The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1873-06-12

- n>iI.t orln1on 81 az ercei GEN.
aereie rapia,a.
tf following reziet 81 al articie uron
eenerI !. 2 Ies which appenrsa % tie
Iasi nanber oi lhe Elinbueg Review. s
taken from Lnndan Siapdard
The mot interesting. pcfhars ~ fhr
articles IF a. unusuails lively number n
IS as Tel about The best lie ~ the great
American commando. and the best account
81 the-vas IN Virginia. that has been pub
lisiied ana sksiching the later career and
character III General Ice That character
WAS. IN military point 81 view, 80 glorious.
50 fnii 81 brilliant achievements and 81 merit
more solid tsran striking. 50 grand 3 lesson
10 the m oi war and the qualities Of soldier
ship; that character IS from every point Of
view % admirable in its moral grandeur It's
perfect simplicity, its close approael, TO the
highest ideal Of the Christian soldier and
gentleman, that Il commands an interest
which docs rot fade with the fading mem
CRY Of tie keen excitement and often pas
sionate sympatliies of ten years ago. In the
story of the Confederate war. We read les
sons Of the highest political moment and Of
the pruieimdcsf military Significance. in the
character oJ the Virginia leader VIC have
model Of al that hero Of an enlightened
and Christian age should be- than which no
Hoblcr example cum be set before the youth
entering on the temptations Of military life,
or the trials and pcrplcxiiiesof a great pub
lic career.
We have also historical question OF con
siderable importance practically solved, for
all those wao are not too prcjudiccd 10 &C
cept solution which docs not suit their
forcjudged conclusions by the conduct Of
such men as General Lee ut the outset OF
the war. No one can read the story Of che
secession movement IN the documents OF
the time without seeing that, though slavery
was the open sore that kept the passions of
the North and South in constant irritation,
and afforded occasion for the violent col
lisi0ns of Kansas and Harper's Ferry, which
pTecipitated the issue and made its decision
by any other arbitration than chat of the
sword impossible, it was not the Issue itself.
Slavery had no place in the counsels
which hurried State after State out of the
Union; for slavery was the interest Of the
few, and it was by the many that secession
was precipitated. The Southern people re-
Sented Northern dictation, Northern asser-
tons of superiority, Northern pretentions
to an exclusive right in their territories.
Northern intermeddling and Northern inva-
sions, as the most furious of English dis
senters would resent the interpOsition of
Roman Catholic Powers in the question of
Church Establishment in England. When
then the seven Southern States had with
drawn, the border States which were deeply
concerned in the Northern attacks on slay-
cry still clungt TO the Union; Virginia, des-
pite the piraticel invasion of her territory
and the midnight robbery and murder pas
sionately sanctioned by her New England
sisters, still refused to secede; and only
when the treaeherous attempt of the Fed
eral Government to reinforce the fort it had
promised to evacuate, and surprise Charles
ton with an armed fleet, preeipitated the re-
luctant sections into war, and when Mr..
Lincoln forced upon her the choice between
fighting for Southern freedom and State
rights, or Northern aseendancy and Federal
despotism, did she throw in her lot with
the ConfedeTates Slavery then was not
her determining motives Slavery made
no appearance in the private letters of the
men who, one after another, went with their
States. 1t is a remarkable fact, that while
scores Of leading Northern men denounced
tile war, not a single Southener of high
character, education and influence, deserted
the cause of the South They universally
held that their allegiance was due to their
native States; and on that ground alone
they threw up career, fortune, fame, and
placed themselves at the disposal of those
who claimed their fealty. 1t is absurd to-
call such men reels; they were loyalsts to
all that they had been taught to obey, to all
the principles recognized up to that moment
by three Americans in four
To General Robert f. Lee. the Federal
I.
could desire. He was its foremost man; he
was the favorite of General Scott he might
have had the chief command as the price
OF treason to Virginia. His feelings were
divided; his interests were on the Federal
side; but as his letters now published show,
he was convinced that his duty was to Yir-
ginia, and nc decided accordingly With
him went Stonewall Jackson, the two John
sons, every Southern soldier in high or low
command. The cause so espouscd, and by
such men, cannot have been what English
ranters and radicals call it. Good or bad
in essence, 1t was 50 Strong in apparent JUS
tice that not one man of character and
weight, whose allegiance it pretended 90
claim declined to support it.
It's failure had nothing 10 do with is al
legged demcrits. The South was crushed by
weight. not broken by weakness. Three
things determined the fate of the war-tbe
closing OF her ports, tie superior wealth,
and far above all, the overwhelming num-
bers Of the enemy. The North was a corn
growing and manufacturing country, and
had open TO her the markets Of Europe; she
! had unlimited command OF oil the resources
/ Of the civilized world Tho South was sub
! ject to the disadvantages both Of. an agri-
Ecuitural and non-agricUltural country. She
had no manufactures, and yet she lived by
manufactures and not by agriculture; by
producing clothing, not by producing food.
1 Her wealth was at once annihilatcd by tho
| blockade, which prevented her from selling
her cotton and tobacco aud sugar; her sup
plies were cut off, and she had a bare snffi-
cheney of food and a total want Of other
necessaries of life and war. She obtained
power and arms from the enemy; boots and
/ clothes and blankets she had TO want
Her finances broke down at once, for
her exports were her wealth, and ex-
ports had ceased. But above all she was
crushed by numbers; the North could re-
eruit at home four men for one, and could
hire the oif-scourings of Europe. And it
was this alone that decided the issue.
The Edinburgh Reviewer adds the want Of
4 discipline; but we believe that in the essen
tials of military discipline the SoutherneTs
were always superior TO their foes, and that
if the troops of Grant and Mcclellan had
been tried as Lees were tried, they would
have melted like snow or died ike rotten
sheep. Lee won almost every battle he
/ fought and against odds of two to one to
four to one What destroyed him was
Grants cold, cruel policy-which only
Yankee, Napoleon or a Pnssian could
have deliberately adopted-of sacrificing
men without stint, whom he could replace,
to wear out an enemy who could rot recruit.
Under different circumstances such q pro-
cess might last longer. But general who
can afford to sacrifice three men 70 kill one
must always end by leaving his enemy with
out sohliers; and therefore greatly superior
numbers. thus used. must prevail IN The long