Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1902-06-23
THE WORLDS VERDICT.

The time has come already when Robert
E. Lee Is regarded as a national hero, and
not merely the superb military chieftain
Of the Southern Confederacy.
This estimate is so often proclaimed by
men who contended with General Lee in
arms and by their descendants who have
come upon the stage of action since that
grand figure passed away that it is now
recognized as the verdict of his fellow
countrymen of every section.
1t was registered as the judgment Of inn
partial nations long ago.
Mr.. Charles Francis Adams, of Boston,
in his ration before the Phi Beta Kappa
society, of Chicago, Wednesday paid a
splendid tribute to General Lee which
will touch the heart of the south and re-
ceive the cordial appreciation of the north.
The words of an illustrious son of Mas
sachusetts on this occasion constitute one
of the broadcast and noblest expressions of
true American liberality and patriotism
that the country has heard in a long time.
Mr.. Adams said:
Virginia did not take its place in the
secession movement because of the cleo
ton of an anti-slavery president It did
not raise its hand against the national
6OFNAAuiNnl lOT mere love OF any peculiar
institution, or wish to protect and per-
petuate 1t. Virginia made state sovereign
ty cardinal article of its political creed.
To us now this position seems worse than
illogical Yet, after all, it is based on the
great fundamental principle of the con-
sent of the governed.
Il hold 1T to be certain that the year
1865 will recognize the somewhat essential
fact that all the honest conviction all the
1nx-a1fy tho M
self-saerihce were not any more than all
the courage on the victor's side.
Lee represented, individualized, all that
was highest and best in the southern
mind, and the Confederate cause, the 10y
atty to state the keen sense of honor and
personal obligation, the slightly archaic,
the almost patriarchal love of dependent
family and home.
II look forward with confidence to the
time when the bronze efTigy of Robert e.
Lee, mounted on his charger, and with it's
insignia of his Confederate rank will,
from its pedestal in the nations capital
look across the Potomac at his old home
at Arlington.
when that time comes Lees monu-
ment will typify the historical apprecia-
ton of all that goes to make up the
loftiest type of character, military and
civic, exemplihed in an opponent, once
dreaded, but ever respected.
above all it will symbolic and COM
memorate that loyal acceptance of the
consequences Of defeat and the patient
ipSuilding of a people under new cOndi-
tions by constitutional means, which I
hold to be the greatest educational lesson
America has yet taught, to once skepu-
cal, but now silenced world"
Sentiments like these help to bind the
once severed sections of the United States
close together once more.
The people of the north and those of the
south give each other due cridit for hon
esty of purpose, as well as a splendor of
courage and an almost unrivalled heroism
in the civil war.
They are coming constantly closer to-
gether in this high and honorable feeling
and in the unstinted admiration and love
of Robert Edward Lee as one of the lau-
relied heroes of the world.