TOASTS AND RESPONSES
At the conclusion of the dinner General Grant rapped for order, and said:

"Gentlemen --- It has not been the custom for this Club to call for speeches, or, perhaps, toasts. We have been, like a Quaker meeting, waiting until the spirit would move us. But on this occasion I think it would be proper to pay a tribute to the memory of our late President, and I do not know any way that I can do it so well as to ask the Secretary to read the memorial resolutions which were passed by this Club today."

Professor Coppee, the Secretary, then read a memorial record of Major General Robert Patterson, which contained the following:

"As a soldier and general he was distinguished in the war of 1812, in the Mexican War of 1846, and the late civil war. As a citizen and merchant he gained and kept the esteem of his fellow citizens, who recognized in him a man of thought, prompt action and high public spirit. As a man he won the affectionate regard of a very large circle of friends. His virtues and achievements have already been made public and become the subject of history. We mourn his loss and cherish his memory as the President of this our military society --- a post which he has filled from the close of the Mexican War until the day of his death. In all these years he has fostered this Club and held it together by the attraction of his personal influence. He has gone, followed to the grave by his mourning family and by many friends and societies, among them the Aztec Club. We mourn his loss, but we remember how often he referred to the subject. Saying that it must come soon, but his knapsack was packed and he was ready."

A resolution was also adopted at the meeting and read as follows:

"The heartfelt sympathy of the Aztec Club is extended with this memorial to his son, General Robert E. Patterson, and through him to every member of the bereaved family."

The memory of General Patterson was then drunk standing, after which General D. M. Frost proposed the health of the Secretary of the Club, Professor Coppee.

In response Professor Coppee said that he had not a word to say except to thank the company for the compliment, which he held in high honor, concluding by proposing the health of the Vice President.

General Grant, in replying, said that he would not occupy much time, as he wanted to hear from some of the older members. "I see a gentleman before me," he continued, "who forty years ago attempted to teach me chemistry, Col. Kendrick, and I shall call upon him."

Col. Kendrick --- "By its fruits, gentlemen, shall you know the tree."

General Grant, when the laughter occasioned by the witty reply of Colonel Kendrick had subsided, called upon General Cady for an explanation of what he termed the attack made by Colonel Kendrick, but the General thought a mistake had been made, and said that he could throw no light upon the matter, whereupon Prof. Coppee said that he would like to know if Colonel Kendrick was the instructor of General Cady also.

General Sherman was then called upon to respond to "The Army of the United States," and in the course of his remarks, said:

"I find my name engrossed upon your list of members. I had no knowledge that I was a member until I read it in the card today. I assure you I feel highly honored. I do not know why you call yourselves 'Aztecs', because some of you look very young to have been 'Aztecs' in 1846. I thank you for having embraced me in your list. As to the Army of the United States you all know its history. It commenced before the Revolution, and one company now in service dates before the Revolutionary war--the Second Artillery--and we expected to send it to Yorktown, but Uncle Sam is too poor. The army is very small, as it always is after a war, subject to Congress, law, and the will of the nation. After the Revolutionary war the army was almost obliterated, and the same thing occurred after the war of 1812. As to the force itself, the privates, lieutenants and other officers, so far as I am a judge of men, are equal to any army on the face of the earth. I have occasion to visit them at their posts; and the country, though poor, still maintains the army in pretty good condition, and I believe the men honor their fathers and mothers, and honor the memories which you gentlemen of the Aztec Club helped to build up, and they become precious legacies which I hope and believe the army of the United States treasures up as their heart's core; and, therefore, you Aztecs have to-day instilled into their minds a spirit of patriotism and love of country pure and honest which will live to the end of time."

General Alvord --- "As he is representative of the volunteer army in the City of Mexico, I call upon General William Preston, of Kentucky, for a sentiment upon this occasion."

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