The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1898-04-11
THE FAREWELL OF LEE.

From what is come to be TO Alnefl-
cans the sliminess of diplomatic stag
nancy. there sparkles forth one voice,
steady. warm, welcome, wholesome
eifcryescent.
1t was heard on the Fern Saturday
afternoon when General Fitzhugh Lee,
surrounded by the remnant of Ameri-
cans who were accompanying him from
Cuba, gave orders:
Tell the Olivette to get under way at
once. Captain Cowles. signal the Bachc
that the United States feet is ready to
clear out of Havana, and please follow
the Bache out.
In that sentence was compaSSed. per-
haps. the whole personality of this pic
turcsque hero of the moment. Dare
danger, and Il chivalry that even in so
small matter put himself last out of Il
hive of conspiracy against his life,
while, from the shore, even could be
heard the eXecrations of Death to the
Yankee Swine,'' on the hot lips of those
who would have gladly seen him among
our battleship's dead.
1t is the first time we have seen Nir-
ginia's Cavalier in the clear. The eyes
Of this country were turned upon him
Saturday afternoon as he stood on that
deck against Spanish twilight twink
ling with trcachery. Men have not yet
disguised his figure with the parapherna-
liza of political probability, they have be-
held him simply, the clear-cut soldier, the
clcan-hearted refuge of Americans in
Lee a man in whom their spirits met
The consensus of American opinion has
not long been decidedly of one shade.
II is about crystalized now. If men
cannot express themselves clearly, they
yet feel strongly. and in answer, say
that is what we think pointing to Lee
standing on the deck of the Fern.
We have heard comparatively little Of
what this chevalier Lee has done, we
personality through the atmosphere of
the man than from his words, which, to
say truth, have been few. We have
come to the conclusion that there is Il
deal of tenderness and common sense in
his short, soldierlike frame. There has
heen the TOSS and abandon of the
At
grim note of the round-head underneath
the flash of mirth, which was, however.
a mirth underlaid with meaning. But
better than the roundhead or royalist
in him is that union which involves Il
result different from either in what is
Familiarity known among Us as the
American" Just what an American
is is possibly Il thing impossible to define,
but again turning their eyes toward the
deck of the Fern, the people of this
country with one accord ac-
claim, there stands the Ameri-
can in all this NATTER" and
Lee was steaming out on the Fern. fol-
lowing the Olivette and the Bache, his
eye twinkling as looking upon the pal
thetically ludicrous procession he said:
Tell the Olivette to get under way ut
once, Captain Cowles, signal the Bache
that the United States fleet is ready TO
clear out of Havana, and please follow
the Bache out
Virginia looks proudly on, as his
country salutes her son. and thanks go
up from all lips as a gallant heart, calm
and kind under many hidden dangers,
may now feel thrill that only love,
not peril, may awaken in the heart of a
Lee.
As he steps ashore. his hand seems
outstretched in grace to that hand
maiden of peace, Clara Barton, whose
healing touch and sanity heroism are n
fit companion-piece to the loyalty and
vigor Of the soIder-statesman.
The two together represent the best
manhood and the best womanhood Of
the new continent, nor should the
triumphs in modesty and mercy Of the
one be forgotten in the splendor of the
manliueSs Of tho other