The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1873-06-08
ROBERT E. LEE.

ROBERT E. LEE.
From the Ednburgh Review. for April. 1851
] Five years have passed by since Genera
Grant first publicly sought the Presidency
OF the great republic which owed so much
| TO his services in war; but the peace which
| he then made his motto has not yet smiled
on the reconquered South. The world from,
| outside the narrow sphere Of American
politics looks on with surprise at the petty
| warfare against individuals which has snc-
ceeded the gigantic contest between Union
and Secession: Amnesty upon amnesty,
ever repeated, never complete, tells the
tale of mistrust still nourished on the VIC
tors side, or Of party intrigue defeating
national generosity in It's purposes. Travel
or after traveller through the limits Of the
cad story of ceassless dfssension and wide
spread ruin. Rival legislatures. born Of
mean fraud or open violence, contest the
political supremacy here. The negro re-
volt, unchecked By law, threatens summary
Vengeance for the lonR.endured wrongs Of
the slave. In Other districts secret and
9looay societies strive by illegal combina-
ton to prolong the rule which has passed
away from the white. Every where rises
the same story Of corrupt administration
and finances Involved to enrich the mean
adventurers who have swarmed in upon
sne prostrate States for booty, 40 foul birds
seek their prey when the carnage 10 over.
And the ruler, who called upon the nation
shae elected him to join in the noble wish,
Let as have peace has found his task Of
political pacTdcation more arduous, more
thankiess, and withal far moro prolonged,
than the command Of the Union ermfes for
the overthrow Of Secession. - -
III to us afar Off this defeat Of the frat
hopes that came with the victory of the
Usion seems sad and surprising, how must
those feel it who dwell near the contending
parties that prolODg the strife. without shar-
ing their political passionsf Even among
those that lend themselves to proiong the in
tolerable state of things in the reconquered
states, must be many who regret the results
bitterly; while they excuse the means used
oy the false reasoning of expediency. And
doubtless in the Northern States there are
Of the political conflict that makes it's mar
ket in the strife of the South seems an un-
mixed evil, which mars, in their view, the !
E1li freedom and growing greatness of the
Union, Bat all these can look on with COM
paFative serenity. For how m uch hsppier
are such than those whose lot has been cast
among the stoFms that sweep over the face
of what they once dreamed of as an indie.
pendent, well-governed republic: who have
watched sorrowfully the growth Of the evils
hey could not ward OF from the States
which gave them birth who had offered
:heir liyes freely In battle to save these
rom what they deemed OppressiOn, and
ret when the cause for which they had
Ought fell, bowed their heads meeEly be-
ore the victors' yoke, in hopes that their
'ubmiSsion, possibly aheir sacFiace, might
ave their humber fellow citizens from ruin;
VINO, when called upon to set the example of
thought IL no shame to ask par
lon at the hands of that government which
nee their victories had shaken who urg- |
ID the writer's that would extol the brief ,
ived glories of the Confederacy to avoid !
III topics that would excite angry discus :
ION or hostile feeling;'" who turned their /
aces steadfastly away from the ambitions ,
nd hopes Of the dead past to seek compen.
alton for defeat and loss in the steady :
of hum bic daily duties; whose ,
lives and peaceful bearing in ad- I
ersity have testified to their love of c0un.. .
~ more gioriously than deaths upon the q
attIe-held whose conduct, in short, I
7hen conquered, has won involuntary ad-
aiFation from the adversaries who once
eeped cnrses upon their rebellious names. ! :
Lany such there must have been, victims !
I rate, sacrifices to political necessity, in :
ocont expiatorS, if the truth be told, Of q
'rongs done in ages past to helpless Afri- :
ans, among the leaders of the late Seees- 4
ION. One such, ct least, all recognise in 2
'obert Lee, General in chief of the ex- Com 4
'derate forces, better known a. the Com q
lander Of'the Army of Virginia, who pass- q
4 away, after five years. endurance of his !
tered position, without the sign of all .
tent ontwardly, without a word of pain,
nat great heart which repined not for O
is own loss of dignity or Of ancestral q
'rtune, giving way at last under the con- n
nued pressure of the ruin and degradation 8
the beloved State to the freedom of
hich the prospects of his whole life had a
cen sacrificed, g
General Lees words to author undertaking TO Z
rite the life of 'stOnovalr Jackson. a