The daily clarion. [volume] (Meridian, Miss.) 1863-1866, 1865-12-13
NUMBER 10.
An English Compliment To the Great
Southern Military Leader, X. n. Lee.

An English Compliment 10 the Great
Southern Military Lcnder, X. E. Lec.
FROM the London Daily Telegraph
| At Lexington, in the State Of Virginia,
1 there Is a college which bears the name
of the most luslrious citizen ever born
in the old D aminiou, fertile as that pleas
ant land has been in heroes nor could
/ George Washington himself have wished
| that the college erected in his honor
should have tor President a worthier
| chief than the one who quietly entered
| upon his duties Just a tort ulgA, ago
! The new President Is still in the prime of
manhood, though already his har and
! beard are gray he has been long ac~
customed TO command; he Is familiar
| with hardshlps as with fame-has slept
| for months md the woods of Virginia.
| and has crossed the Rappahannock north
ward at the head OF "A victorious army;
he has been proved alike by good and
evil fortune and, whether when threats
ening the Federal Capital or when sur
rendering his sword TO Federal Captain,
he has ever borne himself as beseemsd
man noble alike by ancestry and by Pa
ture The descendant OF Light Horse
Harry" has dotted the gray uniform for
the garb Of a peaceful professor; nor can
we own that the change IS degradation,
even for Robert Lee. There Is DIFF
ference in the mode OF action, bat 80
alteration in The object, which Is simply
10 render the best service he can to ms
native State. To that single aim he has
never been once untaithtui; and he will
pursue 1t, we may rest assured, with the
old high enthusiasm, tempered 10y
cautious brain. Throughout the war
nothing was more remarkable than Lees
personal iutiueuce-thc manner IN which
he impressed every one who approached
him. That men with Jackeou's purity
and earnestne. $, or with the Gsto5Hasrs
and graceful yalor OF Stuart, should APP
precate the IllusrouS qualities OF their
leaders. was only natural: but even the
humbIest soldiers in the ranks felt,
though they might not have been able to
express, the moral power which Lee ex-
erted. The war was, in all conscience
sanguinary enough; but there would have
been a very carnival Of carnage, dew
Ilish outL reak of all mems tercest pas
sIons, had the Southern leader been OF
different temper.
Calamity as the Confederates fought,
we must never forget that their armies
were often composed of somewhat ines
Unable raw material that the volunteer
with all the instinct of bravery which
seIdom deserts Il dominant class, had
likewise many Of the vices which are IN
evitably engendered by the posst ssion of
arbitrary and lawiess power. Accus-
toned 20 the unchecked license of au-
thority, the shareholders might per
chance have been ready enough to give
the war character of iuteruecine ha-
tred and it was Immediately due to
t,ha I OF hat I ln b,1-
manities OF civilized warfare were. on the
whole, observed The gentle nature of
the man never degenerated into weak
ness, and with high hand could restrain
excuses, and admirably did he exercise
his power There are no purer pages IN
the history of the civil war than those
which relate to his invasion of Maryland
and Pennsylvania, at a time when the
temper of the Southern people was sorely
tried. Such qualities as he displayed
could not fail, in the long run, TO win
the regard of manly and ailrcuonate
peopie and while we find that he was
loved like a father by all those who
shared his immediate perils, we have not
vet forgotten that when the victorious
veterans OF the North were marching
home through Richmond they burst
into splendid shout of enthusiasm as
they recognized, gravely contemplating
them from curtaIned window the ia
miliar form and face OF Robert Lee.
The old order changes, giving place
to new, aud G d fuItills himself in many
ways 70 teach young lads tn If cIas-
sizes and mathematics may seem but
poor occupation for one whose word was
lately the supreme law for hundred
thousand fighting men and yet there
need be no sense Of humiliation involved
in the deliberate acceptance of such en-
ployment The new order 10" that Of
peace for a time, the finest thing that
Lee could do was to set an example OF
valor and virtue to the whole manhood
of the South but not less pure Is the
glory Of one who, by honest and patient,
labor prepares the young for thas longer
couhict which fills the whole length and
! breadth Of human life.