RICHMOND, VA.

A meeting was held on November 3d, presided over by Mr. Jefferson Davis.  Mr. Davis delivered an address, of which we regret that we have received no complete copy.  We give it as reported in the Richmond Dispatch.

REMARKS OF PRESIDENT DAVIS.

As Mr. Davis arose to walk to the stand, every person in the house stood, and there followed such a storm of applause as seemed to shake the very foundations of the building, while cheer upon cheer was echoed from the throats of veterans saluting one whom they delighted to honor.

Mr. Davis spoke at length, and with his accustomed thrilling, moving eloquence.  We shall not attempt, at the late hour at which we write, to give a full report of his address.

He addressed his hearers as “Soldiers and sailors of the Confederacy, comrades and friends:  Assembled on this sad occasion, with hearts oppressed with the grief that follows the loss of him who was our leader on many a bloody battle-field, a pleasing though melancholy spectacle is presented.  Hitherto, and in all times, men have been honored when successful; but here is the case of one who amid disaster went down to his grave, and those who were his companions in misfortune have assembled to honor his memory.  It is as much an honor to you who give as to him who receives; for, above the vulgar test of merit, you show yourselves competent to discriminate between him who enjoys and him who deserves success.

“Robert E. Lee was my associate and friend in the Military Academy, and we were friends until the hour of his death.  We were associates and friends when he was a soldier and I a Congressman; and associates and friends when he led the armies of the Confederacy and I presided in its cabinet.  We passed through many sad scenes together, but I cannot remember that there was ever aught but perfect harmony between us.  If ever there was difference of opinion, it was dissipated by discussion, and harmony was the result.  I repeat, we never disagreed; and I may add that I never in my life saw in him the slightest tendency to self-seeking.  It was not his to make a record, it was not his to shift blame to other shoulders; but it was his, with an eye fixed upon the welfare of his country, never faltering, to follow the line of duty to the end.  His was the heart that braved every difficulty; his was the mind that wrought victory out of defeat.

“He has been charged with ‘want of dash.’  I wish to say that I never knew Lee to falter to attempt any thing ever man could dare.  An attempt has also been made to throw a cloud upon his character because he left the Army of the United States to join in the struggle for the liberty of his State.  Without trenching at all upon politics, I deem it my duty to say one word in reference to this charge.  Virginian born, descended from a family illustrious in Virginia’s annals, given by Virginia to the service of the United States, he represented her in