the United States
are again united in stronger bonds of interest, good fellowship, and
respect than ever before existed.

Generations to come will enjoy not only the fruits of the Revolutionary
struggle and the establishment of constitutional liberty, but they will
be blessed with liberty that knows no slavery and with a Union forever
indivisible, and they will contemplate with no partisan feeling the
sacrifices which were necessary to secure such results. The type of
manly virtue of which our deceased friend was a conspicuous example is
one of the best fruits of free institutions. His death in the prime of
his manhood and in the days of his usefulness was a great loss to the
country and a bereavement to his family for which there is no earthly
compensation. But he has left for them in his good name, his
unimpeachable character, and his many virtues an inheritance more
valuable than gold.

He has gone where all must soon follow. The wealth of his example is an
inspiration to the living to emulate his virtues, enjoy a conscience
void of offense, and leave to surviving relatives the inheritance of an
honored name. Such an ambition is worthy of an American citizen, and the
value to humanity of such a life as that of Gen. LEE can hardly be
overestimated.

Why should death be regarded as a calamity? It is the inevitable fate of
all the living. May it not be a part of life? The hope of immortality is
the greatest boon conferred upon the living. On an occasion like this
words will not soothe the grief of those who are near and dear to the
deceased. Their consolation must be in the hope of reunion beyond the
grave.

ADDRESS OF MR. COLQUITT, OF GEORGIA.

Mr. PRESIDENT: It is a difficult and delicate task to draw with justice
and propriety the character of a public man. Fulsome panegyrics have
often been pronounced upon the character of the dead either out of
flattery to the deceased or to gratify the ambitious desires of the
living.

In paying a tribute to WILLIAM H.F. LEE I am not influenced by any such
questionable views. To do honor to his memory I need only say what
justice and truth dictate. There is little danger, in speaking of him,
of committing the offense of exaggerated eulogy. There is more danger of
doing the injustice of understatement in commemorating a character so
rounded and symmetrical.

As a son, Gen. LEE's filial piety was so marked as to make him an
example worthy of all imitation by the y