The necessity for self-defense and the maintenance of order originated self-government and the assertion of individual right, and these united the widely variant elements of the community in a loyal union.  It was the amalgamation of such spirits in Virginia in 1676 which demanded the right of personal liberty, of universal suffrage, and of representation; and here was fought the prelude of that great drama one hundred years later, when a Virginian, in the name of a whole nation, penned the immortal words which proclaimed to all the world the “inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”  Here were the Lees, the Patrick Henrys, the Randolphs, the Jeffersons, the Madisons, and the Masons of Virginia; and here, to close the drama with freedom’s triumphant army, was the most illustrious of them all—­George Washington.  It was from such an ancestry our late colleague was descended, and it was from such teachings and such examples he imbibed his zealous convictions of right and his sturdy regard for the exalted prerogatives of a free people.

ADDRESS OF MR. WASHINGTON, OF TENNESSEE.

Mr. SPEAKER:  On the 15th of last October death again invaded the ranks of this House.  The mysterious messenger laid the summons of his cold silent hand upon one who had immeasurably endeared himself to all whose good fortune it had been to know him.  To-day we pause amid the rush of a nation’s public business to mourn the country’s loss and to pay a just tribute to the noble dead.  When such a man as our late colleague, Gen. WILLIAM H.F.  LEE, is taken from our midst, a void is made which can nevermore be filled.  It is not his visible presence or his tangible body that we shall so much miss.  It is the magnetism of a pure mind, the silent, potent influence of a spotless character, the power of a great, good, and noble soul to elevate and dignify all with whom it came in contact that will prove our irreparable loss.  No man ever associated with Gen. LEE without feeling the better for it.  To have been with him made you feel like one who had drawn a long deep inspiration of pure fresh air into his lungs after breathing the stifling atmosphere of a close room.  His thoughts, his conversation, his ideas diffused about him a sound and healthy morality, that was as natural to him as its delicate odor is to the rose.  Modest and gentle as a woman; sympathetic as a child; guileless as the day; a logical, well-trained, accurate mind; a horror of injustice; absolutely devoid of resentment; a benignant countenance, and a splendid physique, made him indeed a man among men.