Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1870-10-19

| eagles from vera Cruz 10 the tity OF
Mexico; for il was he who mapped every
road and stronghold Of tho enemy from
the one city to the other, by which the
councils of the commander-in-chief were
enlightened and the campaign directed,
and the army on one occasion saved
from destruction by his Judgment and
skill.
Early in the spring Of 1861, the trou-
bled elements Of the Republic burst into
a tempest that filed the land with gloom
and darkness. With other States, Vir-
ginia, on the nth of April, shot from
her sphere in the Union and assumed
among the nations of the earth the posi-
ton Of a separate and independent State.
Then grim .visaged" war raised on high
his horrid front, and began 10 marshal
his bristling bayonets for the strife
General Lee being forced to act, after
the painful struggle which il gave him
TO separate himself from service to
which the best years OF his life and abili-
ties had been devoted, returned his
sword which had never flashed on bat
tle-field of the Union but for the aug
mentation Of the national glory to the
hands that gave it; and, with the sublime
affection of devoted son, refused to
stab the mother that bore him.
Such love for Virginia, where reposed
the ashes of his ancestors and lived his
wife and children, whose lives were
locked up in the affections Of the Com
monwealth, was most natural for one
linked to her fortunes and her fame by a
chain of memories which nothing but the
hand of death could break.
As he said in his resignation, he went
to her defense; and he and his brave
comrades from Virginia and other States
fought to preserve her life, until, under
overwhelming numbers and power, she
fell at last helpless and almost dying on
the battlefield, with thousands of devoted
sous and affectionate friends lying
slaughtered at ner feet, and on that day
the spirit Of the Confederacy took its
fight and her name was numbered
among the murdered nationalities of the
earth
Whatever may be the difference of
opinion, North or South, as to the action
of General Lee, the civilized world will
accord to him unquestioned purity OF
motives.
would not on this occasion, for the
price of my selfrespect, utter one word
Of partisan import, offensive to the feel
ings or prejudices of any. | would to
God, that on this solemn occasion of
public bereavement, could pour from
the urn of Charity the oil of concord on
the national wounds, and could see once
more the animosities of great people
quietted into the affection of common
brotherhood, before whose united armies
and people, animated with the love of
freedom, the knees Of tyrants might well
smite together, and the crowns of kings
tremble on their heads.
The example of no man, in the North
or in the South, contributed more than
that of General Lee, from the surrepder
at Appomattox to the moment of his
death, to this grand end of reconcilia-
ton.
But / now turn from this brief survey
of his military life and motives, to dwell
for moment on his accomplishments as
man and his virtues as Christian.
If the majesty Of form, the nobleness
of features, the animation of the counte-
nance, the dignity of manners, the gra-
ciousness of department, and those he
roic and Christian graces which shine
through the body and make it rich with
the light of virtue can make human ma
ture splendid, then all these conspire to
ennoble the nature of General Lee, and
to place him in the foremost ranks of
the great and the good
His intellect was masculine and solid.
His judgment was sound and accurate.
His scientific attainments were extern
sive; and his disposition singularly I'M
selfish. His habits of study were con-
stant his hours were temperate, his
hands industrious, and his life as pure
and spotless as lady's; and wlthal, he
was an humble and devout professor of
the Christian religion. He was blessed
before the war with handsome fortune
and elevated social rank; and was sur
rounded with the favor of the great.
In his domestic relations he YVES happy. |
He married the granddaughter ofMartha
Washington, and one of the most distin |
guished ladies of Virginia, whose elegant
and womanly graces
make her the delight Of every circle in
which she moves, and nobler woman
than the God in his benefcence seldom
condescends to bestow on his creature,
man.
Gen. Robert Z. Lee is dead, and
whole people mourn. Virginia again puts |
on her garb of sorrow. God bless her, is |
the prayer of her children everywhere;
for in every land the magnet of Vir-
ginian's heart turns back to her as the |
needle to the pole.
Just rising like skeleton from her
decrepitude and wounds, about putting |
on new faculties and privileges; new |
flesh and blood; new color and COM
plexion; new youth and beauty, as a
queen newly crowned among her sove-
reign sisters of the Union, the chalice of
grief is again offered to her lips by the
loss of the most distinguished son to |
whom she has given birth in the present
century. The whole world extends its
sympathes to her in this the hour OF
her fresh bereavement.
But the fame of General Lee belongs
not alone TO Virginia, but equally to the |
people of America. The light of his
virtues shines as well for the poor and
the rich, the obscure and the nobly born,
through all the languages on earth, IN |
which the history Of his life and deeds |
shall be read
The rivers of Virginia, fiinging them
selves from the precipices Of her noun
tains, may tone down their thunders and
moan the name of Leel The leaves of
the trees on the banks of the Potomac, as
they tremble in the breeze, may "whis-
per" the name of Leel Echo fQm her /
rocky home in the Gifts may send back
70 every mountain top the name of Leel
Yet for Tennessee also the funeral bells
now tolling, with brazen tongues, pro
claim the name Of Lee, and mingle his
fame with the waves of the mighty Mis-
sissippi at our feet as Il rolls on forever
Its walers TO The sea History will in
scribe With her iron pen on Ter eternal
records, not TO be Fchd In America, or at
Athens, or at koMs1 only out in all times
and nations, tne ndne Of Lee
We say,that 0effral Lee is dead, but |
what is DEATH In1ife we wear the fet-
tets of the 4esh o4en painfully enough,
and yet man Seldom Welcomes death,
coming to strike them from the spirit.