The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1902-06-25
GEN. ROBT. E. LEE.
What Boston Man Says About Him
and His Cause.
He WAS NOT a TRAITOR SAYS BE
Charles Francis Adams Says General
Robert F.. Lee Will Have Mon
ument Erected in His Hon
or by the Government.

ument Erected in His Hon
orDy the eGovernmens.
Shall Cromwell have a statue?"
Such is the quotation with which Mr..
Charles Francis Adams perfaced the
speech which ne delivered Wednesday
before the Phi Beta. Kappa Society Of
the University Of Chicago. In open
ing his address Mr.. Adams briefly sum-
married the story of the ignominies
heaped upon the remains OF Cromwell
on the restoration of Charles II, Of the
execration in which his memory was
held by the loyalists for many years
but Of the justice that was at last ac-
corded to Cromwell more than two
centuries after his death, and the fact
that a stature Of Cromwell was erected
in the yard Of Westminster Hall,
where it now stands. Mr.: Adams
then proceeded to notice the gradual
change of Northern opinion as to the
character of the Confederate generals
and statemep and the motives which
actuated them. Having completed
his eXordium, Mr.. Adams asked abrupt
ly, shall Robert E. Lee have stat
ue?:" and then offered ssme reasons
why be should and, assuredly will,
have one, if not now, then presently"
In proceeding with his argument
Mr.. Adams then asked was Robert
E. Lee ''traitor?" and answered his
question by saying that Lee was tech
nically q traitor, just as were
George Washington, Oliver Crom-
well, John Hampden and William of
Orange" Having admitted this
much, Mr.. Adams says:
But there are, as l have said, trait
ors and traitors -CatalineS, Arnolds
and Gorgeis, as well as Cromwells,
Hampdens and Washingtons. To
reach any satisfactory conclusion con-
cerning a candidate for Everlasting
fame"-whether to praise him or to
damn him-enroll him as saviour, as
martyr, or as criminal-it is, therefore,
nescSsary still further to discriminate.
The cause, the motive, the conduct
must be passed In review. Did tur-
pitude anywhere attach to the original
taking of sides or to subsequent act?
Was the man a self-seeker? Did low
or sordid motives impel him9 Did he
seek to aggrandize himself at his
country's cost? Did he strike with a
parriadal hand?
These are grave questions; and, in.
the case of Lee, their consideration
brings US at the threshold face to face
with issues which have perplexed and
divided the country since the day the
United States became country. They
perplex and divide historians now.
Mr.. Adams then entered into an elab-
crate discussion Of the nature Of the
contest between the seeding States
and the General Government, and the
course and conduct of Gen. Lee and
the motives which actuated him.
What we wish to do here is toindicate
the standpoint from which Mr.. Adams
speaks and to call attention to his con-
clusions after a careful study Of Gen.
Lees career. These conclusions are
best indicated by the following ex-
tracts from the closing paragraphs OF
his Speech:
The year 1865 will look upon its
causes. it's incidents and it's men with
different eyes from those with which
We see them now-eyes wholly different
from those with which we saw them
forty years ago. They-for we by
that time will have rejOined the gen
erauion to which we belonged-will
recognize the somewhat essential fact,
Individually true, that all the honest
conviction, all the loyalty, all the pa
triotic devotion and self-sacrifce were
not then. any more than all the cour-
age, on the victor'S side. True. the
moral right. the spirit of nationality,
The sacred cause of humanity even,
were On our side: those among opposed,
and who in the end went down, were
men not less sincere, not less devoted,
not less truly patriotic according to
their lights than he who among us
was first in all those qualities. Men
of whom it was and is a cause Of pride
and confidence to say-They, too,
were countrymen."
Typical OF those men-moSt typical
was Lee. He represented, individ-
ualized, all that was highest and best
in the Southern mind and the Confed-
crate cause.-the loyalty to State, the
keen sense Of honor and personal obll-
cation, the slightly archaic. the al
most patriarchal, love of dependent,
family and home. AS l have more
than once said, he was Firginian of
the FirginianS. He represents type
which is gone-hardly less extinct than
that of the great Englis, n,blemen of
the feudal times, or the ideal head of
the Scotch clan of later period: but
just so long as men admire courage,
devotion, patriotism, the high sense
Of duty and personal honor-all, in
word, which go to make up what we
know as character-just so long will
that type Of man be held in affection
ate. reverential memory.
1t is all a question Of time: the time
is, probably, not quite yet. The
wounds Of the great war are not alto
gether healed, it's personal memories
are still fresh, it's passions not wholly
allayed. Itwould, indeed, be won
der if they were. But l ain as con-
rinced as an unilllumined man can be
of anything future that, when such
time does come, justice not done now
will be done to those descendants of
Washington. OF Jefferson, OF Rutledge
and of Lee, who stood opposed to US in
IoT n