The Fairfield herald. [volume] (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1849-1876, 1870-10-26

ment of a few, while glory is the judg
ment of agreat number In order to
please the thas,cs, great things are ne
oes$ary. With the masses, deeds arc
everything, all else is nothing In
, teutions, good,w Ill, tho most beautiful
! plans whioh could not have failed to
result in good, had it not been for this
or that reason, all that does not re.
solve itself into fact, is counted for
nothing by humanity. The saliie phi
losuphcr observes, with equal truth,
that great man is the harmony of,
an indiYidual and ,,cnorul character.
A Accordilig to hlth, the world IS divided
into three classes. First, those who
have only general character,
mere echoes Of the voice Of their
tunes, They may bt honest men, use
FIJI citizens, excellent soldiers, The
instruments, in the hands Of great
men, whereby great fcsults are
'chicved /; but they have no place in
history. The second class, embrace the
other extreme Of individuality. They
have Independence, withou. energy :,
originality, without character. "Thcy
are agitcd for a moment without do
ing anything and pass away without
leaving any trace in History In the
third class is found the great man,
"cqually removed from the original
aud from the ordinary man. He is
the nation, aud he is himself too he
is the harmony Of generality, and in
dividuality,i in such proportion that
thc generality smo;hcrs not the indi-
vlduallty, and that ut the same time
the individuality itself destroys not
the generality in giving tia real form.
Thus the spirit Of his Daton aud of his
times is the stuff of which the, great
man is made, and since the spirit Of
nation necessarily resolves itself into
some great representatives, it is in
them alone thai history considers it..
The masses act only by their chiefs,
who alone occupy the foreground, aud
who alone fall under the eye, of the
spectator and Of the historian"
We shall not be ,misund erstood
then, when we say that our honorcd
chieftain may have wide reputation
for military genius, while manki,d
may withhold from him, on the his
torio page, that crown Of glory which
his own devoted countymcn have plac-
ed upon his head.
As man can become great in the
eyes OF men only IN relation TO his
general character, representing the
age, in which he lives, and to great
extent (the creature of circumstances
it is obvious that n, man, possessing
| ali the natural elements of greatness,
many lack the conditions Of develop
tnent and SO fail Of reaching glorious
possibilities. Under other oircnu-
stances, Gen Lee might have been lift
ed to the very summit of human great
ness, and descended to the tomb, COW
cred with glory by all mankind.
But W hat is human greatness and
glory, when measured by a worldly
standard, compared With that moral
greatness which he exhibited to cur
amazemont, when, ho calmly. and de-
liborately ! withdrew himself from
those very circu INSTANCES which were
fitted to give full scope to his GENIUS,
and which would have secured to him
glory as immoratal as that of Wash-
ington, and second in the worlds, es.
teen, only to his. We have dwelt
upon tho worlds greatness, in order
that we may do justice TO. the sublime
heroism that spuIned 1t. for che sake
of moral principles. 1t is difficult for
us to realize the painful struggle, the
terrible ordeal, through which be
passed, when he determined, from a
pure sense Of duty, lolqait the FEEDER
al army, in which he had served his
country, with so mnch credit and bon,
or, for twenty-five yeare. What yio7
lence must be done TO cherish ed soptio
}nepts: to tho strong ,ties, of love. and
esteem, that bound him to his, ,oofn.
rsaes in arms, and to his venerable
chief to national recollections, to
the warm, deep current Of his patriot
ic emotions How shall he, d sser rt the
honored flag under which he has so
long served, and won so maag mill
tary laurels! A man Of like passions
with other men, he cannot be indiffer.
ent to the tempting offers, held opt, to
his ambition "Eyeryfipfuenop that
could be thought Of was brought to
bear upon the great eoldier to- induce
him to remain in the FGderal ser.
vice." The veteran Command erin
Chief, he we'll knew, was already ,in-
capacitated for tho arduous duties of
(his high position, by tho inffmitics Of
age, and that, being already second in
position and dlmerit, ho. would succeed
him in this exalted Office, and would
not military SUCCESS have raised him
to the highest Office in tho gift, Of ihe
people, =? Are not, these considerations
that weigh Immensely in the scale of
human ambition aud how many Of
the. public men Of our day would have
stood this fiery ordeal and come forth
unscathed, without tho odor Of the