The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1870-10-14
THE PRESS ON THE DEATH OF
GENERAL LEE.
From the Norfolk YE2ia1au.
Death OF Gem. Leo

From the Norfoll; Yi-gialau.
Death OF GEN. Lee.
Virginia has been enriched with the
graves OF heroes, but there Is one low open
winch Is wider, and deeper, and more
mournlui TO look down in than any of them
all.
The Last Of the Cavaliers is dead md
The announcement Of the death of Robert
E. Lee will be hailed by two hemispheres
with emotions of unaffected sorrow but
nowhere will his loss he mouTned with such
profound grief as in this State, whose his
tory he has adorned with its most Epic
passages.
Virginia has always been prolific in great
men, great orators, great statesmen. and
great soldiers, but there has been only one
man born on her soil with whom the future
historian will compare our illustrious hero.
This is not the hour, nor are ou- emo
tions such as to permit IN analysis of his
genius or record Of his achievements, but
OF him may we'll be said that he was " first
in peace, first in war, and first in the hearts
OF his countrymen.'
Descended from knightly race, whose
names shine out like stars In English his
tory from tho Norman invasion and the
Crusades down, with his ancestral banners
hanging in st. Georges chapel In Windsor
Castle, and possessed Of noble traditions,
be was peerless gentleman and splendid
soldier.
AS the grand coutral figure in the late
war, he displayed a fertility of genius and
u steIdlneas OF courage which made him the
solitary column that SO long upheld the tot
tering fortunes Of the Contederacy. :
It was not, however, in the spIendor Of
his military achievements that he won his
place IN the popular heart. r.e
The old world and tho new applauded his
splendid operations at the head of his rug
ged veterans; but 1t was reserved for him
TO present the sublime spectacle of van
gushing defeat. Herein 1t was that his CO.
losSal greatness was first made thoroughly
manifest to the world, and, grand as were
his performances upon the field Of battle, Il
him more entirely great In misfortune than
In success.
His virtues IN their noble completeness
and Christian perfection We're only known
ID all their aftluence, when sheathing bis
sword he retired to the cloisters Of Wash
ington College and devoted himself to the
service Of his State In novel and arduous
profession.
Then it was that we understood fully his
rare unsellshness, his knightly modesty,
his unaffected patriotism, his Christian for
titude and sublime patience. "never weary
Of well-doing;" then it was, oh, country
men. that our devotion to the Great Cap
tain deepened into a tender love and un-
spcakable homage for the great man. And
now tilat he has gone "beyontl the river"
20 toin his l;lYorite lleutsnaEt. yre are sore
at heart and rebel against the dspsn5ation
Of the Almighty. But we must school our
selves to bear the aIfliction, and remen ber
that he has gone where he will enter into
the Joys 6t hiia IL-aord. leaving Us q fame
which irrad.a:es the whole land with its st!-
Fernal glories which viii shine on, and o1,
and on, till the heavens are rolled up like
scroll and the Historic Muse writes EMS at
the end of time with pen of fro.
iF.ou lho Norfolk .Icurnal
The Death OF General Lee.
Tho drapery Of mourning In which our
pat'er il snrouGed to-day will have convey
ed to our readers the sad occasion for it be-
fore they read the sorrowful announcement
which was brought US over the wires last
night. ....
General Lee is dead! The brave colder,
the gallant hero, the Christian gentleman,
IL no more,
II would DO presumptuous in US to at
tempt 10 give expression to the grief with
which the world Will receive this announce
nent. Nothing that we could write could
be more full of melancholy pathos than the
simple announcement, Gen. Lee Is dead.
[prom the Peters u,e Inde1.l
the Death of General Lee.
Our great captain, the foremost soldier os
his time, has fallen on sleep. 1t was not
accorded him TO die, as perhaps he once
wished, at the head Of his charging lines,
amid the dust and sweat of battle. In tho
modest retirement of bis simple home, en-
uompassed by the tender care Of those who
knew him best, and, so, loved him most
hard by the last resting-place Of him who.
was his right arm IN the brave old days Of
victory, he has finished bis great career.
II was best for 1t to be thus,
In the scholarly aeclusion of these last
few years he has given to the world q nota.
BILE example Of soldier who knew how to
be no less great In peace than In war, show
Ing In his daily life, in the simple perform
ance of academic duties, courage no less
lofty than when in days Of triumph he
wrote Richmond" and "Fredericks-
burgn high up upon the deathless roll with
the point of bis stslnless sword,
In the present grief, which comes to rs
In common with the whole Southern peo-
pie, we do not try to reckon bis place as
q commander.
In the coming time, when the historian,
far removed from the passions OF to-day,
shall write down the triumphs, vicis5itudes,
disasters of the Confederate struggle for
independence let us be sure that, as Truth
is mighty, the fame OF our; leader Is safe,
aud that coming ages will place him along
side the three great captains OF the world
Had the cause for which he fought eecn
successful, had not cruel ODDS torn victory
from those tattered battle-dags to which
she 40 long and 80 obstinately clung, there
would be to-day dropping tags, the stately
naoeont of public mourning, the slow
boomine Of funeral guns. But there could
not have been deeper woe. Nay, had bis
fortune been greater, perhaps there had
not been that grief which fills al hearts TO-
day. There is only the voice OF bis people
to mourn him:
And thro, the centuries let this peoples voice
In full acclaim ,, .."
Attest their great commander claln ... a.s.
With honor, honor, honor, honor 10 ulm-
EteruAl honor To his name. ..,-..-...
We have a voice with which to pay the debt ~.
of houndless love and reverence ana regret ..a
o those great men who fought ...
II betts the simplicity of that noble life
to mourn him as simply. History tells US
of her three most famous soldiers That they
were ambitious, cruel, aVaricious. IL VIII
record of Lee that he knew no amOltlon
Eay6 the 5000 OF QlS CLatS luot ule hCoAp
Sast ,yarm with a humanity which belongs
rather to the Gentle woman than to the
stern soldier. and that the riches he most
sought to gain were not Of this world.
Hs has gone, but he has left to Us aud TO
onr children's children the legacy of such
an example as seldom comes to men. j.:
Ouidoutd ey lilo 1D1dUinluS, qusdqutG na,-
roti sunsus, mdnet npGasnrunque est ih
nun,is hominun,, in Getermtdte tentporufa,
yama rerum, : posteritdti ndrratus ct trdd'..
t,ls, s,rperstes crit, - -~-r -*.' 4 +