6 " i-'il C. A. Ecnns >
all were .strengthened in patriotic resolve and effort for the public good.
The UK -mlx-rs of the Association, with their invited guests, then repaired to Murphy's Hotel to a banquet prepared under the direc- tion of the Executive Committee.
The enjoyment of the occasion was here enhanced by brief and wanning addresses by Generals Dabney H. Maury, Eppa Hunton, Thomas T. Munford, Rev. J. William Jones, D. D., Hon. William A. Anderson and General Clement A. Evans, whose graceful "Adieu" was received with a delight scarcely less than that with which his masterly plea for the South had been greeted. The words of the "oldest Confederate," General Maury, in the dedication of the closing years of his life to the cause of the history of his native State, were touching.
This most recent banquet has been published as the "most pleas- ant" ever held. The leaven of the devoted President is working, as it has been proposed to publish in a becoming volume all of the addresses heretofore delivered before the Association.
THE ADDRESS.
I am honored by the request to speak during a convention of men whose occupation deserves the first and chiefest consideration as the corner-stone of popular welfare, whose success makes all things prosper, and whose cry for relief is never made until the pain is too great to be borne. Labor that converts human energies into cities, railroads, ships, factories and foundries ; into churches, school-houses, asylums and homes ; into munitions of war for the country's defence, and implements of industry for times of peace ; labor that makes and spends money by billions per annum, is en- titled to the honest solicitude of statesmen.
Dear to my heart are you my comrades of the Army of Northern Virginia, with whom I followed Jackson and Lee to the last charge at Appomattox. There are events in my life, as in the lives of others, which are remembered with regret ; but the part I bore with you in the assertion of the original ideas of our forefathers upon the battle-fields of Virginia is a rich memory, which I shall cherish with patriotic pride forever.
By your cordial invitation I stand upon the soil of a State which in the travails of nearly three centuries has uniformly affirmed the
