The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1866-09-26
A High Tribute to the Character Of
General Lee.

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In a long editorial article calling for q
subscription of flO,OoO to Washington
College by the friends and admirers Of
Gen. Lee in England, the London Stan
dard, of August 18th, speaks Of him as
follows:
There is no living hero-tbere are few
ifany, among those whose names shine
with the purest lustre in history-whose
character has commanded so high a tribute
of affection and admiration from their
friends, of respect and honor from their
foes, as that of Gen.. Lee. No life more
perfectly heroic, no reputation more unfair
nished even by the minor blemishes which
are not uncommonly found in union with
the highest heroism, has ever been con-
nected with great national struggle. No
shade of vanity or egotism, nothing of the
self-will or petulance so often Characteristic
of conscious genius, no tinge of affectation,
no faint even ofthe pride almost insepara-
BILE from ordinary greatness of mind, which
can endure everything but humiliation, and
regards submission as disgrace, alloy the
simple grandeur of the Virginian soldiers
nature.
A piety without the slightest shadow of
Pharisaism, sense Of duty to which the
sacrifice ofevery personal feeling and in
terest appears a matter of course, have
marked his whole course and guided his
every public act, whether as a soldier or as
a citizen. A family connection and the
nearest living representative of the great
champion of American independence, Gen.
Lee has been the Washington of the Con-
federate war; like Washington, a man
"Whom envy dared not hate,' but without
even the one dark stain of doubt, if notof
dishonor, which the death of Major Andre
has left on the memory his prototype
No more aselaess man and stainless gen.
tleman ever lived; no soldier ever set a
more admirable example of the soldierly
virtues Of honor chivalric generosity, and
manly simplicity; no great man ever re-
tired into obscurity, after witnessing alike
the ruin of his cause and the destruction of
his private fortune, with more of Christian
patience and mistaken fortitude.
OF his military achievements we need
not speak. 1t is enough to say that nearly
all his victories were won against enor.
nous odds, and that his four years defense
of Virginia has few parallels in history as
an example Of great results accomplished
with small means and fearful disadvan-
tage.
What Is now more interesting to remem-
Der is the personal character Of the man,
as displayed in the various exigencies Of
that trying struggle; the simple honesty
and kindly feeling which prompted him to
console his soldiers ashley recoiled from
the cannon-crowned heights Of Gettysburg,
with the assurance, at is all my fault; .
the unaffected self-depreciation which pro-
nounced, when Stonewall jackson fell, II
could wish, for the sake Of our cause, that
| had been disabled rather than you;" the
Christian chivalry, which no outrage could
provoke to retaliation; which, after Vir-
ginia had been rendered desert, withheld
the army that invaded Pennsylvania from
inaicting the most trivial injury on person
or property; which, when his own estates
had been plundered, ravaged and confsca-
ted, took care to protect the houses and
property Of his enemies; the horror Of use
less bloodshed which withstood the cry for
retribution excited by the murder of South
sern prisoners in cold blood, and supported
the resolve of the President that unless the
actual murderers were taken, no blood
should be shed but on the field of battle !;
the touching unselfshness Of his last
words to his disbanding army, on the sor-
rowful 9th of April, ~ have done my best
for YOU" But it was when all was over
when the chief Of great and long victo-
rious army was a private man and paroled
prisoner-that the peculiar greatness of
Gen. Lees nature shines out with une-
qualled brightness.