Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1865-04-15
Il ptece or Arrant ToadyisIl.


The Richmond Wig cringing and
chameleon sheet, which takes its tone from
its surroundings, and is Union under
Union auspices, snd secession when JET.
Davis rules Richmond, published the fol
lowing on the I1th inst:
awe are grieved to learn of The very
serious indisposition of Mrs. General Rob
ert T. Lee ct her residence in this city.
The great disaster which has Overtaken
the Confederate arms has unnerved the
great wife of the great General quite, and
we do not wonder thst her hnely-strung
nerves should give way in the struggle.
Since the occupation Of Richmond the
Union authorities have acted with the
most scfupulous regard for the feelings of
Mrs. General Lee. At first colored guard
WAS placed in front Of the house on Frank
lin street but upon it being represented
that the exhibition was an insult to the
lady of the mansion the colored guard was
Withdrawn and white guard substituted" I"
The anerves" of this agreat wife of the
crest General are indeed "hnely strung
But it is beyond our comprehension to un-
derstsnd why even the sensitive organiza-
ton of Mrs. Lee, aunnerved" as it is by
the agreat disaster which has overtaken
the Confederate arms" should be shocked
because black soldiers are detailed to guard
her house. Her husband, the agreat Cen
eraP whom the Wing boot-liclzs as unblush-
inglY now as when be held Richmond,
was the first and frmest advocate of en-
listing negro soldiers for the support of
the insurrection. By his individual efforts
and recommendation he procured the pas
sage of the negro-srming bill through the
rebel Congress. Nor can Mrs. Lee, tend
ed from her youth by negro slaves, object
seriously to the sight of blacks. 1t must be
the Federal uniform which affects her ''hne-
ly strung nerves." and, and as our officials
are so obsequious, it would be well, perhaps,
for them to substitute Confederate for
Union, as they have already exchanged
black for white, soldiers, in the special
guard detailed to do honor to the wife of a
forsworn traitor
In sll seriousness, we do not know which
TO be most amazed at, the insolence which
prompted this objection to our negro SOL
diers, or the seryility which yielded to it.
ThAt Mrs. Lee had guard st all-that
she even dared to remain in Richmond
when Union troops occupied it-shows the
humanity of our government in strong
contrast to the record of the South. Facts
like these stand out in bold relief against
the dark background of Southern outrage
against the massacre Of Fort Pillow
against the inhumsn interment of the no.
bic Colonel Shaw, (when he fell at the
head of his regiment while asssulting Fort
Wagner in the common trench which
held the slsin-sgainst the brutal response
made to mis- friends, when they made the
usual request for his body, "He is buried
with his niggers, against the terrible
outrsges upon our dead, at Bull Run,
and our living, at Andersonville
and salisbury-and against the thOus-
and crimes of the traitors who
have maintained the rebellion. But le-
niency can be abused, and Mrs. Lee has
shown that she understands how to abuse
it. The wife of traitor, himself respons-
ible, as the commsnder-in. chief of the
rebel armies, for the outrages we have re-
ferred to, it seems incredible that her in
science should be carried to the pitch of
openly expressed contempt for any Union
soldiers, white or black, wearing the uni
form which her husband had disgrsced by
deserting. And it seems yet more inered-
ible that this arrogant demand should have
been humbly granted by the servile officials
IN Richmond. Whoever they are they
are unfit for their positions, and the nation,
insulted in thepersons of its black soldiers,
demands that they be removed.