The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1900-12-27
LEE THE HAIL OF FAME.

protest Of the Sixth Corps Association
against placing the name of Robert E.
| in its Hall of Fame. This is very unfor-
quite rs ridiculous omissions, and the even
more ridiculous order in which these
names were placed have already brought
the whole matter into the dcrisiop of all
thinking Americans 1t is simply amaz-
ing that any man who claims to be a
student OF our history should have been
party to an absurd conglomeration which
leaves out such great Americans as Sam
ueI Adams, John Hancock, Patrick Hen
Nv, Andrew Jackson. o. p. Morton, Ed
win NJ. Stanton, W. T. Sherman, Geo. II.
Thomas and Phil H Sheridan, and puts
Ralph Waldo Emerson and ii. w. Long
fellow next to jefferson and John Mar
shall, sandwiches X. Il. Lee in between
Peter Cooper and George Peabody, and in
Gilbert Stuart Emerson. Longfcllow.
Washington Irving and Nathaniel Iaw-
thorne were certainly graceful and pleas
ing writer's, but none of them had an eie-
ment of greatness about him, and their
influence upon our National development
was comparatively slight and tranSitory.
Geo. Peabody was merely n man who had
and when he died left his wealth to phil
anthropic and educational Institutions
very praiscworthy act but not emitting
him to eminence. John J. Audubon was
an industrious and accurate naturalist, but
not great thinker or discoverer. Asa
Gray was the same in botany. Gilbert
Stuart was a talented portrait painter,
but did comparatively little for the ad-
vancement of American art. Henry Ward
Beecher was merely brilliant pulpit ora
tor, but not pioneer in any line of
thought, and has left no permanent i'm
preston upon the country. Peter Cooper
was q worthy man, quite successful in
business, and with n bent toward philan-
thropy and popular education. John
Adams, who was the intellectual giant of
the Revolution, is placed near the bottom
of the list, sandwiched between Joseph
Story, very excellent lawyer and Judge,
and VIM. EIlery Claiming, very popu-
lar preacher, and the father of Unitarian
ism, but not to be compared in the ex-
tent of influence upon the country with
those men who built up Presbyterianism
and Methodism.
But the browning offense is the inclu-
sion OF Robert E. Lees name and the
placing him ahead in the list of such men
as Peter Cooper; Eli Whitney, the in
ventor of the cotton-gin; Audubon; Horace
Mann, the father of the common-school
system; Henry Ward Beecher; Jas Kent;
Jos. Story; John Adams; VIM. Ellery
Claiming; Gilbert Stuart, and Asa Gray.
1t is intolerable that a great institu-
the % greatest men that the country has
produced in its go years of existence a
man who gained all his reputation as the
military leader of cause which the con-
science of the civilized world reprobates.
The rebellion was wholly unlike other
civil wars the leaders of which have af-
terward been approved because, though
they may have failed, they drew the
sword to redress real wrongs and griey-
ances and advance the sacred cause of
human liberty. On the contrary, Lee
fought to destroy the Nation which was
the pillar of human liberty, and perpetu-
ate the hateful institution of slavery,
which had at that time become so odius
to the world that even bigoted old Spain
| and barbarous Russia were abOlishing it.
despotism TO break. The whole war in
which Lee embarked was wrong from
start to finish, and 100000 lives were
sacrificed in preventing its success. To
day every right-thinking man is glad that
Lee was overwhelmingly defeated.
Nor is Lee, leaving aside the utter
wrongfUlness of the cause for which he
| fought, entitled to the place for the
military genius he displayed. The art Of
war had progressed to the point where
| the army standing on the defensive had
host of advantages. With 10000, 900 PEG
pie at his back, and standing on his owl
| ground, Lee managed to make a very
stubborn defense against the 10000, 0O(
loyal people who sent their armies agains
him. Tecumseh, Osceola, Chief JOSEPH
and others made similar stubborn de
lenses against a much greater disparity o
force. On the much higher plane of war
fare-the offensive-which Grant, Sher
man, Thomas and Sheridan conducted
with such masterful skill, Lee was q com
piete failure. In six months of continu
GUS offensive manuyering, with a rela
lively larger army, he never succeeded il
catching Gen. Meade at disadvantage
and had Gems. Grant, Sherman. Thoma
. or Sheridan been in command of his arm,