The Abbeville messenger. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1884-1887, 1885-09-30
Fitz Lee and John w bel

Fitz Lee and John Wseg
Especial Correspondence New York " Md.
R1oHMoND, VA, September 15:. There
arc q good many points Of resemblance
between the two opposing candidt@ for
the Virginia Govcrnorship, Ge, Fitz-
| hugh Lee and John S. Wise. 9nl Lee
has fifteen years the start of hii bppo-
nent, but both are comparatively}oung
men. Both belong to the sang sur of
Virginia social life, and arc born Brah-
minis Of the Brahmins. Both ~arsepen-
mir men, whose code is simple-ta Eight,
to ride and to speak the truth both
fought gallantly on the sam side
through a long and bloody struggle;
Lee, a dashins young cavalry ofi4r at
the head of his column (; Wise, a,gender
blue-eyed cadet, who with 2OOfof his
boy comrades was marched under tho
Rev Gen. Pendlstqn nom the. Virginia
Military TaatitnteA u he battle sc New
MdFkets nd ffomehat Jay tin fke sur:
render at Appomnttox followed tho Hag
of the Confederacy.
Gen. Lee, ACQUIRED and caparisoned
all the glory of a gray Confederate uni
form, a black plume in his wide brim-
med hat and curling a fiery steed, in
spires q crowd, as at the last Inauguration,
with great enthusiasm. Added to this, the
very whisper of his magic name is as
the sound Of the battlc-cry to an old
warhorse. and no crowd of Virginia SOL
I1dters B&tt-must break out in loud huzzas
when it is spoken. IN critsEasa,s dress
and he is not fastidiods as to his Idift1s
but, as on the occasion Of Gen. Grants
funeral, frequently appears in garments
of strange fashion and the worse for
wear-Gen. Lee is homely, stout vir-
giniu farmer, plain in speech, fond of an
ecdote and with a loud and jovial laugh
that fills the town with q breath of plan
tation life and tells the club men two
squares off that "Fitz Lee" has come.
1t is in his courtly and deferentim man.
ner to women, whom he treats with a
reverent courtesy that is particularly
winning and engaging, that he appears
socially at his best. Gen. Lee is not an
orator, but even Virginia people, who are
Of all people most given over to the ira
ditions, are beginning to realize that
this is n lost art and one that does hot
properly belong to a highly civilized COM
munity, which has other ways of in
forming itself than through the silver
accents Of popular speaker. His
rough clothes, his rough-anGzrcsdy
speech his unaffected interest in County
affairs, in stock breeding, and ever a
country tournament, where the pretty
girls in the neighborhood nil assemble,
give him q popularity with the masses
which a more eloquent and even a more
able man would fail to excite. 1.-THE
truth is" said a Virginia gentleman, sit
ting on the implanted vcranda attached
to the house Of his eighth grcat-grand-
father, "Fitz Lees a gentleman ; we all
know him and his stock he married q
Virginia girl, a beautiful creature, Nelly
Fowle ; we all know her stock /; nice
plantation !; knows o good horse when
he sees one; good soldier, and. besides,
his names Lee, and we'll all 60 to the
polls aud give him a handsome majority.
No debt question or negro's place in
equity there"
MI. Wise is also a gentleman of birth
and breeding, an excellent lawyer, o
good friend and the best reconteur Of
his day. His handsome, bulldog, clean
shaven face contrasts well with the
fragile beauty Of his golden-haired wife
and Install young sons, by whom he is
always surrounded. By a combination
of circumstances which begun as far
back as rs, when his personal enemy,
Gen. Bradley I. johnson, now of Balti
more, then of Richmond, contested the
seat in the Virginia Senate with Mr..
VIM. G. knight, of Richmond, Mr.. Wise
boltcd from his party and became an in
dependent. Under that name the battle
was fought a long. long time. "For a
hatred and IN implacable hatred" says
George Eliot, commend me to to the
hatred Of the blood relation" When
"Johny Wise," as every man and wo-
man in Richmond dubbed him, went
over todthe Republican party through
the ranks of Readjustism, with Malone
tfor 4 leader, a cry went up all over the
l6ad- AndSFwhE should it not have
sdssA Whsh III hSsapssx that
- sibts clssss fseths ssecssS
af hal itAstsida sssgtss sssasinE 81 ths
one wf'sSl7sn;syStsfH shiah ida.
ed to the negro vote, might overconis
the rightful Democratic moiority, and