The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1898-06-02
CONSUL GEN. FITZHUGH LEE.

apprehension, aS IL mas DooD, WOulQ
occasion vast deal more concern
were it not that we have as our re
preventative in Havana a magnificent
type of American manhood in the
person of Consul General Fitzhugh
Lee. His distinguished ancestry, his
brilliant record as soldier, and his
mastery administration at the Cuban
capital make him conspicuous as a
man among men. -
| General Fitzhugh Lee, of Virgi MIA,
| United States Consul General in Ha-
| vana, Cuba, is the man of the hour
1t is not that the hour and the place
have made the man, but simply that
we have conspicuous example OF the
right man In the right place. Great
| opportunities come only to those who
| are great without them, declares
Henry Tyrrell in the New York Her
AID
Fitzhugh Lee is man with splen-
| did past on record, and grand fu
ture in sight. To-day he wears the
three fold distinction of being an hon
ored former Confederate, Democrat
and the holder of highly important
and responsible office under Repilb
lican administratlon-and this at the
administrations express request, at a
time when the general rule has been
prompt acceptance, of the resignation
OF Democratic incumbents of paying
Offices. General Lees resignation
had been on lille at Washington sever
al months already, when, last Novem
bG/l .,,NeNe home and reported in
,tpe President Mckinley. Yet
- cEEck to Havana with the seal
o. 'm'fV i'll i'll his possession, and
fo' ' "a by the cordial Communications
of President, who had received
sta of letters from representatives
in al parts of the country favoring
the retention of General Lee at the
post which he already occupied with
marked distinction.
1t was in April. 1896, that Presi-
dent Cleveland, impatient at the apa
thy Of COnsnl General Williams in
cases affecting the rights of American
citizens In Goa. and confronted with
the certainty that Congress would
have to insist upon some radical pol
icy tending to check the widely crit
cised methods of Woyler in Cuba, ap-
pointed General Lee to the hazard
Gus position
Every one remembers how, at the
time. the country was fairly thrilled
at the selection of this representative
American soldier to stand for human
liberty and justice on that unhappy
isle. As yet he was untried in foreign
consular diplomacy; but from the mo
ment he entered upon his duties he
gave abundant evidence of his poses
sion OF good sense, tact, courtesy and
and practical fitness for the task.
Then the case of the i'll fated DR..
Ruiz gave him occasion to show
firm hand in conducting the investi
CATION IN the face of the almost sa
wage opposition of Weyler's organic
ed inquisitors. 1t was generally un
derstood even then that Lee had urg
ed the despatching of a United States
man of war to Cuban waters; and his
manly protest, II cannot and will not
stand another Ruiz murder" was ap-
plauded throughout the country a
year ago.
The events of the last few months
ana weeks in Cnba, and the mastery
part that General Lee has played
therein are matters of contemperane-
Gus history from day to day. Our
consul general is not a iingo. He is
an American soldier, born and bred
brave, loyal, patriotic, keenly sensitive
to every point of honor, personal or
national. Because he is this, LIE in
spires at once the confidence of the
conservative and the enthusiasm of
the jingoes. A characteristic express.
sion was that of L. Z. Sigsbee, brother
OF the Names commander, who, com
mentlng on the disaster at Havana,
said:
There's man down there looking
after the interests of this country who
cannot be blinded. He has more
sand than anybody | know of, and if
there's anything treacherous in this
explosion We'll know of it without de
lay. The man l mean is Gen. Fitz
Lee"
1t is not absolutely essential that
distinguished American should have
a grandfather But when one happens
to be Lee of Virginia, and his grand
father was Light Horse Harry Lee of
the Revolution, it is eminently proper
that his ancestry should be taken in
to account. Blood willard does
tell.
Sydney Smith Lee (born 1902. died
1869, the father of Fitzhugh Lee, was
the third son of General Henry Lee,
tLight Horse Harry, and Annie Hill
Carter, his second wife. He was gra
duated from the naval academy, and
WAS appointed midshipman in 1920,
promoted lieutenant in 1923, comman
der IN 1850, and resi- gned Oh April rs,
1861, to join the Confederacy. His
public service is more than thirty
wears in the United States navv-in
cluding Perry's Japan expedition and
the Mexican war-is well known. He
was the fayorite brother of General
Robert f. Lee, who called HIM by the
pet nickname of Rose"
Fltzhugh Lee, our own "Fitz." was
the eldest son of Captain Sydney
Smith Lee and his wife, Anna Maria
Mason, and was born in Clermont,
Fairfax County, Va, on Nov. 10. 1885
He entered the West Point Military
Acadamy at sixteen, was graduated
In July, 1856, at the head of his class
IN horsemanship, and was appointed
second lieutenant i'll the famous old
Second cavalry, which regiment fur
nished SO many officers afterwaro dis
tinguished in the civil war. His frs,
d iiy was in drilling raw recruits at
the Carlisle Barracks, Pa. Then g
was sent to the Western frontier ano
became an Indian fighter in Tex, S
under Major Earl Van Dorm.
In one encounter Lieut.. Lee receiv
ed an arrow wound between the ribs
thst came very near costing his life.
On another occasion he grappled with