Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va) 1886-1890, 1890-03-09

which had SO mercilessly poured grape
into them. Tho artillery horses hitched
to the limbers either ran away with the
drivers or were driven off by them . . "
and the gunners who had persisted in
remaining at their posts to the last, also
disappeared in the tide Of Texans, which
overwhelmed them in an instant, leaving
nothing behind but corpses lying on the
ground"
Porter's battle field was in tho form
of an arc and could be seen from all
points. His headquarters wero near tho
center, and the count, his uncle, Prince
do Joinville, and his brother, Duke de
Charities, were involved in the activity
of this fight Gen. Porter in his story
of Gaines Mill, in the BATTLES and Lead
ers of the Civil War" relates that dur
ing the highest excitement of this battle
the count came TO him on the field and
begged him to send his uncle, de Join
vile, on some trumped up errand to
army headquarters SO that he might
escape the peril OF tho position. The
message was given. but the old prince
did not go: it was repeated and Still he
did not leave the field. Ho said after
ward that things seemed SO favorable
all at once that lie decided to wait for
rood news to take back to tho command
ing general.
This battle was the first ono fought by
Gen. Robert E. Lee us commander of the
Army of Northern Virginia. In noting
his advent in new field the count says:
His first efforts in war had not been
more brilliant than those Of Grant, and
he personally was but little known to the
troops ho was about to lead in battle,
Always a patient, persevering and pru-
dent calculator, yet ready to risk much
at the opportune moment; handling a
large army with great de1terity in the
midst of the thickest forests; understand
ING men, selecting them carefully, and
securing their attachment by his equity;
worshiped by his soldiers and obtaining
from them what no other chief could
have thought of asking them; respected
and obeyed by all his lieutcnants; hui
name, Of conciliatory disposition, one
whose only fault rs a general was an ex-
cess Of Difference to the opinions of sub
ordinates, which at times caused him to
lose little of that iirmness which IS SO
Indispensable in the midst of battle"
The services of the count ended within
week after the battle of Gaines Mill
and covered period of about ten
months. Although an alien, he held
very decided opinions upon the issue OF
the war, and his work shows that his
conduct was not guided by love of adj
venture, but by conviction. In the
preface to his history he writes:
Having been kindly received in the
armies of the young republic, which re-
members the support given by France to
the first defenders of its independence,
and has not failed 10 place the name of
Bourbon among those who arc to per-
petuate its memory on its soil. it has
been the wish of the author to present
grateful testimony to his late comrades
in arms. In writing his personal recol-
lections he has been led to describe the
war. some incidents of which have come
within his own personal observation.
Notwithstanding his legitimate prefer
ences for the cause he serred (Union) he
has endeavored to preserve throughout
his narrative the strictest impartiallty."
He believed slavery was the sole cause
of the war. "The effects" he declares,
"of the scrvile institution upon the dom
nant race presents spectacle-sad and
instructive to historian and philosopher
of fatal decentralization as just pun
ishmant for slavery inflicted upon those
who expected to find nothing but profit
and power. & In fact, the slave
power could only exist by enlarging its
domain and absorbing everything around
it. If the north had carried
patience and forbearance much further,
the day when the decisive crisis arrived
this power might possibly have been
able to imro-c its fatal yoke upon ali
America"
The emancipation act was under dis
cussion at the time the count left the
country, and was passed soon afterward.
Speaking of the proclamation, he says:
sit inaugurated new epoch, and the
conflict, freed from the remembrance OF
past concessions, assumed henceforth its
real character. 1t could only be ended
with the entire abolition of slavery from
the soil OF the constitutional republic, or
by the triumph of this institution over
the largest portion of America"
The opinion expressed of Lincoln,
whom he introduces as Honest MIR.
Lincoln" shows clear understanding
Of the trying position Of the president
in 1851. He says:
"The republic had chief determined
to defend it while respecting the consti-
tutional rights and liberties of all; those
who regarded the principles of free labor
as the essential basis Of free and demo-
cratic society saw at last man OF their
choice regularly invested with the insig-
mia of the chief magistracy; those who,
Notwithstanding their affnities with
shareholders, considered the mainte-
nance of the Union as the first article OF
political faith for every good citizen,
could rally around him without fear"
1t is rarely that foreigners, even the
ablest of them, take pains to study
American events with 80 much diligence
and candor as displayed by this young
prince while fighting our battles as for
eign ally. GEORGE L. hlLMEH'