Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 29.djvu/98

 '

82 Southern Historical Society Papers.

THE LIFE AND CHARACTER

OF

ROBERT EDWARD LEE. An Address Delivered Before A. P. Hill Camp Confederate Veterans,

BY

EX-GOVERNOR WILLIAM EVELYN CAMERON,

At Petersburg, Va., January 19th, 1901.

" Such men have lived to teach this truth

And it is truth, I know That other men may reach those heights

Whereon all virtues grow."

COMRADES:

Not unmindful of the magnitude of the task your partial judg- ment has assigned to me diffident of my power to clothe your love and reverence for Robert Lee in adequate phrase I have yet accepted your invitation as a command, to which neither inclination nor duty could remain irresponsive; and I throw myself upon your generous indulgence as in sober speech I try to portray to you " The man he was who held a nation's heart in thrall."

Robert E. Lee was born in the purple of an illustrious lineage, at a time when the recent death of the Cincinnatus of the West had flooded the name of Washington with a sunset's glory. He was reared upon the soil and among the traditions which had nurtured the Father of our Country. The wooded aisles of Mount Vernon were the frequent scenes of his boyhood's rambles; that Mecca of liberty, with its sacred associations and eloquent lessons, was the goal of his youthful pilgrimages; his earliest prayers were lisped within the grey walls of the old church in Alexandria, in which the conqueror of a king was wont each Sunday to bow before the Mon- arch of heaven and of earth; and I love to think that from an early period of life this Robert, " who was always good, and thoughtful beyond his years," sought his model in that great Virginian patriot, soldier, wise statesman and Christian gentleman, to whom the most