National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1879-02-05
THE ARLINGTON EsrATE.

We suppose that it is all decided that the
Arlington estate shall be returned to the
LEES, as what is considered as remaining TO
do i'll the case is mere matter of form and
that it will be one of the most easy things
in the world to get the United States Su-
preme Court to indorse the decision of the
lower court
There is certainly great mistake some
where. The place should never have been
taken else such vast sums of public money
should never have been expended upon it,and
it should never have been honored as ma
tional cemetery
As the case stands now man who was
educated at the public expense and who for
many years drew Il large salary from the
Government and through the Government
received high official honOrs, far beyond
what he could possibly have received as a
single citizen of single State; q man not
in the thoughtlessncss Of youth hut in the
prime of manhood, and one who is said to
have been, and undoubtedly was, sober and
conservative and not rash and impetuous
Such a man deserts his command and turns
traitor to his Goyernment-all on the ridic-
ulous plea of doing the same MS others did.
sufficient number--yet n minority in
themselyes-were determined to do all in
their power to break up the Union
and force the grand old State of
Virginia out of that glorious compact of
Estates which the immortal WASHINGTON
was one of the foremost in helping to estab-
lish, nurse, and guide in its days of birth
and weakness. few traitors in Virginia,
as elsewhere throughout the Southern States,
did the work of dshonor, and that, too, on
tenets that their very WASHINGTON con-
demned and denounced in his day. And
yet these men pretend to venerate WASH
INGToN u In excuse for ROBERT L. LEE it
is repeatedly said that he was against the
unholy schemes of these men, Yes, he ap-
pears to have been, for he did little against
them, and when they led the way-opened
the door of secession--he meekly followed
them, and was shortly honored (?) by them
| by being made the commander-in-chief OF
the forces that were to war upon the old
Government. All through the war, and
since, we have tried TO see General LEE in u
better light than this, for we know that he
has many worthy admirers; but the stern
facts are against placing the man in any
higher niche, from which posterity may
view him as one of the noted men of the
land. During the war this mans estate is
conhscated and honored by the Government
as il never had been hOnored before and
never can be hOnored again. From being the
home of traitors ii became city of the
dead to the noble army of martyrs
who laid down their lives on Virginia
soil in the attempt to save the Union. May
their lives prove not TO have been given in
vain! Vast sums of public money have
been spent about the place. A most sub
stantial and elegant stone wall has been
built about il that is worth more than the
whole place itself But it is said that the
place was not the property Of General LEE
but the property of his wife, and that her
son GEORGE w, p, c. X.Q. Y. u, LEE is the
heiI and owner, and that, therefore, he
should not lose the estate for the sins of his
father. Such talk rs this is mere legal
buncombe from beginning to end. General
LEE is the man, and not the son and tn e
very name Of LEE itself-the father and not
] the son--is the name that calls for the re-