Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-04-17
FITZHUGH LEES
BRILLIANT RECORD
His Mastery Administration at the
Cuban Capital.
BRAVE CONFEDERATE SOLDIER
vi Family Famous in American HIS
tory - The ConsuI-Generai az
Viewed by Great North
ern Newspaper

General Fitzhugh Lee, OF virginia
'nited States Consul General at Havana,
.uba, is the man of the hour II Is not
mat the hour and the place have mace
ne man. but simply that We nave
conspicuous example of the right man III
the right place. Great. opportunities
come only TO those who are great WITH
out them.
Fitzhugh Lee is a man with spiendid
past on record. and Il grand future III
sight To-day he wears the threefold us
tinction of being an honored former Con
Iederate, u Democrat and the hoiueI VI
"a highly important and responsible ohlc1
under a Republican administrauon-ahu
this at the administration 5 express re-
quest, at time when the general Iui'
has been prompt acceptance OF the icsis
nation of Democratic incumbents OF pay
ing Offices. General Lees resignation
had been on file at Washington seVeidI
months already, when, last NoNenOei
he came home and reported IN person 10
President Mckinley. Yet he went DdCh
TO Havana with the seal Of office sun III
his possession, and fortified by the coIdlai
Communications of the ISesident' VINO
had received stacks OF letters from rep
resentative men in all parts OF the couh-
try favoring the retention OF Generai Lee
at the post which he already occupleu
with marked distinction.
1t was in April, 1896, that president
Cleveland, impatient at the apath! u
Consul General Williams In cases ahect-
ing the rights of American citizehs III
Cuba, and confronted with the certaiii'!
that Congress would have to insist upon
widely criticised methods Of Weyler III
Cuba, appointed General Lee to the
hazardous position.
Every one remembers how, at the time
the country was fairly thrilled at the sc
lection of this representative American
soldier to stand for human liberty an'
justice on that unhappy isle. AS We
he was untried in foreign consular dlplo
macy: but from the moment he entere'
upon his duties he gave abundant eVl
dence of his possession of good sense
tact, courtesy and practical fitness 10
the task Then the case of the lll-fate
DIT Ruiz gave him occasion TO snow
firm hand I'm conducting the invesugauo
in the face of the almost savage OPPOSE
ton of Weyler's organized inquisltfs /
was generally understood even then ina
Lee had urged the dispatching OF a UNI
ed States man-of-war TO CUBAN Waters
and his manly protest II cannot ana WI
not stand another Ruiz murder, was al
plauded throughout the country yea
ago.
The events of the last few months an
weeks in Cuba, and the mastery pal
that General Lee has played therein al
matters of contemporaneous history lrol
dav to-day. our Consul General is 7
lingo. He is an American soldier. boz
and bred-brave, loyal, patriotic Keen
sensitive to every point of honor persol
al or national. Because he is this he II
spires at once the confidence oi the co ~,
eervatiye and the enthusiasm of the Ji
COOS characteristic expression WI
mat of l.. +. Sigsbee. brother OF II
Names commander. who. commentli
on the disaster at Havana, said:
.aT'here's a man down there looking q
tor tho interests of this country who ca
not be blinded. He has more sahd th'
ANYBODY | know of. and II there an
thing treacherous i'm this explosion we
know of 1t without delay. Inc man
mean is General F'itz. Lee.
BLOOD WILL TELL.
II is not absolutely essential that al
t,npuished American should have gran
father. But when one happens TO De
Lee of Virginia. and his grandfather W
Light Horse Harry Lee of the ReVoiuti'
il is eminently proper that his ahces'
should be taken into account. BIO
will and does tell
sydney Smith Lee (born nv dled IN
the father of Fitzhugh Lee, was the IN
son of General Henry Lee QAgh'-Hoi
Harry and Anne Hill Carter, his seco
wife. He was graduated from the Na'
Academy. and appointed midshlpmah
1920. promoted lieutenant In lSZS, co
mander in 1850, and resigned on Az
3. 16l. to join the Confederacy. HIS pun
service of more than thirty years III
United States avy--including feri
Japan expedition and the Mexican wa
ia well known. He was the FAVOR
brother OF General Robert H. Lee
called him by the pet nickname
Rose"
Fftzhugh Lee, our own FLU was
eldest son of Captain sydney smith
and his wife, Anna Maria Mason
was born at Clermont Fairfax coui
Va. on November 10, 1885. He entered
West Point Military Academy at siN,e
was graduated in July, 1856, at the III
of his class in ohrsemanship, ana was