The gold leaf., 1902-11-20

Grand Army of the Republic Il
Washington-Utterances that Mus
Have Given Offense to Brave ant
Magnanlmous Men North and Soutl
Baltimore Sun.
At the recent encampment of tn,
Grand Army OF the Republic in Wash
ington many things occurred to graf
ify those who glory in a reunited
country and desire that good feeling
and fraternity shall take the place o
the animOsities of the Civil war
Nearly all the brave soldiers on botl
sides wanted the war to end at AID
pomattOx. Grant said: "Let us hav.
peace!" and Lee urged his disbandeG
soldiers to return in all sincerity anC
good faith to their allegiance to the
United States. Happily, the good
advice and the example of brave mer
have prevailed, and the veterans o
the Blue and of the Gray who came
out of the war with untarnished
records unite with the men and wo
men of the generation which has
grown up since the war, in pro
noting patriotism and fraternity
among the people of our common
country.
But such sentiments have no place
in the hearts of the skulkers, the
camp followers and the deserters,
who occupy so large space on the
rolls of the pension department. The
work of the ghOuls and the jackals
and hyenas begins after the battle
has ceased. The assault of one man
upon the memory of Robert +. Lee
at the Grand Army Encampment, we
have no doubt, gave as much offense
to the real soldiers the Union as to
the soldiers of the Confederacy. But
it need give Offense to none. Robert
f. Lees fame is entirely safe and far
beyond the reach of the man who
is as hot in faction as he is cold in
fight
Some time ago Mr. Charles Francis
Adams, of Massachusetts, made "a
speech in Chicago, in which he proph-
esied that the time will come when
'the bronze effigy of Robert E. Lee,
mounted on his charger and with the
insignia of his Confederate rank, will
from it's pedestal in the nations
capital, look across the Potomac at
his old home at Arlington, even as
that of Cromwell dominates the yard
at Westminster upon which his skull
once looked down. When that time
comes Lees monument will be educa-
tional-it will typify the historical
appreciation of all THAT goes to make
up the loftiest type of character,
military and civic, exemplified in an
opponent once dreaded, but ever re-
spected; and, above all, it will sym
bolize and commemorate that loyal
acceptance of the consequences of de-
feat and the patient upbuilding of a
people under new conditions by con-
stitutiOnal means, which | hold to be
the greatest educational lesson
America has yet taught to a once
skeptical but now silenced world"
But this does not suit the Grand
Army speaker If there is any money
to spend for monuments, he said, let
the monuments be to those who
fought for the Union, and not to
traitors In his speech already re-
ferred to, Mr.. Adams discussed this
proposition, and showed that Lee
was just the same kind of traitor
that George Washington was. Itwas
Washington's dearest wish as boy
to obtain a commission in King
Georges navy. Suppose that wish
had been gratified and Washington
had held that commission when Eng
gland made war on Virginia Would
Washington have been traitor if he
had resigned that commission and
had taken up arms for the defense OF
his home and his people? Or would
he have been a traitor if he had re.
manned i'm the service and fought his
native land and stained his hands
with the blood of Virginians? Lee
had the same situation to face and
this is the way he discussed it:
''In my own person | had to meet
the question whether | should take
part against my native State. Will
all my devotion to the Union and the
feeling of loyalty and duty of al
American citizen, | have not beer
able to make up my mind to rais'
my hand against my relatives, my
children, my home. have, therefore
resigned my commission in the army
and, save in defense of my native
State, | hope | may never be callet
on to draw nv sword
The man who can term the faithful
heart which conceived these senti
ments "a traitor" has not in hin
those qualities which enable men Il
| understand what loyalty and trutl
| and devotion TO duty are. When Le
gave UP his commission he resigned
and he knew it, the reward whicl
came to Grant. Grant was a brav'
man and "a great soldier, and he knew
Lee, and never uttered one disrespect
full word concerning him. Theodor
Roosevelt is a brave man, and b
said Lee was the greatest general O
the English-speaking race, althougl
his chief opponent ranked with Well
ington and Marlborough.
When the time comes for the fulfill
ment of Mr.. Adams prophecy, as j
will come, the bronze statue OF lie
looking toward Arlington will be tn
grandest monument possessed by tn
capital OF the greatest country {
modern times This monument wi
teach lesson OF patriotism, OF sci
sacrifice and self-abnegation, OF faitf
fulness unto death, Of modesty an
of moderation, of military greatnes
and civic virtues. And when 'tha
monument shall have crumbled int