By  common  consent  of  friend  and  foeman  alike,  this  phe
nomenal  man  proved  himself  a  natural  born  leader  of  men,
especially  horsemen,  and  usually  under  most  untoward  condi
tions  and  circumstances,  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  the
struggle,  fighting  odds  that  none  other  fought,  and  without
fail  to  successful  finish,  when  in  chief  command,  and  with  a
roster  of  prisoners  to  his  credit  that  none  other  could  claim
except  "the  great  captain,  himself,"  even  "Old  Marse
Robert."  There  he  stands,  our  matchless  "king  of  the  saddle,
the  saber  and  spur."  God  shrive  and  annoy nte  his  glorious
soul  for  sending  more  than  his  due  proportion  before  the
judgment  seat  up  yonder.  I  repeat  that,  to  my  thinking,
since  the  birth  of  his  brother  stable  boy,  Joachim  Murat,  later
on  Marshal  of  France,  and  King  of  Naples,  and  for  a  thou
sand  years  anterior  the  world  has  not  seen  his  prototype  for
the  work  that  he  was  called  on  to  discharge.  Martinets  may
say  in  depreciation,  that  he  was  ill  acquaint  with  "the
school  of  the  soldier,"  to  which  may  be  added,  or  any  other ;
but  where  was  the  Master  of  Schools  or  of  Arts  that  ever
approached  him  in  outreach  of  accomplishment  ?

Ladies,  if  some  may  urge,  in  derogation  of  these  homely
remarks,  that  I  have  been  over-lavish  in  superlatives,  be  mine
the  reply,  that  it  was  an  epoch  of  superlatives,  of  high  and
low  degree,  in  actors,  in  plot,  in  development,  and  events.  My
effort  has  been  to  confine  remark  to  the  first  or  higher  class,
wherq  praise  was  legitimately  due,  and  to  ignore  the  other
and  leave  it  to  other  and  more  willing  hand  or  tongue  to
discuss.
