Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1872-04-10
GEN.LEE.
An EnRIlsh opinion Ofthe Great Com
federate Captain.

the following paragraphs from the articl
alluded to.
More than a year has passed away sine
the death of Gen. Lee. In ordinary time
such an event could hardly have happene
without reviving, if only for a moment
much of the eager interest wit
which, between 1861 aud 1866, the oil,
world watched the titanic civil war ef tn
| new. But during The October of 1870
! when Gen. Lee breathed his last, the siege
/ ofParis absorbed the thoughts and engross
! ed the attention IF Ci11iliLed man
! kind Little or no notice ha
I therefore been taken in England 0
the death of one who, when his. career
! character, and military genius are Dettel
understood, win, in spite OF his defeat, b
( pronounced the greatest soldier, with two
exceptions, that any English speaking ma
/ ton has ever produced. Upon the other
side Of the Atlantic, circumstances have
cOnspired to obscure the great deeds ant
spOtless purity of the noblest son to whom
the North American continent has hitherto
given BIRTH"
"LOrd Macauley tells US that mo creature
is so revengeful as proud man who has
humbled himself in vaiu;' but during the
concluding years Of Sen. reefs life. nc
symptoms of passion or vindictiveness were
discernable in his daily bearing. He
moumed over the ahiect and oppressed
condition Of South Carolina until. death
freed his soul from the suffering which
crushed him: Mr.. John Esten
Cooke makes it abundantiy ev-
ident that he died of broken heart. But
in order that the virtues of a singularly pure
and noble character may not be unrecorded
in England, we desire to follow Mr.. Cooke
through some of the most notable of his he
ro's life, and to DO what In us lies to make
Robert 2. Lees MeTioty a precious tosses-
sion wherever the English tongue is spo-
KEN" -
"Without maintaining that Gen. Lee,
who was neither an Alexander nor Han
nibal, had such odds against him as these
two great Captains of ancient history,
whether any General ofmodern history ever
sustained IOr four years. Iar longer time
nowadays than Hannibal's fifteen years in
the remote pasta war in'which, while dis
posing Of scanty resources himself, he
had against him so enormous
an aggregate of men, horses,
ships and Supplies, 1t is an under rather
tilan an over estimate OF the respective
strength Of the two sections to state that
during the first two years the odds were ten
to one, during the last twenty TO one,
against the COnfederates. The prOlonga-
ton of the struggle is in no slight degree at,
Mr.. Jefferson Davis, whose high
character and unselfishDesS are; even NOW;
by Confederates, and totallyde
MED by his cOnquerOrs. The courage of the
rank and file of the Rebel army is refresh
inc to contemplate in these days, which
have been a European war between two
nations equal in numbers and resources
closed in seven months, and
stained by the three unprecedented Capitu-
latiOns of Sedan, Metz, and Paris. But,
after all, the one name which, in connec-
ton with the great American civil war,
pOSteTiS uGTTGtl1R dtgue trGdtt11D SuperSteS
crit, is the name of, Robert Edward Lee"
"Upon the Sd of June, 1852, Lee asturod
command of the Confederate army of Nor
.hern Virginia. From that day forward
until the 9th of April, 1865, his life became
a term convertible or synonymous with the
history for thirty-four months of the North
American continent. Upon both sides ar
mics of immense magnitude fill the eye of
.he reader, T7bils generals sue
coed to generals, strut their hour upon
.he stage, then are seen no more. But
5be. American war, as it recedes further
and further into the distance, is seen
10 have derived its shape and form from
Gen. Lee more than from any other
Individual who fought on either side.
It would be difficult to speak or think of
he history Of Europe between 1900 and !
1915 without having the tongue and |
brain occupied exclusively Ivy Napoleon. |
Similarly the name of Gen. Lee has blot |
ed out in North America all recollection |
If those by whom he was sup |
ported or opposed. It is very pos |
5ible that Il, at the end Of 1882, !
Jackson had been transferred to
he command of that Western Confederate !
army which, under Bragg, Joe Johnston or
Hood, became familiar with nothing but |
disaster, Lees fame might have been shared |
,r diminished by that Of another Virginian |
urinary. But impartial history will even !
ually pronounce that it is more impossible |
d regard either Grant or Sherman, as Lees |
,qual. than to maintain that Wellington and |
Butcher were greater than Napoleon be- |
ause they defeated him at Waterloo"
ave submit to all military readers that |
never yet did $4,000 men quit them more |
doriously than these tatterdemsliOn and |
starving Southern regiments (1S64). Never |
ct me hear says Sir Walter Scott, that |
,rave blood has been shed in vain-it sends |
roaring voice down through all time 1t !
s not necessary to comment upon the !
MAGNIFICENT abundance and variety of food, |
rink, and munitions of war supplied to !
he two hundred and fifty thousand men |
Who followed Gen Grant; but when |
military epicure5, while famlliariziDg |
themselves with every detail of Worth and |
sedan, profess themselves unable to study |
he irregular conflict of two armed Ameri. |
an mobs, we venture to tell them that in all !
hat constitutes true manlineSs, the trans
Atlantic civil war far surpasses the Franco !
herman conflict. Nothing is easier, says
he steward Of MOliere's miseI, than to give
great dinner with plenty OF money; the
eaIly great cook is he that can set out q
,anquet with no money at all, Gen.
Grant in 1864 drew upon an almost |
treasury; Gen. e's
ccount was heavily overdrawn before the
.ampaign began. Nevertheless, it is every
lay more and more patent that Mr.. Swim !
on was right in believing that the ragged,
amished, aud suffering regiments of seces- |
ia, numbering altogether tifty-nine thou |
and men, would have discounted their two |
hundred and fifty thousand pampered and |
urfeited opponents if Gen. Sherman and his |
western army had not revived the spirits and |
eanimated the courage Of his dropping col |
eague in Virginia. FictriT CduSa DIS |
)Idctit, Sed Ujctd CdtOEj."
The fame and character Of Gen. Lee
viii hereafter be regarded in Europe and
America under a dual aspect. In Europe
ne shall consider him merely as soldier;
md it is more than probable that within
he present century we shall have
accustomed ourselves to regard him
S third upon The list OF English
peaking generals, and as having been sur
,assed in soldieIly capacity by Marlborough
md Wellington alone. In America, when
he passions Of the great civil war shall have
lied out, Lee VIII be regarded more as a
nan than as q soldier. His infinite purity,
and generosity, will make his
memory more and more precious
o his countrymen when they have |
,urged their minds of prejudices and
.nimosities which civil war invariably
,reeds. They will acknowledge before
ong that Lee took TO step in life except in
with what he regarded as and
believed to be bis duty, and they will hold
Il. IL,