The Newberry herald. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1865-1884, 1871-11-29
An English Tribute 10 Gen.
Lee.

Literature" in "Ihe !Sa!urd0y Hc-
riuc," we find the following no
tice Of ifr J. +. Cookies Life Of
General ice, in which the critic
takes occasion to pay p noble i"i-
butte TO the character OF or i'm
mortal countryman, GcA. Robert
Z. Lee:
The most interesting work on
our list for this month. beyond ali
comparison, is the lifo Of Gen.
Lee, by Mr.. J. E. Cooke, who,
though he assumes no military
title, appears, by internal evidence
and by one or two direct reforcn-
ces to his personal presence on
certain occasions, to have been an
officer in the Confederate army Of
Northern Virginia: and, weshould
fancy, temporarily At least, a
member Of the staff Of its rcvcrcd
chief: The work is IN many re-
sNcctS defective, especially from
the fact that irI writer appears
to have been uE*nlAH::Z q and
un&$sistcd by the Generals fam
lily, and is consequently almost
without information as to the
early life Of his hero. Indeed,
probably from The want Of mate
rial. lie has confined his narrative
almost exclusively to the Cnnied-
crate War Of Independence: pass
ing over with u slight and curse
ry mention the previous services
which had led Gen. Scott 20 re-
cosnizc Lee as incomparab!y tic
abltst officer in the Federal! army,
and his own fitting SUCCESSOR.
This is q remarkable and un-
questioned fact, and it leads d.
rcclly 10 IN Inference which ought
to silence The offensive and very
ungcncrous language in which
certain Northern and English
politicians have been wont to
speak Of :tle "wickcd rcbcllion' of
the South. The leading officers
Of the Confcdcracy were the men
who. if they had chosen to remain
in the Federal service, would have
commanded the army Of the Union.
Albert Sidney Johnston was Lee 5
immediate senior: and Lee him
self and lis comrades Of the Sec
ond Cavalry wcro marked rs the
picked men Of the army. Two of
Lees subordinatcs in that rcgi-
mcnt were among tho abiest and
most distinguished Of Grant 5
Licutenants, and no one can
doubt that their SENIORS in rank
and equals or supcriors in ability
might have at once commanded
the forces of the Union if they
had chosen TO do 50. The temp
ta;ion to adhere to their col
ors must have been very strong,
yet almost every Southern officer
threw in his lot with his State.
Only the fanaticism Of iaclion
would dare to ascribc unworthy
motives to any OF thcm-to Ice
himself the most violent Of En-
5iish Radicals never venturcd to
imputc anything OF the sort: ail
sordid considerations tended the
other way all of them were men
Of high honor and virtue; many,
like Lee and Jackson, Of pure and
dep religion many Of them did
urt approve Of secession yet o"2
ard al! threw up their commits
Sous, and fought and su&rrc;; toi
the Southern cause. We needed
no biography Of Gen, Lee 20 as
sure us that he was one oi' the
best men and trucst Christians. IS
we'll as one Of the nobicst soldiers
and greatest generals, Of whom
history bears witness; but it is
impossible to read this story of
his life without finding our ad-
miralion of his acknowledgement
and strcngthcd. His fellow-citi-
zcns evidently had, from the first,
profound and entire confidence in
him; a confidence which must
have been due as much to the
force Of personal character as to
his long past services in the Mex
lean war, when hc-a Captain ot
Engineers-was one Of tho inte-
rior military Council OF the Com
mander-in-Chiet, and one Of those
to W hom the latter chiefly aScribcd
the completeness of the victory.
lie was not successful in his first
operations-a fact which his bio
g.apher explains. or explains
away-yet he was as thoroughly
trusted as ever by Virginia, and
was selected by the Confederate
Government to replace General J..
Johnston in the command Of the
principle army Of the South.
From that time his history is
the history Of the Virginia army !;
and his personality impreSses it.
self on the character OF that army.
No atro~i!ieS on the part Of tie
cnctAy, bitterly as Ec felt them.
could move him - anger Or pro
yoke him TO revenge. After his
native State had been ravaScd and
his own home destroyed in wan-
ton spite, by the direct orders CT
the Federal Government and its
favorite generals, he refused to re-