The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1865-05-12
Rohert Z. Lee.

AAf0Ls0A OonsSuL There is no room
LEFT OF rebel hope for the Tories to
stand upon Their prophecies have
been contradicted, their designs have
been thwarted their speculatiops in
cotton and Confederste bonds have
been turned against themselves. and
their wishes and plans, jealousies and
malice are put 10 rout Nothing Is left
them but the unWelcnme duty of re-
firing from the contest with a. mpcb
grace as possible; aud to do this thew
sei1e upon General Lee, SIS the most
respectable fragment of the broken
down concern, and they say sSeel
here Is man, soldier, a heroi HI,
cause mas proven unfortunate. and i,
lost But behold how bold. defiant ano
upright stands he! He fought a 600
night, and illustrated the virtues az
Christian and gentleman, as we'll As the
genus OF grest Captain. Let rs
kneel down before him and bonize
him So all the hunkeys and cock
neys-the Yellow pushes and Jeemes
Y Iooies-the shrimps and peri-winkles
Oh the parks and the clubs. crv out
6ray-Vo! and with one voice. 'urrsh
lor ten rul Lee T.
Compassion for a fallen chiaftsin i
natural 1t is so common 10 the bu
man breast that here in the North de-
spite the passion Of party and the con-
hict, the best men were uttAring words
OF pardon and kindness for Gen. Lee
That ne had made very extraordinary
defense was admitted, and men were
not disposed to weigh against his cour-
age illustrated as il was in bad cause,
the sacrifice of life and treasure he
had occasioned the Government and
the loyal people We think the liber-
atty OF the people of the North needs
no better champion than the fact, that
IN the midst of their own bereaye-
ments and losses, they were willing to
admire their first and most powerful
enemy. AS the English have 3 selfish,
as wei as a humane motive for their
aoulatlonr we neither inveigh against
them; nor are surprised at il; but. in a
very calm and dispassionate manner,
let US look into the real merit Of the
case, and see how far Gen. Lee deserves
the honors of martyrdom.
VI course General Lees military gen
ius stands in the foreground of what.
ever merits he may possess But there
L. no stumbling block, which, in default
OF any other reason, would have al
ways stood in the way of our conf.
dence. IL is this: Davis was his friend.
ana Davis never was the friend of a
man Of genius. The very fact that Ds-
Wis and Lee got along 50 well together,
was always proof positive that Lee was
the subordinate, or else that he was an
artful dissinulator and poltroon. We
never believed him the latter, and
therefore Judged him to be literally a
red tapist; q we'll educated soldier, and
skilful engineer, an outand-out West
Point man, used TO obey and pay re-
spect to his superior, and with but lit
tie viii of his own in matters of mo-
ment tirTn and courageous certainly as
all men must be who al bred TO arms,
and especially so where the additional
advantages of great birth and fortune
have been applied to their advance
ment and mode of thinking but IN
original Lee made no character at
the outset His campaign, when lac
had an independent and detached com
msnd, was a signal failure. Not until
accident threw him under the eye Of
Davis, and placed him q. the head Of
the best army of the South, with all the
resources Of the Confederacy at his dis
pOsal, and position of singular natural
strength, holding q splendid front and
five lines of communication, did he
evince any sign OF capacity by the sue
cessful management of troops; and even
here he had the most inferior officers
and the most untutored armies Of the
North to engage, and was further aided
by internal difficulties among our mill
tsry councils ard the genius Of Stone
wall Jackson.
With these signal adVantages-ad
vsntages of position, of location, Of
thorough Union, of dissension in the
camp of his adversary, of frequent
changes in the command Of the latter
and frequent changes in the worst, and
of a really dashing and brilliant subor-
dinate, he held his lines in front of
Richmond for three years, exhibiting
sure foot rather than a sagacious eye,
and making up for the lack sf genius
by an industrious and educated mind
and attention.
Mark the difference when he as
sumed the defensive. His two aggres-
sive campaigns failed Gisgracefully.
Their conception was q radical error,
and their execution, after long prepar-
alton, and in the face of much want of
it, was below mediocrity. Had he been
g great soldier he never would have
risked the uprisiRgs which were in
spired by the invasions of Maryland
and Pennsylvania; or, had he taken
them into account he never would have
stopped short of the capture of some
great Federal stronghold. As it was
he blumdered into q trap of his own
building; and although he got out Of
it without the complete destruction of
his army, he was assisted by most time
ly coincidents of fortune At best all
that can be said of those advances be-
yond his Notifications, is, that they |
buoyed up the courage Of his soldiers
for q time, supplied them with many |
and shocked the timid of the |
loyal States with the idea of the mag
nitude and audacity of the rebellion. |
This at the cost of q moderate sized /
army.
Davis retained Lee in command be- |
cause he was an obedient subordinate. |
He removed Joseph E. Johnston be-
cause he was not. Just as he Glove TO
Bragg-another truculent tool--he
Glove to Lee. He thought that mis- own
genius was sufficient to win the fight,
and that he could dispense with that
Of another man. What he wanted was
good executive talent, pliable and PHI
ant talent he found il in Lee, and
was satisfied They never quarreled or
differed in opinion on any serious ques-
ton, and this is 10 say, as every one
knows who is familiar with the person
al characteristics of Davis, that Lee
quietly assented to his masters iron
will and violent temper, and carried
out his DEGREES promptly and in sol
dier-like fashion.
If any further evidence be needed
take the whole career, political and
military, OF Jefferson Davis, and COM
pare it with the whole career Of Rob
ert E Lee As politician, Davis,
friends were his tools he hated Ste
phen A Douglas because Douglas was
bis superior and would not truckle to
him; he loved Howell Cobb because
Cobb was a useful instrument In his
own wing of the Democratic party he
never could get on with its leading
minds With Stephens, With Joe
Brown, with Wigfall, Toombs and Van
,ey-sn Of whom possessed, in one
way or another, independent and char
.cteristic tsleRts-he was upon terms
Df distant ceremony, or outright hostil-
ty. As Secretary of War he over
,laughed the sblest officers in the army
When he become the Chief of the
Rebels, he at once set up his high per-
sonsl creed. and in few months was
4uarrehng with all his best Generals,
IS IN turn he became partisan 70 the
most inferior, such "a Brace. Psnaber-