The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1853-03-25
THE LATE GEN. LAMBERT.

THE LATE GEN. LAMBERT.
Before the grave has yet closed over "I -,
mains of the late Mayor, we think haue e''"e
q his MANY sterling virtues, the high esteem
:, which he WINS held, and the expectation Of
the public, TO say few words VITA regard 70
the principal events OF his iile.
Gen. william Lambert was born in this city
.ho,, the year 1871, and spent the early part
If his youth here. At an early age he entered
,be Office Of William Marshall, Esq, as a
clerk, and continued in it for many years. In
1914, the British ministry, having found it i'm
possible 10 any other way TO make an impress
sion upon this country, gave orders TO their
naval and military commanders to change the
system of regular warfare into series OF ma
rauding expeditions, in which the country was
to be devastated to the greatest extent posi-.
BILE, and private property destroyed wherever
If could be found. AT that time, at the sug-
gestion of we know not whom, to protect the
shores of our rivers and the towns situated up
on them, as far as possible, from the insults of
the enemy, a corps of minute. men was formed,
and the command thereof given to the late Col.
Thomas Mann Randolph, who had distin.
guished himself as hardy and enterprising Of
6cer in Canada. Attached to this corps (whose
rendezvous was this ethyl was company of
flying artillery, which had the honor to claim
William Writ as its captain. MIR. Lambert,
then a high-spirited youth, bat few years
out of his teens, instantly enrolled his name in
this company, and so highly was his military
capacity esteemed, that he was elected lieu
tentant, 1--WE believe first lieutenant) This
company was kept in the highest state of drill
and practice, and il was not long before it
was called upon to take the field. In Sep
TENDER, 1914, two days after the Capitol OF
Washington was burned, its tents were struck,
and the whole corps was marched down to
Point Warren-eye, York river, where the Gov
ernor had received information that the enemy,
in pursuance of his system, was about to land
and plumber. That he did not land and plum
promptness with which the militia and volun-
teers met to repel him. After the war, MIR.
Lambert retired to private life. He was sue
cessively appointed Colonel of one of the regi-
ments of the city, and Brgader General, but
there were no other events ofimportance sufi-
cient to require notice connected " it'll mis- life,
until his election to the Office of Mayor, as tine
successor of the late Joseph Tate, in the year
1889. Since that period, his life has been be-
fore the public. There have been persons who
have found fault with his administration; there
would be persons to find fault with the ad-
minstration of an Archangel. His office was
eagerly desired the appetite for it was so ra-
yenous, that it developed itself before the
breath had yet departed from his body. 1t is
not wonderful that he could not please those
who sought his office for themselves, or those
who endeavored to get it for their friends. He
had likewise warm partizans; men whose
zeal led them to speak of his Mayoralty as al
together without blame. That could not be-
for well as we think of Gen. Lambert, he was
these, we shall express our own unbiased
views upon the subject, and this we can easily
do, for though we have long known and re-
spected General Lambert have always voted
for him heretofore, and should have done SC
again, as long as he lived and offered, had il
been his fortune to have recovered from the
disease ofwhch he died, yet we were never or
intimate terms with him. What we say, then
we say from sense of justice, and not from
the promptings of hatred or affection.
And this is what we say. Let those who
were most active in fomenting discomfort witt
the official acts of Gen. Lambert, point to any
town in the world, as numerously inhabited
as this, with a population of such incongru
Gus materials, built not up closely like city
but in squads of houses like succession o
struggling villages, the police force of which
has never exceeded one hundred men, ana 70
the greater part of the time has never evel
been half so numerous, where there has beel
so little disorder as there has been in this cit
since he was its Mayor We defy them to d
it. and we give them the whole world to pic
and choose from. This one fact is enough I
answer all the caviliug that has been mad
against him. Let his successor, be he who
may, preserve the order of the city only on
nalf as well as he did, and we shall live yer
well satisfied under his administration. Tha
ne will do ii any better, we must be allow et
until time shall have given rise TO the proc
very seriously to doubt. His predecessor wa
aprofound lawyer; yet we mean nj discred
TO that able and excellent man, when we sa
that the friends of Gen. Lambert have no caut
TO shrink from comparison OF the two admi
istraiions. One fault he certainly had, al
that fault sprang from the promptings OF XIII
and generous heart. He was sometimes, v
thought, a little too lenient, when greater sew
rity would have answered better purpose.
As man, few persons were more believe
or better deserved to be so. He was a. hig
minded, honorable gentleman, superior to q
littleness and all deceit. He was perec,
open and candid in his dealings with the wor,
No man had juster sense of what was rich
or shrunk from what was wrong, with q mo
instructive repugnance. His death is loss
the city, and that We fear ii will be bu, r.
sure TO discover. 1t is not often that a publ
servant is able TO give 80 clear an accom-,
ms stewardship, as he was always ready
render.