Dallas herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1849-1873, 1871-09-09
an i.a.,,.h rriss,s 10 "..s'.'

l.ea, ia Nhith Ahc rfiAte AAANs
sion ~ Pay = noble lribale 10 lhs
shaTa,l Ter Oh our immortal eoaAs's'
nan, GeReTal Robert 1, lsee,
,,The m0sl interesting N0Ik IN
our iisl l,r this m0Rlh, beyond All
comparison, Is the life of heh, Lee
bV MT. ]. T. Coako, Nh0, though he
assumes no military title, aPPPears,
by internal evidence and BY ono OF
two direct references 10 his personal
prasenee 0R certain occasions 10
have i,esn an officer ia Ihs CohIed'
crate array of NcFIheFn Virginia
aud, We should fancy, Temporarily
AT lost, = member of the stan OF lie
reysrsl chief, The work Is Ia many
respects dolscIiye, especially Iroih
tho fact that tho writer appears 10
have been unauthorized aud nhas,
sisted by the Generals family, and
is consequently almost without IN
formation as 10 the early life OF h's
hero. Indeed, probably from the
want OF material, he has confined
hi. narrative almost exclusively 10
the Confederate war OF lhdepch'
denee, passing over with q slight
and sursory mention the previous
services which had led Cen Scot,
10 recognize Ice rs incomrarably
the aLlest officer in the Federal ar
my, aud his own fitting successor
This il n remarkable and unlues'
toned fact, and IL leads directly TO
an inference which ought 10 silence
the offensive aud very ungcniou,
language in which certain Northern
and English politicians have been
wont TO ,pcak of the "wicked re-
bcllion" of tho South. Tho leading
officers of tho Confedcracy were the
mon who, il they had chosen to re-.
main in the Federal service, would
have commanded the army of the
Union. Albert Sidney Johnston
was Lees Immediate senior, and
Lee himself and his comrades of
the ID cavalry were marked as the
picked men OF tho army. Two OF
Lees subordinatcs in that regiment
were among the ablcst and most
distinguished Of Grants licutcn.
nnt,i aud no one can doubt that
their seniors in rank and equals, or
supcriors in ability, might have ut
once commanded the forces of the
Union il they had chosen to do so.
The temptation to adhere to their
colors must have been very strong,
yet almost every Southern officer
threw in his lot with his State.
Only the fanaticlsm cftaction would
dare TO ascriJe unworthy motives
TO any Of thcm-Lo Ice himself the
most violent of English Radicals
never vcnturcd TO impute anything
of the sort all sordid considerations
tended the other way; all of them
were men of high honor and virtue
many, like Lee and Jackson, OF
pure and deep religion; yet one and
NIL threw up their commissions, and
fought and suffered for the Southern
cause. We need no biography of
General Lee to assure us that he
WAS ono OF the best men and truest
Christians, rs well rs one of the no.
blest soldiers and greatest generals,
of whom history bear, witness; but
it is impossible to read this story
of his life without finding our ad::
miration of his character deepened
and strengthened. His fcllow.cit'
izens evidently had, from the first
profound and entire confidence in
him u confidence which must have
been due rs much to the force of
personal character rs to his long
past services in the Mexican war,
when hc--a captain of engineers
WAS one of the interior military
council of the commander-in.ch
and ono of those to whom the latter
chiefly ascribed the completeness of
the victory. He was not successful
in his first operations-a fact which
his biographer explains, or explains
away-yet he WAS rs thoroughly
trusted as ever by Virginia, and
was selected by the Confederate
Government to replace Gen. J. E.
Johnst in the command Of the
principal army of the South. From
that time his history is the history
of the Virginia army; and his per-
sonality impresses itself on the char
acter of that army. No atrocities
on the part of the enemy, bitterly
as he felt them, could move him to
anger or provoks him to revenge ;
after his native State had been raw
aged, and his own home destroyed
in wanton spite, by the direct order
of the Federal Government and its
favorite Generals, he refused to re-
taliate, or even to exercise the COM
mon rights of IN invader in Penn
sylvania and in its self-rcstraint,
as in its heroic courage, and nntaul-
tering fiirmness, the army initiated
the example Off chief. His rcla.
tions with a man like Jackson,
whom no ordinary chief could have
kep, in steady cooperation and due
subordipation, and of whom any or
dinary chief would have been jeal
GUS. but who regarded Lee with
absolute vencration, and was trca
ted by him "as his own right hand,
testify in no COMMON manner to The
| real sreatnes of The man. We finC
from Mr.. Cooks narrative that lie,
was equally successful with the Mt
terly different character of Stuart
the representative cavalier, as Jack
son was the typical Puritan. Ever
when Stuart's misconseptiOn Of or
ders took the cavalry out of reaci
of the main army, and contributed
in no small degree TO the loss o
Gettysburg, Lee appears TO hav'
spoken no word of complaint. IL
all under him he was ever ready t
give credit; on himself be was eve
ready 10 take responsibility ans
-. I 4tr... N ,dor him rnuuIf