Wilmington journal., 1869-08-13

The following letter is response from
,ntleman of this city to an old Philadel-
7nia friend, who, though not Radical,
ot;ced in his correspondence, in rather
at,opg terms of disapprobation, General
rI.;rs attempted Southern speech" at a
aort meeting at Long Branch of the
,,onicers of the army and navy of the
aOlf" The point and pungency of the
..oonse has induced us to request permis-
Ion 70 Law it before our readers
WILMINGTON, July Oath, go.
Dr,r FRIEND:-I have received your ia
vor of the 18th inst, and note Its con-
''a'n, And 81 YOU think General Blair was
-ontino in courtesy to the distinguished
'a;ners assembled at Long Branch, to per
ratnate tho glory of the army and navy
IS the Gulf that his remarks were NAL a
'''.,,,,s. and naturally called forth on the
I,ai,nrablo occasion general dlsapprODa-
t;nn You rererse the picture and paint O
meeting of Confederate Generals, In which
an officer troubled with cdcothes lOquendi,
lands Grant, Thomas and others, as Blair
oommcnced to laud Lee and Jackson, and
eIso ask-"Do you not believe he would
hn shot down in his tracks %
answer" 1t is not in human nature
for the conquered to fuAer the conqueror;
# il, to be Just and bear honorable testi-
mony. Ancient as we'll as modern histor-
ans never fail to add additional eulogy to
the names of great warriors who honorcd
their brave opponents. Alexander was
uraised for his magnanimity to Darius-
his delicacy to the fugitive queen and flat
tering respect paid to the remains of the
unfortunate husband.
The vanquished BurgOyne at Saratoga,
ana Curnwallace at Yorktown, were honor
ed and respected by their manly oppo
nentS
Washington was then rebel. The Col
0nics had seeded from the British Union
for a cause, or causes, not more repellant
to their sense of equality and Justice than
,lld the South from radical encroachment
and fanatical wrong. Had the Confedora-
cy, like tho Colonies, succeeded, Lee would
have beon it's Washington, and Davis, the
Jefferson of the South. Success Obliterates
reproachfnl terms-treason becomes patrl-
otism-rebels gallant soldiers.
When the noble Alwyn lost his life in
battle and his ship was captured and taken
INTO Plymouth, the English buried this
distinguished officer with the highest
donors Of war, as they did the unfortunate
Lawrence in Halifax. They We're conquer
org, hut hOnOred the chiValrlc dead,
against whom they had successfully con
tended
To have followed examples, of G recent
date, and tilched from their fallen foes
the high attributes Of virtne and manhood,
would havo tarnished their own achieve
ments, exhibiting the lnglurlOHs self -lauda-
ton of Giants overwhelming PIgmlea. S.
How many of the assembled Generals had.
-,
COnfederates even when their numerical
force was far superior
Lee, the worthy son of noble revOlu
tunary sire, against whom the tongue of
scandal has never Wagged, whose record,
from early boyhood to the present day,
has been ''Sd1aS DeAr ct sans TepTOdche, -
honored in every position of life, distin
gulshel as a General, though in q lost
cause, contended with genius and indoml-
table tenacity when possessing bnt CON
tracted means, paucity of men, nearly des
tltute of provisions, clothing, and the ap-
p!iancps of war-with his tattered half
starved sOldiers) against tho "best ap-
pointed army tho world ever saw, an
army whose numbers exceeded two hun
,lred and sixty thousand, while Lee could
only muster forty odd thousand gentlemen
Ut the South.
Look at the record % wilderness " Of
Desperate battles, honorable to tho South
in which Grant lost over eighty thousand
men, ere settling down at Petersburg.
The military judgment of Europe stamp
ed Lee AZ the greatest General of the age !;
and uttered the unreserved opinion that
with II Southern army numerically less by
half than that commanded by Grant. the
Federal forces would have faded before
him, assthey had under Hooker at Chan
csorsvIIIe.
The heroes at Long Branch" be-littled
their fame when kissing and slurring the
reputation of their more heroic opponents
Blair need never blush, (save for his asso-
ciates on the occasiOn) for his attempted
manifestation of a generous, chivalric SEN
tment, pronouncing Lee and St0newall
jackson "foemen worthy of their steel ="
Your conception of reUersed picture
fades in the impossibility of its occurrence
We will test ii.
Soon after the war at q large dinner par
ty IN Halifax, in few felicitous remarks,
which occasion called forth, Gen. McClaus-
land, in reverting to the last act of the
great military drama closing on the stage
of secession-paid soldierly panegyric to
the distinguished Generals of the federal
army, and said that if the terms of peace
and reunion had been left to those men
WHO Gu6 SbOELu VI Uubtkcs COLC41ld
ton, unity and harmony would have been
promptly restored. To radical and fanaticGl
politicians, must, he remarked, be alone at
uibuted the rancor and i'll blood that still
separate the two sections, ,-perplexing
legislation, and annihilating law. and ig-
nOring humanity" At the table, were
some fifteen Confederate officers, who ap-
planded the speech, and did not "shoot
Inn down in his tracks.
Not very long ago number of Confed-
crate Generals dined at Delmonico's-
twas not mutual admiration society,""
but a meeting of unfortunates in social
sympathy. General Magruder in a sot
Speech, reverted to Grant, Sherman. Han
cock and other Union officers, in laudatory
tefms-pronouncing them 'foemen worthy
0f a brave mans steel" His language was
more emphatic than Blair's, and met with
no hsses, but applause-he "was not shot
down in his track" Not q Southern paper
condemned the ehivalry of feeling, infu-
encing an ex-Confedorate General in his
Expression of opinion, complimentary to
Ihe la late foes he'd met in honorable con-
tict