Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 32.djvu/193

 Address of Gen. Stephen D. Lee. 181

" I hold no view of Southern degeneracy, but I deplore the irre- parable loss to my country and the coming generations when those splendid men, the bravest and best the world has ever held, went down in death. Some one has said that every generation must have its war. If so, in God's name let it not be a real war. The burning houses, the wasted fields, the ravaged cities I could see them all go until the wilderness was back again, and contain my grief; but I can never bear to think of the strength and beauty, the manly courage, the stubborn nerve, the pure chivalry, the peerless devotion, the unstinted faith and loyalty which went into the bat- tle's deadly front and never returned. It is the loss of men like these that made the South poor indeed a loss that can never be restored, not in forty years! No, not in forty centuries!

REVELATION TO THE WORLD.

" But, my comrades, it is a great comfort to know that the South had such men to lose. It was a revelation to the world. It was a revelation to ourselves. What a magnificent race of men; what a splendid type of humanity! What courage, what grandeur of spirit! What patriotism ! What self-sacrifice! It was sublime. It is wonderful beyond compare. Not all were conquered. Some of these men came back. I see them before me now. God has boun- tifully prolonged their days that they may illustrate to the next generation the civic virtues, that they may tell the wondrous story of those days, that they may stir up in the hearts of youth the em- ulation of virtue, the passion for noble achievements, the spirit of sacrifice.

"As the close of our days draw near and the work of upbuilding our country passes on into younger and stronger hands, let us make it our mission, comrades, to tell the story. Do not let your chil- dren and grandchildren forget the cause for which we suffered. Tell it not in anger. Tell it not in grief. Tell it not in revenge. Tell it proudly as fits a soldier. There is no shame in all the his- tory. Dwell on the gallant deeds, the pure motives, the unselfish sacrifice. Tell of the hardships endured, the battles fought, the men who bravely lived, the men who nobly died. Your dead com- rades shall live again in your words.

THEIR LAST COMMISSION.

"The infinite pity and glory of it all will awake the hearts of those who listen and they will never forget. Tell them of Albert