Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 40.djvu/241

 Rh but the question of the Union was settled with the end of the war, and no one now would re-open the controverted question so bitterly contested before and during the war. I think we can well afford to do that which shows that the country is again a reunited country with the passions of war passed by, if not forgotten. I would erect a memorial to Abraham Lincoln on the father side of the Potomac River, across the river from the home of R. E. Lee, and the burial place of both Union and Confederate soldiers, and then I would erect a memorial bridge across the Potomac River, joining the ten Confederate States with the Union; aye, Mr. Speaker, joining the memory of Abraham Lincoln with the memories and respect for Lee; aye, Mr. Speaker, I would go farther in the course of years, not far distant. I would construct a roadway from Washington to Mt. Vernon, and from Mt. Vernon to Richmond, and at the other end of that roadway have the government of the United States construct a memorial to Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States."

A Virginia Representative in Congress congratulated these two distinguished statesmen on their remarks, and suggested that, most likely, had they made them ten years before the result would have been their retirement to private life.

There was one striking characteristic of the Confederate soldiers that some day will furnish a theme for song and story. Time will not permit its discussion to-night, nor is your speaker the man to do the subject full justice.

Let some able divine consult the books of Drs. Bennett and Doggett; the letters of John A. Broaddus and other chaplains of the Confederate States of America. He will find facts from which to draw a picture of faith and trust and loyalty, such as the world has not seen since Cromwell's army established the English Commonwealth.

This faith was the result of the teachings and prayers of the noblest women who ever graced God's green earth. Their unshaken faith in the Confederate cause, upheld, sustained and prolonged the unequal conflict, while their patient waiting and watching at their homes, providing for and teaching their children, and praying for the absent fathers and brothers, furnishes