Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1890-05-30

the commander Of greatly superior army
can never End it hard TO turn his ADVERSE
ry's position, especially If by means OK
2ect end convenient rivers he can sniit MS
base as easily as writo dispatch. Yet Leo
always OWNED every turning movement,
and always placed his army IN time across
the path OF its adversary.
In ths succession of bloody battles end
ing with the slaughter OF Cold Harbor he
everywhere won the substantial fruits as
well as the honors of victory, and between
the Wilderness aud the Chickahoniny IN
twenty-eight DAYS he inficted on Grant
loss of $1,000 men-an appalling number,
equal to the strength Of Lees own army at
the beginning of the campaign. =.
Try to conceive tho intense strain or
those twenty-eight days Jackson is no
longer by Lees side, Longstrsct has been
stricken down severely wounded on the
tiFst day. Suppose single moment OK
hesitation in the commander, slngie
false Interpretation of obscure and con-
flct'ng appearances, a failure at any hour
OF the day or night to MAINTAIN ia their
perfect balance all those hisn faculties
which we see united in Lee. and what
would have availed the yalor of those
matchless Confederate soldiersl Can we
wonder that they loved him, can we won
der that ike Scipio's veterans, they were
ready to die for him If he would only spare
himself? Thrics in this campaign did
they give him this supreme proof OF per-
sonal devotion.
OF the siege Of Petersburg I have only
time 70 say that IN IL for nins months the
Confederate commander displayed every
art by which genius and courage can make
cosd the lack of numbers and resources.
But the increasing misfortunesof the Con-
fsderate arns on other theatres of war
gradually cut OF the supply Of men and
means. The Army of Northern Virginia
ceased to be recruited; IL ceased to he ade-
uuately fed. Ii lived for months on less
than one third rations. twas demorallzed,
not by the eueNv in its front. but by the
enemy IN Georgia and the Carolinas. 10
dwindled to $1,000 men holding front of
thirty-iive miles; but over tho enemy 1t
still cast the shadow of IT'S great name.
Again and again by q bold offensive II ar
rested the Federal movement to faston on
its communications. At last an irresistible
concentration Of forces broke through its
long, thin lire of battle. Petersburg had
20 be abandouod. Richmond was evacuated.
| Trains bearing supplies were intercepted,
and . starving army. harassed for seven
days by incesssnt attacks on rear and Hank,
found itself completely hemmed in by
overwhelming masses. Nothing remained
to it but its staiAle,s honor, its unbroken
courage. In those last solemn scenes, when
strong men, losing all self-oontrsl, broke
| Down and sobbed Ike children, Lee stood
! forth as great as in the days OF victory and
| triumph. No disaster crushed his spirit,
no extremity Of danger ruined his bearing.
| In the agony Of dissolution now invading
1 that proud army which for four years had
wrested victory from every peril. in that
| blackness OF utter darkness he preserved
| tho serene lucldity OF his mind. He looked
| the stubbSrH facts calmly in the face. and
when no military resource renamed, when
! he recognized ths irnpossibihty of making
another march or fighting another BATHS
! ho bowed his head in submission 10 that
power which makes and unmakes nations.
! TIC surrender Of the fragments OF the
! Army OF Northern Virginia closed the i'm
perishablo record OF his military lifo.
What o catastrophe. What q moving
and pathetic contrast, On the one side,
| complete and dazzling triumph after
! long succession of humiliating disasters;
on the other. absolute ruin and deteat--a
crown OF thorns for that peerless army
which hitherto had known only the yictor's
! laurell But the magnanimity Of the con-
aueror not less than the fortitude Of the
! yanauished shone out over the solemn
sceae aud eoftened its tragic outlines OF
| fate and doom. The moderation and good
sense of the northern people, breathing
| the large and generous air OF our western
world. quickly responded TO Grants e1-
nmDle. and though the North was after
wards betrayed into fanatical and baletul
| excess on moro than one great subject all
/ tho fiercer passions Of bloody civil war
were rapidly extinguished There was TO
| be no Poland, no Ireland III America.
| When the Hollywood pyramid was rising
ever the Confederate dead soon after tho
close of The contest some one suggested
| for the inscription classic verse, which
may be rendered:
"Thsy diSl FOR their country-their country
| persisted with than"
Thus would have spoken the voice OF
! Despair.
He had drawn his sword in obedience only
10 the dictates of duty and honor, ana
| looking back in that moment Of utter de-
feat ne might have exclaimed with De-
mosthenes: II say that il the event had
been manifest to the whole world before
hand. not even then ought Athens to have
for5aker this course il Athens had any re-
| gard for her glory or for her past or tor
the ages to come" But facing the duty OF
! tine hour Lee saw now that the question
submitted TO the arsitrament OF war had
been finally answered. He recognized that
the unity of the American people had been
| irrevscably established. lie felt that it
! would DO impiety and crime to dLhonor by
! the petty strife OF faction that pure and
unselfsh struggle for constitutional
rights which while o single hope re-
NAMED had been Loyalty fought cut by
great armies, led by heroic captains. and
sustained by the patriotic sacrifices or a
noble and resolute people. He therefore
promptly counselled his old soldiers to
look upon the great country thus re,
united by blood and iron as their own and
10 live aud labor for It's honor and vel stre.
His own conduct was in ACCORD with THESE
teachings. Day by day his example illus
trstsd what his manly words declared
" That human virtue should DO equal 10
human calamity"
For live years be was now permitted 10
exhibit to his countrymen IN tho discharge
Of the duties Of president OF Washington
College the best qualities Of citizen, sage
and patriot. In Plato's account OF the
education OF q Persian king four tutors
are chosen from anon the Persian MOBILES
ono the wissst, another the mast Just, 0
third tho most temperate, and fourth the
brsvest. II was the unique fortune OF tina
students of Washington College to hnd
these four great characters united IN one
men-their peerless Lee. As the people
saw him fulfilling these modest but noble
functions, rs they saw hIm with antique
simplicity putting aside eyery temptation
t. use his great fame for vulgar gam, as
thay saw him, N self-respectlng content
ment with the frugal earnings Of his per
sonal labor, refusing every offer Of pecuRi-
arv assistance; as they realized IA un,,
selfish devotion of all that remained OF
strength and life to the nurture of the
southern youth in knowledge and morals
new conviction Of his wisdom and VIZ;
tue gathered force and volume, AID spread
abroad into all lands.
Tho failure of the righteous cause toi
which he fought deRied him that emlnence
of civil station in which his great qualities
in their happy mixture might well have az
forded a parallel 10 the strength and the
moderation OF Washington. But what
failure could obscure that moral perfection
which places him as easily by the side OF
the best men that have ever lived. as his
heroic actions make him the peer OF the
greatest?
There are men whose influence on man
kind neither worldly success nor worldly
failure can affect.
"The greatest gift tho hero leaves bis race
Is ~ have been u nerJ."
This moral perfection. breathing thu
very spirit OF his Christian faith. Is no illu
sive legend of succeeding generation e1-
aggerating the worth of the past. Our be-
lief in it rests upon the unanimous testi-