The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1882-1884, 1883-07-05

cumbent statute of II. T.. Lee, at
Washington and Lee University, we
can but feel how great was our fallen
hero.
Maj. Daniels speech has not the
least tincture O partisan feeling, yet
it brings every noble principle, every
decided quality of the deceased prom.
inent before the minds Of his hearers.
In speaking of Lees position at the
breaking out of the war. he said -
where now is Robert E. Lee /?
On the border line between two hos
tile empires, girding their loins for
as stern a fight as ever tested wor.
rior's steel he beholds each beckon-
ing him to lead it's people to battle.
A messenger comes to him from the
President of the United States, and
from General Scott to tender him
supreme command of its forces. Did
he accept, and did he succeed, the
conqueror's crown awaits him: and,
win or lose, he will remain the fore
:norst man of great established ma
ton, with honor and glory, and riches
aud office and power and all that pub.
lie applause can supply. To the states
man, Mr.. Francis Preston Blair, who
brought him the tender of supreme
command, he answered Mr.. Blair,
1 look upon secession as anarchy. If
1 owned the four millions of slaves
in the South, would sacrifice them
all to the Union; but how can l
draw my sword against Virginia.
In virdication of Lee, he grew SUI
pr mely eloquent. He shows how
absurd to question the right of South.
erners to take up arms in defense of
their country. He says IA great revo-
luton need never apologize for, nor
explain itself. There it is the au.
gust and thrilling rise of a whole
population And the fact that it is
there, is the best evidence of its right
to be there. None but great inspira.
tons underline great actions. None
but great causes ever produce great
events. A trancient gust of passion
may turn a crowd into a mob. A
temporary impulse may swell a mob
into an instruction; but when a
whole people stand to their guns be-
fore their hearth stones. and as one
man, resist what they deem agrees
ion b; when. for long years, they en-.
dure poverty and starvation, and
dare danger and death to maintain
principles which they deem sacred
when they shake a continent with
these heroic endeavors, and fill the
world with the glory of their achieve
ments, history can make for them NJ
higher vindication than to point tt
their dee1s and say, 'Behold!' TIL,
Northern States acted for them
selves,-the Southern States fol
Observation-Disclosures for herself
And when the line of battle formed
Robert Lee took his place in the lin.
beside his people and his kindred,
his children, an his home. Let his de
fence rest on this fact alone Natur.
voices it. Nothing can strengthen
It; nothing can weaken it. The his
torian may compile, the casuist may
dissect. the statesman may xpatiate
the advocate may plead, the juris
may expound, but, after all, Their
can be no stronger nor tenderer til
than that which binds faithful hear
to kindred and to home. And on thi
tie-stretching from the cradle to th
grave, spanning the heavens and riv
tied through eternity to the throne o
God ON high, and underneath in tn
souls of good men and true-in tina
tie rests, stainless and immortal, tn
fame of Robert Lee.''
The speaker continues, telling. hov
Lee lived to see amply laid the foun
! dation. and firmly built the ped, stall
of,his great glory, and to catch tn
murmur of those voices which woult
rear high his image, and bear hi
name and fame to remote ages an,
, distant nations: how the brave an,
true Of every land paid him tribute
how the first soldiers of foreign cline
saluted him with eulogy; how th
artist enshrined his form and feature
in the noblest work of brush an,
chisel and how the poet voiced tn
heroic pathos of his life in tende
, strains.
The speaker tells that the militar,
scientists studied his campaigns t
find in them designs as bold ant
, brillient, and actions as intense an,
energetic, as ever illustrated the ar