Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1870-10-21
vuA DEATH OF GEN HRAn ..r4sa.

/ TRIBUTES OF Respect FROM iho Scrthern
Pr<s8.
TFlom the \. Y. Journal Of Commerce.
SOME POINTS IN GENERAL LEES CHARACTER.
| 1t is impossible for northern people at
! this time to estimate properly the charac-
| ter of General Lee as 6. soldier and o man.
The horrors of the civil war are still too
| fresh iii the northern n1cmOTy-savirg
only ONE rare philosophic minds-to per-
NIT Of just, dispassionate, critical cxarli-
nation OF the claims upon which his innu-
merable admirers IL the South and in Ell
rope rest his title to one of the highest
places in the worlds gallery Of heroes. For
ourselves we would not essay q task which
can best be performed by the impartial
historian a century hence, upon calm
survey OF both sides Of the civil war. Our
only purpose in this connection ia TO fix
the attention Of our readers-especially Of
those whose painful personal recolectiCns
Or sectional or political sympathes would
incline them to depreciate the dead south
ern chieftain-upon two points which an
impul8ivo judgment might overlook.
And we do this not with the design of vim
dicating the reputation OF General Lee
against assailants Ia labor which his multi
tude of ardent and able panegyrists renders
unnecessary on our part, but for the honor
Oh our "AOlO CCuutIy, anu IOE TIC PROM
and good of both NOrtherners and South
erner5 living to-day. We may assume, to
start with, what but few, if any land no
competent military critic, viii deny, that
General Lee was . soldier possessing a very
high order of genius. How high we do
not undertake TO say suffice it that to his
mastery generalship we opposed success
si7ely the ablcst leaders ut our command.
at times with greatly superior forces, and
I, 1nAa c1- lr1o aEEIa
personal influence over his troops he de-
feated all efforts to crush him during three
years of almost incessant fighting. To
question the remarkable generalslip of
such man is to doubt the capacity Of any
and all the Northern chiefs who in turn
encountered him. The ability of the best
Federal generals becomes the moro con
spicuOus the more frankly we admit the
brilliant genius of General Lee. But,
leaving the further consideration of his
soldicrly fame to other judges, we pass to
mention the points that we have moro
particularly in mind. First, he conducted
the war for the South, wherever he could
make his influence or example felt, with q
notable absence Of malignity or un-
necessary harshness OF any kind. His
orders and addresses to lis armies
were free from revengeful or pas
sionate expressions. While doing his ut
AAACA0O w
he seemed anxious to cOnfne his military
operations to the lawful usages of war
His invasion of Maryland and Pennsylvania
was not marked by excuses such as ill-fed
and angry soldiers are apt to inhict on
Countries which they overrun. This tenn
p2ring of the horrible bardships of ordin-
airy warfare must be ascribed mainly to the
iudicious direction and excellent personal
example Of General Lee. Some other
southern generals and northern generals,
toby their departure from this humane
and considerate policy, brought out all the
horrors of war i'll full relief, IN their guer-
rilIa raids. For every instance of tolera-
tion and amenity exhibited by General
Lee when he had the opportunity OF burn
ing and destroying helpless northern towns
and robbing and butchering unarmed citi-
zens, he merits not unkindly remem-
brance. Wars SO often degenerate into the
most barbarous inhumanities, that we
should think we'll of an enemy who strives,
as Lee personally did, to keep them some
where within the bounds Of civilization
and Christianity. Should this land ever
again be cursed with rebellion, it will be
fortunate for her if no worse man than
General Lee commands the princi-
pal armies of the disaffected States.
In the second place, we would re
mark .thata General Lees conduct after
his surrender was most exemplary
and admirable in effect. There are those
who may think that be should have been
profuse in his confessions of wrong and
his professions of penitence, and should
have devoted the rest of his life to lectur-
ing the South on the exceeding loneliness
| of the government which he strove to
overthrow, and on the unerring wisdom of
Congress in word, have flung himself
into the arms of the political party now
controlling this country. But these cen
sors of General Lee forget that by nature
he was a quiet, reticent man that he had
no taste for politics and politicians, and no
desire for Office and that above all he
conscientiously believed (as we elnnot
doubt that he did) that secession was per-
fectly right and honorable. For such
man to have acknowledged that I'll his acts
and words, from 1861 to 1865. were crimes
or errors of judgment, could not have been
expected by any reasonable person. Had
he done SO the South would not have be-
ieved him. and the most extreme of north
ern radicals, while they might ostensibly
have welcomed his adherence to their pc.
Etical fortunes, would secretly have des.