The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1903-02-03

is hell-then make it hell, indeed
and have it over. They did make it
hell--but was it overp Was it short
ened evenP A French general, Melao
by name, acting for Louis XIV, re-
peated Tilly's work; he could not i'm.
prove it. He also believed that to
carry on war, disguise it rs we may,
it is to be cruel. It is to kill and
burn, burn and kill; and again kill
and burn. The great monarch de
sired him also 80 to bear himself as
to leave on the inhabitants of the
Palatlnate an Impression that future
generations would know he had
been there. He did so bear himself
what was the resultP He'll was
indeed let loose; but 80 was hate.
Was the war made shorterp No;
not by an hour. 1t was simply made
needlessly bitter, brutal and berba
rous. To this day the ruins of Hei.
delberg remain Melac's monument.
Remembered to be cursed-pillored
with Tilly-his name is in the Palat-
mate household word. Six genera
tions Of men have since passed, and,
| today, with those of the seventh,
Melac is a name there given to dogs
Many of you have doubtless stood,
as have l, on the still shattered and
crumbling battlements of Heidelberg,
looking out over the peaceful valley
Of the Necker, and listening to it's
murmuring flow. Thirty years ago
[ was there, and l wildly recall q
little incident strikingly illustrative
OF the exact opposite of what [ am
here today to say of Lee. A portrait
of Melac hung in the gallery of the
castle. 1t hangs there still where
saw it again year or two ago;
but when saw it first, il 1872, it
bore an inscription, an inscription
eloquent of hate. Melac had, in
March, 1850, blown up the castle,
burned the town, and devastated the
surrounding country-given future
generations to know he bad been
there. A Frenchman, he made war
hell to the German. Nearly two
centuries later the turn Of Germany
came. Then, in 1870, devastating
France, they inflicted on the French
the misery and shame of the Sedan;
they besiegeG and captured Paris
Two years afterwards, IN 1872, read
this inscri ption in letters large and
black beneath the portrait of Melac
at Heidelberg: 1859. Vergolten.
1871 They had indeed been given
canse to remember; nor had they for
gotten. The debt, two centuries old,
had been computed with interest;
and payment exacted in blood and
fame
GAS an Americon-aa an ex.soldi-
or of the Union-as one who did his
best in honest, even fight, to destroy
that fragment of the army of the
Confederacy to which he found him.
self opposed rejoice THAT no such
hatred attaches to the name of Lee.
Reckless of life to attain the legiti-
mate ends of war, he sought to miti-
gate its horrors. Opposed to him at
Gettysburg, | here, !orty years later,
do him justice. No more creditable
order ever issued from command,
ing general than that formulated and
signed by Robert e. Lee as, at the
close of juno, 1868, he advanced on
war of invasion. No greater dis
grace he then declared, 'can befall
the army and through it our whole
people, than the perpetration of bar
barous outrages upon the innocent
and defenseless. Such proceedings
not only disgrace the perpetra, ors
and al! connected with them, but
are subversive of the discipline and
efficiency of the army, snd destruc.
tive of the ends Of our movement.
1t must be remembered that we make
war only on armed men, Lee did
not, like Tilly and Melac, exhort his
followers to kill and burn, and burn
and kill and aguin kill and
burn. He did not proclaim that
he wanted no prisoners. He did not
enjoin it upon his soldiers as duty
to cause the people Of Pennsylvania
to remember they had been there.
| thank heaven he did not. He at
last, though Confederate in arms,