Pity he could not have seen and sung of our lands of the Yellowstone, the Columbia, and the Yosemite,--what words would these have inspired his poet pen to write. Among the gentlemen who have honored us with their presence here to-night as one of our guests I notice my friend the Honorable Felix Campbell, Member of Congress from Brooklyn, and who is now the Dean of the delegation to the Congress of the United States from the great State of New York, and who has been honored with many many re-elections to that body; his presence here to-night is particularly welcome to us old soldiers of the Mexican War, for we all remember the active part he took in helping to secure the passage of our pension bill a few years ago. I must also not forget to mention the name of my old friend and fellow forty-niner of California, James Phelan, Esq., of San Francisco to whose generosity we are mainly indebted for this splendid entertainment to-night, whose patriotic spirit and warm-hearted nature always come to the front on such occasions. May his shadow never grow less, and that he may never die till I kill him. As allusion has been made to the war of the rebellion, in which comrade McKay took a most prominent part on the side of the South, and Colonel Hungerford and myself serving in the Union Army. Although _South Carolina_ and _New York troops fought side by side in the same brigade under the gallant General Shields in Mexico_, we found ourselves, _unfortunately_, arrayed against each other in later years in our own country, and _no man who is a man_ will from _political_ or _personal_ motives _keep alive the passions of the war_, or by fanning the embers of sectional hatred for _political_ or _partisan effect_, subject our people to the charge of vindictive malignity. I trust we have long since forgotten the bitter memories of our Civil War, and that we only remember the _gallant acts_ and _deeds_ of _both armies_. I have hoped for years back that the time would come, and it is happily now at hand, when the brave soldiers of the society of the army of Northern Virginia, who fought under the gallant Lee, will meet side by side at the annual reunions with the soldiers of our society of the army of the Potomac, who fought under McClellan, Grant, Meade, and Sheridan, and at other festive meetings of our various army gatherings and organizations of old soldiers, where I have never heard a word said against, but the highest praise accorded to our gallant but misguided southern brothers for their bravery and daring on the battlefield. Colonel Murphy was called upon to respond to the last sentiment,--in memory of our dead comrades,--which he did, as follows: