American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1866-04-21
Compliment to Gen. Lee.


At Lexington, in the State OF Virginia,
is college which bears the name of the
most ilustrious citizen ever born in the
Old Dominion, fertile as that pleasant
land has been in heroes; nor could George
Washington himself have wished that the
college erected in his honor would have
for president a worthier chief than the one
who quietly entered upon his duties just
a fortnight ago. The new president is
still in the prime Of manhood, though al
ready his hair and beard are gray; be
has been long accustomed to command;
be is familiar with hardships as with fame
has slept for months amid the woods of
Virginia, and has crossed the Rappahan-
mock northward at the head of victori~
Gus army; he has been proven alike by
good and evil fortune, and, whether when
threatening the Federal capital, or when
surrendering his sword to q Federal cap.
tain, be has ever borne himself as beseem-
ed a man born alike by ancestry and by
nature. The descendant of Light Horse
Harry" has dofed the grey uniform for
the garb of a peaceful professor; nor can
we own that the change is degradation,
even Robert Lee. There is a difference
in this mode Of action, but no alteration
in the object, which is simply to render
the best service be can to his native state.
To that single aim he has never once
been unfaithful; and he will still pursue
it. we may rest assured, with the old
high enthusiasm tempered by cautious
brain. Throughout the war nothing was
more remarkable than Lees personal in
fuence-in the manner in which be i'm
pressed every one who approached him.
That men, with Jackson's purity and
earnestness, or with the deJonnaire and
graceful valor Of Stuart, should appre>
ciate the illustrious leaders, was only nat.
ural; but even the humbest soldier in the
ranks felt, though they might not have
been able to express, the moral power
which Lee exerted. The war was, in all
conscience, sanguinary enough, but there
would have been very carnival Of car.
mage, a devlish outbreak of all men 5
fercest passions, had the Southern leader
been of different temper.
Calamity as the Confederates fought,
we must never forget their armies were
composed of somewhat questionable raw
material that the volunteers with all the
instinct of bravery which seldom deserts
a dominant class. had likewise many oi
the vices which are inevitably engender-
ed by the possession of arbitrary power.
Accustomed to the unchecked license Of
authority, the Shareholders might per
chance have been ready enough to give
the war character Of interneciue hatred ;
and it was eminentIy due TO Robert E
Lee that the courtesies and humanities Of
civilized warfare were, on the whole, OBJ
served, The gentle nature Of the man
never degenerated into weakness with a
high hand be could restrain excesses, and
admirably did he exercise his power.
Thefe are no purer pages in the history
of the civil war than those which relate
to his invasion of Maryland and Penn-
sylvauia,a at 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 re
gard of a manly and affectionate people ;
and while we fnd that be was loved like a
father by ali those who shared his imme
diate perils, we have not yet forgotten that
when the victorious veterans Of the North
were marching home through Richmond
they burst into a splendid shout Of enthu
sasm as they recognized, gravely contem-
plating them from a curtained window.
the familiar form and face of Robert E
Lee.
"The old order changes, giving place
to new. and God fulfills himself in many
ways" To teach young lads their clas-
sizes and mathematics may seem but
poor occupation for one whose word was
lately the supreme law for hundred
thou sand fighting men; and yet there
ne ed be no sense Of humiliation involved
in the deliberate acceptance of such en-
ploymsnt. The new order is that of peace.
For a time the finest thing that Lee could
do was to set an example Of yalor and
virtue 10 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 that longer conflict which fills
the whole length and breadth Of human