The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1864-10-08
IHE LEE FAMILY-AN ERROR SET
o. 500 RIGHT.

s-| 500 RIGHT.
lt viii be remembered that, gome months ago
. letter, purportng to be written in 1890, by
''Richard Henry Lee, grandfather Of Genera
n bert X. Lee" went the rounds Of the press
-1he letter, as published, seemed to treat the
sConsttutioD rs temporary arrangement which
was 10 DO set aside at an early day and the
Inference was drawn from It that the Lee family
was never friendly to the Union. But this is fal
strom being the fact. The Lees were Federalists
Hmost without exception, or. In other words
tshey belonged TO the purity Of Washington and
Hamilton, which favored the adoption of the
Constitution In the first instance, and which was
prone TO construe it literally.
10 In the second place. the Rebel commander in
chief IL not she grandson Of Richard Henry Lee,
bat Of Henry Lee, OF Leesy lvania as will be seen
by the following statement, which proceeds from
a biehly INTEL igent gentleman and loyal citizen
who Is nearly connected with the Lee family.
The father of Robert Il. Lee was General Henry
,anthur Of the resolution Of Congress on the death
of General Washington, in which are the memo
rable words, "Fnst in war, first in peace, and
frst In the hearts OF his cOuntTymen."
The author of the letter which has been referred
b MAS Richard Bland Lee, the uncle of the Rebel
gtntrsl; and 70 complete the budget of blunders
9be euer ltsen mas, IN all probability, been mis-
printed, as has been shown by our correspondent
g Extracts from this letter, thus enveoped In
efror, have found their way into two recent works
OF great utility, viz, Mr. Hamilton's new edition
of the Federalist," and Mr. McPherson's "Poli-
tical History of the Rebellion" and It Is there
fore, NIL the more proper that the errors should
DO corrected, In justice to General Lees patriotic
ancestors, and TO his loyal kinsmen, If not to
1imsef:-- .4s111
= 10 fAe Editor Of the Chronicle -
e Mr.. Mcpherson, in his Political History Of the
Rebellion, page 3S9, says
Richard Henry Lee, grandfather Of General Robert z
Lee writing IN 1870 on the National Constitution
"when NO tthe south) attain our natural degree Of
do ourselves Justice with oissolyng the bond which
D.. was not Richard Henry Lee but Henry Lee of
. Ieesy lvania, Prince William county, Virginia,
who Was the father of General Henry Lee, the
slight Horse Harry" of the Revolution.
TIE authority for the statement cited by Mr..
!, McPherson Is probably letter attributed to
Richard Bland Lee, the original of which is said
20 have been found At some counry-seat in Vir-
ginis, taken possession of by the United States
4 troops at an carly period of the Rebellion. The
4 letter was printed in one or more news papers
This Richard Bland Lee was the uncle of General
Robtu Il. Lee and was representative from
Virginia in several of the early Congresses after
O. warus commissioner for adjudicating claims for
! properly lost, &C., during the war Of 1872, and
for several years Judge of the Orphans Court for
Wa a>binEton county, ID. G.
Those who knew him will be surprised TO hear
bbat at any period OF his life he looked favoraby
10 disunion! May not the word "with," in the
sxtract he misprint for "without 2" The cor
fection would exnibit Mr.. Lee as urging to his
correspondent that an increase of Southern popu-
lation, and of course Of votes in Congress, would
remove any gTievan es felt or apprehended "with-
out dssolviDg the bond" Sc.-that is, without
q EesortDg to di, union as a remedy.
II access can be bad TO the original letter. an
examination OF IL would show whether the word
as sOTttten is "with" or without" and if with"
whe ether, according to the context, this must be
tapsts penfeY
Mr. Mcpherson would thus be enabled to cor
rect the error, If any exist, In the next edition of
his valuable and interesting work
1t may he added that Mr.. Richard Bland Lee
Wa nOled IN his day as al. accurate aud elegant
writer; and If he had intended to refer TO "the
natund degree of population" of the South as
the means Or instrument 10 be used for dissJving
the Union, be would have said "by dissolving,"
&nd not t0ih dissoiving," &C. Washington
Chronicle.