The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1865-11-30
Robert z. Lee.

| the most llluSCrlOuS clIZen o'oi ooA"
the g Old Dominion" fertile as that plea
SAINT land has been in heroes; nor could
George Washington himself have wished
that tho college erected in his honor
should have for Presidenta worthier chief
than the one who quietly entered upon
his duties gust fortnight ago. The new
President is still in the prime of manhood,
though already his hair and beard are
grey; he has been long accustomed to
command; hcis familiar with hardships
as with famc-has slept for months amid
the woods of Virginia, and has crossed
the Rappahannoc1 Northward at tho head
of victorious army he has been proved
alike by good and evil fortune, and,
whether when threatening the Federal
capital; or when surrcndering his sword
to Federal captain, he has ever borne
himself as bescemed man noble alike by
ancestry and by nature. The descendant
of Light Horse Harry" has doffed the
grey uniform for the garb of peaceful
professor; nor can we own that the change
is degradation, cvcn for Robert Lee.
There is a difference in the mode of ac-
ton; but no alteration in the object which
is simply to render the best service he can
to his native State. To that single aim
he has never once boen unfaithtul and he
will still pursue it, we may rest assured,
with the old high enthusiasm, tempered
by cautious brain.
Throughout the war nothing was moro
remarkable. than Lees personal influence
tho manner in which he impressed cve-
ry one who approached him. That men
with Jackson's purity and earncstness, or
with the dcbonairc and graceful valor of
Stuart, should appreciate the illustrious
qu"ities of their leader, was only natu-
raj; but even the humblest soldiers in the
ranks felt, though they might not have
been able to express the. moral power
Which Lee cxerted. The war was, in ali
conscience, sanguinary enough; but there
would have been very carnival of earn
age, q devilish outbreak of all mems
ficrcicst passions, had the Southern leader
been of different temper. Calamity as
the Confedcratcs fought, we must mover
forget that their armies wero often COM
posed of somewhat questionable law ma
terial that the volunteers, with all the
instinct of bravery which seldom deserts
dominant class, had likewise many OF
the vices which arc inevitably engenderred
by the possession of arbitrary and lawless
power. Accustomed to tic unchecked di-
ccnso of authority, the shareholders might
pcrchance have been ready enough to
piyc the war n character Of internccinc
hatred and it was eminently due to
Robert L. Lee that the courtesics and hu-
manities of civilized warfare wcre, on the
whole, observed. The gentle nature Of
the man never dcgenerated into weak
ness; with high hand he could restrain
exccsses, and admirably did he exercise
his power. There arc no purer pages in
the history of the civil war than those
which relates to his invasion of Maryland
and Pennsylvania, at time when the
temper of the Southern people was sorcly
tried. Snch qualities as he displayed
could not fail, in the long run, to win the
regard of manly and affcctionate people ];
and while we find that he was loved like
a father by all those who shared his i'm
mediate perils, we have not yet forgotten
that when the victorious vetrans OF tho
North wero marching home through Rich
mond, they burst into a splendid shout OF
enthusiasm as they recognized, gravely
contemplating them from curtained win
dow. the familiar form and face OF Robert
L. Lec.-London Paper
VIRGINIA Observation-Disclosures is
fast recovering from the terrible effects
left upon her by thewar:> But few traces
are now seen upon the renowned battle
eolJ, nc Rrll RIM At Manassas Junction