Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1889-06-21
TINsLEY & MORTON, Proprietors,
FRIDAY MORNING, JUNE 81, 1889.
WHAT ROBERT b. LEE THOUGHT
OF TT

We have read with a great deal Of inter
est the recollections, published by Mrs.
Margaret j. Preston in the Century for
this month, of General Lee after the
war" He was man Of the greatest poise
that the civil war brought into prominence,
and when that war ended he set an exam
pie to his fellow soldiers and fellow citizens
worthy of all imitation. Not the least
of all the splendid points of that example
was the position he held towards those who
had lately been his foes in the field. He
never applied to the Northern army the
term Yankee" but spoke of them as the
enemy OF the ''Federals.' He con
demned all bitterness Of speech on the part
of the Southern people. On one occasion
he remarked, II condemn such bitterness
acholly. Is 1t any aconder the Northern
Journals should retort upon as as they do,
qehen ace GUor ourselves to use such Ian
gudge as found in some Of our papers
yestcrddy.n For the five years of life that
remained to him after AppomattoX, his
example and precept were unfailing i'll
intoxicating a dignilied self control; a supe-
riority to the bitterness of the wal; al
exalted courage from the heights OF which
we could look down on the unworthy SLAM
ders of the victor, and a patience which
equalled in it's manhood the dash which
mounted the hill of Gettysburg. He be-
lieved that the war had written the name
of the South high on the monuments Of the
world for courage on the battle field, and
he believed that those who fought for their
States had the right on their side as much
as those who fought for the Union. Their
yindication he thought could be left to
Time and the American people, and that
belief Time is fast confirming.
But it is unhappily retarded by well
meaning men who take a very different view
of it from Robert E. Lee. They seem to
think when bitter or unjust thing is
said of the South by some Northern Repub
lican. that it is incumbent on the South to
reply in the same style and that they are the
chosen vessels for such a reply. We have
read some of their speeches in the last few
years, and could not help wondering how
such a harangue would sound in the mouth
of Gen. Lee. It would amaze the world!
And next, We cannot help asking what it is
all for? 1t is not to vindicate the bravery
of the Confederate troops: the world has
recorded it.. 1t is not to vindicate the 10y
atty Of the Confederate troops; history and
the constitution show that they were loyal
to the power which from their education
and belief had the prior claim to their ser-
vices. 1t cannot be to vindicate the loyal
ty of the South to the National Union now:
for that, twenty three years after the warand
after four years of an Administration in
which Southern men had a large share III
giving good government to the National
Union, is the height Of superfluity. 1t can
not be to vindicate the courage and loyalty
to the lost cause Of the speakers, most of
whom have been brave soldiers; there is no
body that has doubted them and if they were
doubted the opportunity is over now for
the remedy. 1t cannot be to help their States
Virginia Is now spending money to send
men abroad to bring immigrants of any pol
tiles from the West and NorthWest-lie-
publicans OF Democrats are Welcome--it can
not be to welcome OF hasten the coming Of
these immigrants that these rostrum ora
tors are pouring out invectiyes on the all
against the section from whence they come.
True, they don't denounce the Northern
people as mass, but we all know how that
is; We have no sympathy with the class Of
of
no means pleased to see the press Of the
North dissecting them. 1t cannot he to
help the people Of the South in their mate
rial interests Of to-day; next to the false
reputation for violence and disorder
given the South by the Northern press,
nothing has so aided in keeping immigra-
ton and capital from the South as the
utterances Of the orators Of whom We
speak. 1t cannot be for the advantage Of
the Democratic party to which these gen
tlemen belong; no weapons against the De
mocracy since the days of Reconstruction
have been half as effective as those put in
the hands Of the Northern Republicans by
these men. The Republican party could
well afford to pay handsomely for the cam
paign material being unwittingly furnished
While the Democratic party of the South,
from its richest to its poorest member, is
giving it's money, time and labor to keep
the intelligence of the States in possession
of their governments, these men are ignor-
antly furnishing the Republicans with cam
paign material to Wrest them from them
and place the Ignorance on top-campaign
material which arouses the Republicans of
the North and makes them furnish money
literally to carry even State elections i'll
the South.
Wherein does the plan of these men for
responding to the abuse often used by North
ern public men towards the South, surpass
that laid down by Robert E. Lee? Wherein
are they helping their State, their country.
and the new generation now coming on the
stage? What is to be gained by the men
who fought under Robert E. Lee and revere
his memory, by forsaking his example and
following the later one set before them,
And where is the new departure to end
how wide is the field of tit-for tat to be 2
If when Major-General Holster of the
Grand Army arises in the Grand ARMY
halls and, with an eye to the elections, de-
nounces the eX-Confederates and the South.
some Major General Spurs OF the Confede-
rate Army would rise in his Camp and in
form Major-General Holster that he was an
ill-conditioned son Of a gun and that was
the end of tiff it could be confined to the
Holsters and the Spurs it could be tolerated.
But the unsuspecting Spurs spends nights
of research and days of perspirat1on in hunt
IN o., L Is,..- -. :.