244 Southern Historical Society Papers.
should be instantly restored, and that not another drop of American blood should be shed. He then proposed to General Lee that the latter should forthwith meet Mr. Lincoln, and said that whatever terms of pacification Mr. Lincoln and General Lee might agree upon would be satisfactory to the reasonable people of the North and South, and should have his own earnest support. He told General Lee that his influence with the Southern people would secure their concurrence, and that Mr. Lincoln* s counsel would be accepted by the whole North.
General Lee expressed the great pleasure which General Grant's noble and patriotic sentiments gave him, but declined to comply with his request, because he was an officer of the Confederate army, and could do nothing inconsistent with his duty to the Confederate government.
There remains the final act of his life, with which I will close what I have to say, and complete the explanation of the meaning of this monument.
LEE AFTER THE WAR.
When the war closed he found himself far past middle age and compelled to depend upon his own efforts for his maintenance. He had many offers from persons who desired to have the use of his name to promote their interests in business. All of these he de- clined. He had several invitations from wealthy admirers to accept their hospitality and pass the remainder of his days in repose. These he also declined.
You know that finally he accepted the position of President of Washington College, and in that dignified but useful retirement he closed his eventful life.
But he did not lose his desire to be of service not only to the peo- ple of the South, but to the people of the whole country ; and he set to work to use his great influence to reconcile the people of the South to the hard consequences of their defeat, to inspire them with hope, to lead them to accept the government that had been estab- lished by the result of the war freely and frankly, and thus to relieve them from the military rule, and to relieve the people of the United States from the evil effects of a continuance of such a form of govern- ment in any part of the country,
A GRAND SENTIMENT FROM LEE.
After the surrender at Appomattox, and the cessation of hostilities, there was more or less doubt among those who had been in the army
