The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1870-10-17
The bad Taste Of an Apologize for q
Rad Cause. @

OH1 FN0AaSS.T
Our remarks about the Registers high.
,lown eulogy over the commander:in.
chief Of the rebel armies appears to have
Ind n wholesome effect, if We may judge
hy the way the eulogist squirms. He
knows TINT we said nothing in dctraction
If Ropgnr f. LEES characteristics as q
man, Christian, or soldier. Perhaps
We might have ventured something in
rbis direction without departing from the
truth
For example, it is well known that
he Inherited certain slaves from Mr.2Cus:
IL. who by his will were to be free when
thcy arrived at q certain nge, and that he
held these persons in slavery long after
thew became FREQ by law, and actually
sold some Of them, who by the laws of
yirginia were as free as he, into perpetual
Oondage and pOcketed tho price ofistbheir
liberty. ~ wv !
TbIs may be our ncighboTs idea Of q
B,yARD and model Christian ltis not
ours But granting Gen. LEE was all
,hat Is claimed for him, o, ,TURvEYpRoP IL
deportment, a model Of picty, and a BAY
ARD in chivalry; it Is not these things
which cntitlo man to the kind Of culo'
rum on which we commented. There
arc many such people who liyeimodest
lives and fliennobtrusive deaths, andnever
see fame in the draped columns of our
nelghbor Suppose LEE had died before
he deserted the armyeand made war on
the Government tint had educated and
Gostered him, md suppose our neighbor
Ind been then, rs he is now, adorning tho
columns Of some public Journal. Would
he have found any occasion to say, in
swelling phrase, between black rules, that
"thc whole American people would be
profoundly shocked" to heir Of COL LEES
death? And that "tho news would fall
like a thunderbolt on the public ear" And
that "in the galaxy Of Americas greatest
names that Of RoBERT E. sLEE,will ever
hold on honored and conspicuous placc:"
Certainly not. Yet was he not MS courteous,
as kindly, rs chivalrous and withal as
piOus, then rs after fourycsFs inrebellion ?
And II these were tho things. that our
neighbor praises him for, why would he
not have hccn praised thus highly If he
had died ten years sooner? What did he
afterwards to entit!o him to this exalted
eulogy, such rs GEORGE Il. THOMAS, or
AnRAM LINCOLN, or EDWIN NJ, STANTON,
was not deemed worthy ofa What he
did is history and most unhappy history,
TOO, for this country, Heturned hissword
against the parental government that be-
slowed it on him. he joined rebellion
which his Judgment condemned, because
he Ind not the moral heroism to withstand
the appeals Of his friends or act counter
TO the dominant sentiment Of his native
State. Such cmipcnco as he died with
came from his participation in that bad
cause which sought TO break up a good
government calculated to protect liberty
and to establish abad one on It's rnins, in
the avowcd : partisanship Of slavery
~ -
with all its other institutions subject,
cd to the tyranny and exactions o o
that one, II was bad emlnence
and to say that 1t gives hima conspicuous
place inithe galaxy.of Americas greatest
names Is like saying that MILToNs sa'an
was one Of the greatest OF tue "ngel'c
host eIf he was great his greatness gslIes was was
used for,evtl' mot good :,'t a.'f s.. 81. I.
In the estimation Of our Re'ghp9E II @us "
what Gen. LEE ald IN nan ana lor the rs9eI'
hon, that,elVes 4lnl,l ,a1et ts0ssne '1N.Hu". =.
tion and dreyGence o. tne American people'
There Is precisely where our dineFenEcs !.
comes in. oWegsay ithst q Whatever enllI
ncnce that gave him was q pad eminence' !.
The truth wrongs no nj man. = living q aeSa
By the laws OIL ne gs, government. unast sssi
which LEE held ms commission Y 1'ol n :
and under ths lrercllal @ pre'PSSoll. . S9s -! .
whose flag no died, ltoBHRIs y. LEE l W''s '!
guilty Of deliberate treason le %Hs
traitor Soften 1t as we may ". apclogilAe !l
for it as others may. that f: IS tne SIM
pie naked truth which none denies
organizing his treason and hghtngass q q
traitor, he manifested great aoiIlEles'177aas M
Satan did his rebellion against Heaven
described in Paradise Lost; This is nlf
title to cminence, and 1t Is thus the ts eai
Tor Of the Register holdsup for our admi