Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1867-08-13
A High Tribute to the Character Of Gen.
Too

In long editorial article calling for the dona-
ton Of el0, 900 to Washington College, by the
friends and admirers of Gen. Lee in England,
the London Standard, of August II, speaks of
him as follows:
There is no living hero-there are none, if
any, whose name shines with the purest lustre
in history-whose character has commanded so
high tribute Of affection and admiration from
their friends, ofrespect and honor from their
foes, as that of Gen. Lee. No life more perfect
" heroic, no reputation more untarnished even
by the minor blemishes which are not uncom-
monty found in union with the highest heroism,
has ever been connected with a great national
struggle. No shade of vanity or egotism, moth
ing of the selfwil or petulance so often charac-
teristic of conscious genius, no tinge OF affec-
tation, no faint even of the pride almost in
separable from ordinary greatness of mind, which
can endure everything but humiliation, and
regards submission as disgrace alloy the simple
grandeur of the Virginian soldiers name.
A piety without the slightest shadow of Phar-
isaism. sense of duty to which the sacrifice Of
every personal feeling and interest appears a
matter of course, have marked his whole course
and guided his every public act, whether as a
soldier or as citizen A family connection
and the nearest living representative of the great
champion of American independence, Gen. Lee
has been the Washington of the Confederate
war like Washington, man whom envy did
not hate, but without even the one dark stain
of doubt, if not Of dishonor, which the death of
Major Andre has left on the memory of his
prototype. No more "selfess man and STAIN
less gentleman ever lived no soldier ever set
more admirable example of the soldierly
virtues of honor, chivalric generosity, and manly
simplicity 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 enormous odds, and
that his four years defence of Virginia has few
parallels in history as an example Of great results
accomplished with small means and fearful
disadvantage.
What is now more interesting to remember is
the personal character of the man, as displayed
in the various exgeneies Of that trying struggle:
the simple honesty and kindly feeling which
prompted him to console his soldiers as they
recoiled from the cannon-crowned heights of
Gettysburg, with the assurance, ut is all my
fault; the unaffected self-depreciation which
pronounced, when Stonewall jackson fell, Il
could wish, for the sake ofour cause, that had
been disabled rather than you;" the Christian
chivalry, which no outrage could provoke to re-
taliation which, after Virginia had been rem
dered desert, withheld the army that
invaded Pennsylvania from inficting the
most trivial injury on person or property which,
when his own estates had been plundered, raw
aged and confscated, took care to protect the
houses and property of his enemies the horror
of useless bloodshed which withstood the cry
for retribution, excited by the murder ofSouth-
ern 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 unselfsh-
ness of his last words to his disbanding army,
on the sorrowful 9th of April, "I have done my
best for you" But it was when all was over
when the chief of great and long victorious
army was private man, a paroled prisoner
that the peculiar greatness of Gen. Lees nature
shone out with unenualed brightness. m