the noble woman who, while her husband was in the field leading the army of the Confederacy, though an invalid herself, passed the time in knitting socks for the marching soldiers! A woman fit to be the mother of heroes-and heroes are descended from her. Mourning with her, we can only offer the consolations of the Christian. Our loss is not his, but he now enjoys the rewards of a life well spent and a never wavering trust in a risen Saviour. This day we unite our words of sorrow with those of the good and great throughout Christendom, for his fame is gone over the water. His deeds will be remembered by the libertyloving patriot of every age and of every clime; when the monument we build shall have crumbled into dust, his virtues will still live, a high model for the imitation of generations yet unborn.

MEMORIAL RESOLUTIONS.

Colonel C. S. Venable then presented the following report of the Committee on Resolutions:

Whereas, it is a high and holy duty, as well as a noble privilege, to perpetuate the honors of those who have displayed eminent virtues and performed great achievements, that they may serve as incentives and examples to the latest generation of their countrymen, and attest the reverential admiration and affectionate regard of their compatriots; and whereas, this duty and privilege devolves on all who love and admire General Robert E. Lee throughout this country and the world, and in an especial manner upon those who followed him in the field, or who fought in the same cause, who shared in his glories, partook of his trials, and were united with him in the same sorrows and adversity, who were devoted to him in war by the baptism of fire and blood, and bound to him in peace by the still higher homage due to the rare and grand exhibition of a character pure and lofty and gentle and true, under all changes of fortune, and serene amid the greatest disasters: therefore, be it

1. Resolved, That we form an association to erect a monument at Richmond to the memory of Robert E. Lee, as an enduring testimonial of our love and respect and devotion to his fame.

2. Resolved, That while donations will be gladly received from all who recognize in the excellences of General Lee's character an honor and an encouragement to our common humanity and an abiding hope that others in coming generations may be found to imitate his virtues, it is desirable that every Confederate soldier and sailor should make some contribution, however small, to the proposed monument.

3. Resolved, That for the purpose of securing the requisite efficiency and dispatch in the erection of the monument, an ex-ecutive committee of seven, with a president, secretary, treasurer, auditor, &c., be appointed to invite and collect subscriptions, to procure designs for said monument, to select the best, to provide for the organization of central executive committees in other States, which may serve as mediums of communication between. the executive committee of the Association and the local associations of those States, and to do whatever else is required in, the premises.

4. Resolved, That we respectfully invite the ladies of the Hollywood Association to lend us their assistance and co-operation in the collection of subscriptions.

5. Resolved, That we cordially approve of the local monuments to our beloved Chieftain, proposed by the Associations at Atlanta, and at Lexington, his home, whose people were so closely united with him in the last sad years of his life.

6. Resolved, That while we cordially thank the Governor and Legislature of Virginia for the steps they have taken to do honor to the memory of General Lee, yet, in deference to the wishes of his loved and venerated widow, with whom we mourn, we will not discuss the question of the most fitting resting place for his ever glorious remains, but will content ourselves with expressing the earnest desire and hope that at some future proper time they will be committed to the charge of this Association.

Colonel Venable supported the resolutions with the following remarks:

ADDRESS OF COLONEL VENABLE.

My Countrymen and Fellow Soldiers-In presenting these resolutions from the Committee, I will make no studied effort to add to the eulogies of General Lee which have been pronounced throughout the world. I will not speak of his fame and military genius. We can leave these in perfect confidence to the calm verdict of history. Be it mine to relate a single incident to show what his great soul suffered for us amid those last sad hours of the life of the Army of Northern Virginia, at Appomattox Courthouse. At three o'clock on the morning of that fatal day, General Lee rode forward, still hoping that we might break through the countless hordes of the enemy which hemmed us in. Halting a short distance in rear of our vanguard, he sent me on to General Gordon to ask him if he could break through the enemy. I found General Gordon and General Fitz. Lee on their front line in the dim light of the morning, arranging an attack..

Gordon's reply to the message (I give the expressive phrase of the gallant Georgian) was this: "Tell General Lee I have fought my corps to a frazzle, and I fear I can do nothing unless I am heavily supported by Longstreet's corps." When I bore this message back to General Lee, he said: "Then there is nothing left me but to go and see General Grant,* and I would rather die a thousand deaths." Convulsed with passionate grief, many were the wild words which we spoke, as we stood around him. Said one, "Oh! General, what will history say of the surrender of the army in the field?" He replied, "Yes, I know they will say hard things of us; they will not understand how we were overwhelmed by numbers, but that is not the question, Colonel; the question is, is it right to surrender this army? if it is right, then I will take all the responsibility." Fellow soldiers, though he alone was calm, in that hour of humiliation the soul of our great Captain underwent the throes of death, for his grand old army surrendered, and for his people so soon to lie at the mercy of the foe; and the sorrows of this first death at Appomattox Courthouse, with the afflictions which fell upon the devoted South, weighed upon his mighty heart to its breaking, when the welcome messenger came from God to translate him to his home in heaven.

We are met together to begin the erection of a monument to his memory. And where shall this monument be reared? In the words of the resolutions, we say, here at Richmond, which was founded by the companions of his knightly ancestors; at Richmond, the objective point of those attacks made with all the accumulated resources of modern warfare, which he repelled for four long years; Richmond, where lie so many of the brave soldiers who went gaily to death at his bidding-some who fell with their last looks upon the spires of her temples; others nursed in their dying hours by the tender hands of her women, and others still who gave their souls to God and their bodies to the enemy at Gettysburg, brought hither by the loving care of the same true devoted women. Yes, let his monument be near them here in Richmond; and when the first flush of the resurrection morn tinges the skies, may their unsealed eyes behold the grand figure of him whom they loved so well.

The Chair then introduced General John S. Preston, of South Carolina.

Field's and Mahone's divisions of Longstreet's corps, staunch in the midst of all our disasters, were holding Meade back in our rear, and could not be spared for the attack.

ADDRESS OF GENERAL PRESTON.

Mr. President and Comrades of the Armies of the Confederate States-There was a time when, with wicked and impatient infidelity, I feared it was not a kind providence which permitted men with grey beards to survive our war. But having seen Robert Lee live as righteously as he fought gloriously, and that we are now spared to the holy duty of honoring his memory and perpetuating his faith, I recant the heresy and meekly wait the way of the Lord, and am grateful for that consideration which calls me to appear in this stately procession. Yet I scarcely dare to bring my little blade of grass to lay upon a grave already glittering with tears and pearls, flowing from the eyes and hearts of a mourning world. On no occasion of my life have I been so utterly unable to tell the feelings of my heart, or the crowding thoughts which come rushing on my brain. But, comrades, we are not here to find rhetorical forms, modes and shows of grief, not even to speak singly, but altogether, as in these complete resolutions, with one tongue, one heart, in the simplest words of our language, to join our grief and our honor.

As a Virginian, as a Confederate, as a man, as a friend, I am overwhelmed with the emotions which emanate from all these attributes of my being. Standing here before the most illustrious and the bravest living, I feel as if I were in the very presence of the greatest dead who has died in my generation-of him to whom my spirit bowed as to the anointed Champion of the purest human faith I have ever cherished-of him, who, by his great deeds, by his pure life, by his humble faith in the meek and lowly Jesus, has justified to the world and is now pleading with a God of Truth for that cause which made him the most illustrious living man and the most mourned of all the dead who died in his generation. It was the greatness of his cause, and the purity of his faith in that cause, which made Robert Lee great, for we who know him best do know that Robert Lee could never have achieved greatness in an ignoble cause, or under an impure faith. God gave him to us, to sanctify our faith, and to show us and the world that, although we might fail, His chosen servant had made that cause forever holy.

We who have been associated with the man in the gentler affections of friendship, or even in the rage and turmoil of battle, can scarcely appreciate the perfect symmetry and dazzling splendor of that character which stands out the foremost of our age. Those who come after us, freed from our personal love, and from the present glow of his virtues, will see in all their plentitude

the god-like hero, the great Captain, the exalted Christian gentleman, the devoted son, who drew his sword in defence of the honor, the liberties and the sovereignty of Virginia, and who, as surely as if he had been shot to death on her bloodiest battlefield, did die for Virginia, for he had laid all his love, all his faith, all his life, at her feet. Virginians! can we forget the mother for whose honor, liberty and sovereignty Robert Lee has just died?

Lee's patriotism was that God-given virtue which makes demigods of men, and was as wide as his country, from Maryland to Texas; but he was a Virginian, body and soul, heart and spirit. He told his commander so when he sheathed his sword from the service of her enemies; he told the wife of his bosom so when the Virginia matron again girded on his sword; and here, glowing like a promised god, in the presence of the assembled sovereignty of Virginia, he told them he drew his sword in defence of the honor, the liberty and the sovereignty of Virginia. She was his fortress, his citadel, his palladium, the very temple in which he worshiped; and it was here, when the circling fire was girdling nearer and nearer around her sacred Capitol, that the mighty powers of his soul came forth to redeem his pledge, for it was the last stronghold of his faith. And it was here, beneath the shadow of these monuments which attest her glory, that he rose to be peer of those whose images grow brighter by his great deeds.

Here, then, comrades of Robert Lee, is the ground made sacred by himself for the repose of his ashes. Here, in front of the Capitol of Virginia, let there be reared side by side with the monument to George Washington, an equal monument to Robert Lee, that in all time to come our children's children may render equal reverence to the faith of the Father of his Country and that of the Confederate Soldier.

General John B. Gordon, of Georgia, was introduced by the Chair, and spoke as follows:

ADDRESS OF GENERAL GORDON.

Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Fellow Soldiers-If permitted to indulge the sensibilities of my nature, I would gladly have fled the performance of this most honorable task your kindness has imposed, and in silence to-night have contemplated the virtues of the great and good man whose loss we so deplore. I loved General Lee, for it was my proud privilege to know him. well. I loved him with a profound and filial awe-a sincere and unfeigned affection. We all loved him, and it is not a matter of