It was my good fortune, Mr. President, to know Gen. WILLIAM H.F.  LEE with the intimacy of personal friendship for more than a quarter of a century, and I can pass no higher encomium upon him than by saying he had all the qualities that constitute a true gentleman, a gentleman in the highest and best sense.  He inherited from a very illustrious and distinguished ancestry a prestige rarely enjoyed in this country, and yet he was as unpretending, unaffected, and modest as the humblest man.  His self-contained dignity of character never deserted him.  His placid, well-balanced, well-poised equanimity always sustained him.

It would be extravagant to say he inherited the commanding abilities of his illustrious father, but it would be entirely within the line of a just criticism to affirm that he did inherit many of the highest characteristics and qualities of that great man.  In personal demeanor, in that suave, gracious, considerate, self-respecting, and respectful bearing which give assurance of the perfect gentleman he very much resembled his father.  He was always approachable and cordial, and yet I doubt if any man ever attempted an improper liberty or ventured undue familiarity with him.  His high character and affability of manner protected him against such relations.

In the late civil war we served side by side in the same cavalry corps in the same army almost continuously from the beginning to the end.  I therefore had the best opportunities of forming a correct estimate of him as a soldier and man, and it is within the bounds of just judgment to place him among the most distinguished in that brilliant array of American soldiers and men of that eventful period.

I recall with vivid recollection my first association with him at Ashland, Va., in June, 1861, where he was stationed as a young captain of cavalry at a school of instruction.  Thence he rose by regular gradations to major-general of division, resigning his sword with that rank.

Gen. LEE never aspired to be what is sometimes called a “dashing” soldier.  He was quite content with the serious, earnest, steady performance of his duties.  It would be no compliment to say that a son of Robert E. Lee and grandson of “Light-Horse” Harry Lee had courage.  Such a quality is a necessary ingredient of such a man’s character.  But his courage was not of that frothy, noisy kind so often paraded to attract attention.  In battle he was as steady, firm, and immovable as any soldier who ever wielded a sword or placed a squadron in the field.  In his relations to his subordinates he was the perfection of military propriety, always considerate and kindly, but firm and impartial in the enforcement of discipline.

Towards his equals and superiors in rank he bore himself with a knightly chivalry that at once commanded respect and confidence.  How could he have been otherwise, descended from such a noble sire, with such an example of courtly dignity and untarnished manhood?