Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1900-11-09
Friday, November D, 1900.
WHY SHOULD WE CARE,

turbation the antics which are being
INDUCED in by aesthetic demagogues
OF the North over the placing of Gen.
r. E. Lees portrait beside those of
Lincoln, Grant and others in the
Hall of Fame. She was not asked
her opinion of it before, and she has
none now to express. The stencil
which is arising is from none of her
decoctlons, and while she NAV hold
her nostrils she LOOKS on with hauteur.
complacent In the consciousness
OF her impregnable position in the
world and the loftiness of her great
men in Its history. She may be think
ing hard, though; and possibly her
thoughts recur to days of the sixties.
There is rich field for meditation
and reflection: Virginia furnished
the two greatest "rebels' in the
worlds Observation-Disclosures and
Leland if one is lauded the other
must be praised, too; if one is de-
cried the other must also be con.
demned. They stand side by side
for honesty of purpose and in love of
country. One succeeded in his un-
dertaking, the other failed. Adyer-
sity is the crucible which tests
quality; Lees was tried and shone
the more brilliant than ever. Wash
ington's did not have to be put to the
test. Today England might be
shocked to hear that the portrait of
George Washington adorned the
walls of her imperial art gallery, but
1t so, would her denunciations of
"traitor" lower him in the estima-
ton OF right thinking people of every
nation, or drop him one niche in the
worlds history? We think-we kno,,
mot. That was pretty tribute the
Prince OF Wales paid to the memory
OF the immortal Washington on last
February, but it was not needed to
raise the "Father of His Country"
III our estimation. Equally true is
1t that Robert Z. Lee needs no posi-
ton In New York's Hall of Fame to
weave another thread around a
Southron's heart or add to his fame
in history.
Lincoln and Grant, We would not
detract in the least from the records
OF these great men. Their places are
also equally secure in history. But
what would they have been in adyer-
sity? Lincoln did not live to taste
it; Grant experienced a little of 1t,
and-he might have died earlier and
his name profited by it. Then, too
to retrograde-the political leader of
nation must share the odium as
we'll as the plaudits of his subordi-
mates. Grant became President in
1869; for nearly four years previous
to this his hand directed the policies
OF the government in its dealings
with the stricken South. VIrginiaus
know too well the agony of the DAYS
and years of '65-'7O, and South Car
ollna-to whom punishment to
MT century of crime was melted out
suffered still longer. Would r.
e. Lee as victor have blackened his
hands with such barbarous and in
human deeds? At an age when
memory first begins to unfold, and
Its tentacles reach out to grasp i'm
presslons that become indelible. the
writer lived in the centre of these
orgies of national shame and state
hoods humiliation. The newspaper
that dared protest against the high
handed and hcentious doings of
bastard carpet-baggers and their
freedmen allies was shut up and
mulcted to the extent of the plant
and the owners private property; an
audible whisper, only, against fiends
was punished by arrest and imprson-
ment, while at election times no
cause had to be trumpet mp to have
every reputable and high-toned
citizen marched to the guard-house
between a brace of armed negroes.
Night was turned into day, and more
than once, in what should have been
the hours of peace and slumber, the a
childish eyes were awakened by the |
awful din and tramp of burly negro a
guards, who entered the home and
took from their beds every male rela-
tive; then marched them to the guard n
house until after the elections were G
over. Like Spartacus of old we did b
not then understand in our childish n
days why tears fingered in the b
mothers eyes as day after day she {
would sit by the window and see r
'quads of these blacks marching the ..