Address of Mr. Henderson, of Illinois.

Mr. Speaker: It is not my purpose at this time to make any extended remarks upon the life and public services of the late Gen. William H.F. Lee. Other gentlemen of the House, more intimately acquainted with Gen. Lee in his lifetime, are better prepared to do justice to his memory than I am. But having enjoyed a very pleasant acquaintance with the deceased during his four years' service as a member of this body, I desire to express the great respect which I entertained for him as a gentleman of high character and of noble, manly qualities. Descended from one of the most highly honored families in the State in which he had his birth, he was liberally educated, and at an early age entered the Army as a second lieutenant and served as such until 1859, when he resigned his commission and returned to the peaceful pursuits of civil life. In 1861 he followed his illustrious father, and entered the service of the Confederate States as a captain of cavalry. That he was a brave and gallant soldier there can be no doubt, for his military history shows that he rose step by step from the rank of a captain to that of a major-general of cavalry. In 1865 he surrendered with his father at Appomattox, and renewed his allegiance and devotion, as I am glad to believe, to the Government of the United States.

I can but wish, Mr. Speaker, that such honored names as those of Gen. William H.F. Lee and his distinguished father had never been led into rebellion against the Government of their country. But they felt it to be their duty to follow the fortunes of their State, and let us to-day, while mourning the departure of our deceased friend, rejoice that the surrender at Appomattox has been followed by a restored Union, and that our reunited, undivided country is now one of the strongest, most powerful, and prosperous of all the nations of the earth.

As a Representative in this body, while he was not inclined to participate actively in the discussion of public and political questions, still Gen. Lee took great interest in all that pertained to the public welfare, and especially in that which, in his judgment, was in the interest of his immediate constituents. He was an able, faithful, and efficient Representative as well as a noble, manly man, and in all my intercourse with men I never met a more genial, warm-hearted, pleasant gentleman than the distinguished citizen to whose memory we pay tribute to-day. I well remember his kindly greetings, and I am sure all of us who knew Gen. Lee deeply regret his loss as a member of this body, to which he was for a third time elected by his confiding constituents, and extend to his sorrowing bereaved family our warm heartfelt sympathies.