The Sun.
London, England, 1864-06-08 00:00:00

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NEWSPA.PER

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The Commander in Chief of t \,.. 047
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Robert Edmund Lee was born, in IS. of a, Ad
English family which had been settled in Virginia
for many generations before the American colonies
separated themselves from their allegiance to Great
Britain. He is a gentleman by birth, breeding,
and social position. He is a largo landed proprietor,
being the owner of Whitehonses, an estate formerly
belonging to Washington, which is situated upoi
Arlington Heights, on the Virginia shore of the
Potomac, overlooking the city of Washington, which
takes its name from that hero. Lee was regularly
educated for the profession of arms in the United
States Military Academy at %Vest Point. He served
in the Engineer Corps in the Mexican campaign.
At the battle of ChApulteoec he was severely
wounded, and was. twiev promoted for conspi-
cuous gallantry
.that
that war ; though it
was considered that neither Le 3 no; Beaure.

prl, who it?N) behaved with great distinction
in Mexico, obt,imd as 1211324 notice as they Oeserved
in the despitches of General Sc-Att. In 185211.1j0r
Lee was appilitcd sup?rintendent of the Military
Academy; bat three years afterwards he was sent
to Europe iu company with M'Ciellan, then captain,
as AmeriCan military commissioners, to study the
proceedings of the French and English armies is
the siege of Sebastopol. On that occasion Lee was
advanced to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel cif the
2d Regiment of Cavalry, and this was his position
at the beginning of 1861, when the war of secession
broke out. He wos at San Antonio, in Texas, com-
manding his own regiment, when he hoard that the
State of Virginia, which he regards as his proper
country, had withdrawn from the Federal Union,
and that the Northern States were going to make
war upon the South to force them to return to their
allegiance. Colonel Lee felt it was his duty under
these circumstances to be a soldier of Virginia, and.
no longer a servant of the Federal Government in
which Virginia had now no part. 113 raised a small
body of militia in his own neighbourhood to occupy
Arlington Heights, but was ordered by the Con-
federate Government to fall back on Fairfax Court
House, while Beauregard was preparing to meet
the first onset of the enemy at Manassas and Bull
Run.

President Saferson Davis, however, soon dis-
cerned in Lee the man whom the emergency re-
quired, and called him to a higher post. He was
appcinted General and Commander of the Forces in
Virginia; and taking up the remnant of Garnett's
corps, which had been shattered by M'Clellan at
Rich Mountain, he soon cleared the north-west
Icounties of the enemy's presence. After performing
this service ho took charge of the Ministry of war
at Richmond, and applied himself to the immense
preparations that were necessary for the campaign
of 1862. In planning that campaign it was General
Lee's opinion, contrary to the judgment of Beaure-
gard, that the best lines for the defences of Richmond
were—firstly, that of the Rappahannock; and,
secondly, that of the Rapidan ; whereas Beauregard
I would have drawn them further north, at Manassas
I Gap and Bull Run. That General Lee was in the
right has been proved by the campaigns of 1863
and 1864. The strip of country between the Rapidan
and Richmond being hilly and thickly wooded, gave
him peculiar facilities for constructing those forti.
fiel positions on which his skill as a military engi-
neer, in the intervals of active campaigning, has
been constantly employed. It will be remembered
that General M'Clellan, his worthy antagonist in
1862, was so convinced of the impregnability of
these lines, guarding the direct road by Fredericks-
burg to the Confederate capital, that he sought to
turn them by transporting his army down Chesa-
peke Bay to the peninsula below Richmond, and
landing on the banks of the James River. But the
Federal army, wasted by a series of fiercely-fought
battles and by the disease of an unhealthy climate
at midsummer, was compelled to abandon the prize
which then seemed almost within its grasp. It was
at that period, when General Joseph Johnston
was disabled in the battle of Seven Pines,
that General Lee succeeded to the supreme•
command of the Confederate armies sin the

field.

Promptly taking artvantage of the
we :k p.)sition of INl'Ciellan who lay too
loo2cly on bath bAnk-s of the Caickahorniny, eepa-
rated from M'lliwell and his other supparts, Lee
rallied out ot Richmond and attacked him with such.
pirtinachrus energy that, in seven d.iy6' con tnuous
fighting, the Federals were driven to their ships.
The subs, q.1,11t, movorrenta is the 'Upper Potomac,
and the wt:eie cmipzigu of 1563 were conducted on
a very diffirent principle. 8o long as General Lee
stood on the defensive in the neighbourhood of Fre-
dericksburg he could secure his chosen line of the
Rappahannsck against all the attempts of Burnside
and Hooker to make their way south. But when,
having defeated Hooker at Chancellorsville, he
ventured beyond the defences of Virginia, and in,
waded the territory of Maryland, necessarily losing
much time by a circuitous road to the west,General
Lee was not £o successful. The checks which sen.
M'Clelien at Antietam Creek, and General
Meade at Gettysburg, administered to the Con-
federate army had more effect, probably, than any
other incidents of this war in defining the regular
capabilities of the two hostile forces. It seemed to
be as difficult for the South to approach Baltimore
and Washington as for the North to conquer Rich.
mond. The remainder of last year was chiefly em-
ployed by Gen. Lee in controlling and succouring
the army of Tennessee, while taking measures, no
doubt, for a renewal of the contest in Virginia, which
we have just seen recommenced with so much greater
fury.

General Lee is still in the prime and vigour of
manhood. He is six feet in height, erect, well
formed, and of imposing appearance; has clear,
bright, benignant black eyes, dark grey hair, and a
heavy grey beard. He is exceedingly plain in bis
dress, and you look at his costume in vain for the
insignia of rank. He wears an unassuming black
felt hat, with a narrow strip of gold lace around it,
and a plain brigadier's coat with three stars on
the coller, but without the usual braiding on the
sleeves. He travels and sleeps in an ambulance
when the army ie in motion, and occupies a tent
when it is stetionaey, and not the largest and best
house in the neighbourhood, as is the custom of some
officers. He cares but little for appearances, and
is content to take the same fare his soldiers receive,
In character and personal deportment I e is ardent,
grave, and dignified, yet modest and even distrust-
ful of his own abilities. The descendant of a gallant
officer of the elder revolution, the husband of the
grand-daughter (by adoption) of
General
Wash-
ington, the inheritor of a large estate,
trusted leader of a great and victorious army, he is
nevertheless accessible to the humblest and most
rugged soldier in the ranks, courteous to his officers,
just and kind to all. Daring h
ea
ramnyd wast h ein Maryland, an officer of high position suggested
ea
to
thenG General e re
under
ln timedl e,
re the
h i
discussion. s u pp c) r
Amongt
9f a grave
a number of reasonsse
he remarked to him :that he was
trusted by his
others,aerernment, had the hearts of his
soldiers, and possessed the entire confidence of his
country,ldiers, and that they relied implicitly upon his
patriotism and genius. Tears rushed to hig eyes,
and he exclaimed, "Do not say that—do not say
that, I am tensible of my weakness, and such a re-
sponsibility as your remark implies would crush me
to the earth." lie said, in the same conversation,
that there was nothing he so much desired as peace
and independence. All he hod, and all he hoped for
—all that ambition could suggest, or glory give--
he would freely surrender to stop the flow of blood
and secure freedom to the country. He did not
doubt that these blessings would come in due season ;
out he wanted them now, and would readily sacrifice
teverye lifteh oeurgehrte
nof
epneerseounlal diearg.lraiinidusisteremteendt 007
esce,
News.

ENLISTMENTS.—A return of the enlistments of
the army at the several recruiting districts in the United
Kingdcm in the last four years shows a great variation in
numbers, but enlistments are of course mainly regulated by
the wants of the army. In 1860 21,664 men were enlisted,
in 1861, B,l3B—in 1862, 4,642—and in 1863, 6,294. The
number enlisted in 1863 therefore was rather less than a
third of the number in 1860, but the proportion did not fall
equally in each of the three countries. In 1860 there were
15,602 men enlisted in England, but in 1863 only 3,766—in
Scotland, 1,779 in 1860, and as many as 1,114 in 1863—in
Ireland 4,283 in 1860, and as many as 2,044 it. 1863,