art, nor any great events to
obscure the public criticism of his conduct, he displayed in calm
and steady light the grandest features of his character, and by this
crucial test, added certain confirmation to the highest estimate that
could have been formed of his character and of his abilities. It was
indeed a 'crucial test' for such a man; and that he sustained it as he
did is not among the smallest of his claims to the admiration of his
countrymen. No tribute to his memory can be just that does not take
this last great service into the account; and no history of his life
can be fairly written that shall not place in the strongest light his
career and influence as President of Washington College."

And we may appropriately close with the following thoughtful words
from the pen of

HON. ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS.

"In the darkest hour of our trials, in the very midst of our deepest
affliction, mourning over the loss of the noble Lee, Heaven sends to
us as consolation the best sign of the times vouchsafed in many a day.
It addresses the heart, rent as it is in surveying the desolations
around us, as the rainbow upon the breast of the receding storm-cloud
when its power and fury are over.

"That sign is the unmistakable estimation in which the real merits
and worth of this illustrious chieftain of the cause of the Southern
States is held by all classes of persons, not only in the South, but
in the North.

"Partisans and leaders, aiming at the overthrow of our institutions,
may, while temporarily in high places, by fraud and usurpation, keep
up the false cry of _rebel_ and _traitor_; but these irrepressible
outburstings of popular sentiment, regarding no restraints on
great-occasions which cause _Nature_ to speak, show clearly how this
cry and charge are regarded and looked upon by the masses of the
people everywhere.

"Everywhere Lee is honored; not only as a _hero_, but as a _patriot_.
This is but the foreshadowing of the general judgment of the people of
the whole United States, and of the world, not only upon Lee, but upon
all of his associates who fought, bled, and died in that glorious
cause in which he won his immortality. That cause was the sovereign
right of local self-government by the people of the several States of
this continent. _That_ cause is not dead! Let it never be abandoned;
but let its friends rally to its standard in the forum of reason and
justice, with the renewed hope and energy from this soul-