and the Petition of Rights.
The necessity for self-defense and the maintenance of order originated
self-government and the assertion of individual right, and these united
the widely variant elements of the community in a loyal union. It was
the amalgamation of such spirits in Virginia in 1676 which demanded the
right of personal liberty, of universal suffrage, and of representation;
and here was fought the prelude of that great drama one hundred years
later, when a Virginian, in the name of a whole nation, penned the
immortal words which proclaimed to all the world the "inalienable right
to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Here were the Lees, the
Patrick Henrys, the Randolphs, the Jeffersons, the Madisons, and the
Masons of Virginia; and here, to close the drama with freedom's
triumphant army, was the most illustrious of them all--George
Washington. It was from such an ancestry our late colleague was
descended, and it was from such teachings and such examples he imbibed
his zealous convictions of right and his sturdy regard for the exalted
prerogatives of a free people.