The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1903-02-12
came in time common property and
equality the glory OF all.
LEES HUMANITY IN ARMS

=
have said, a Massachusetts man, as
we'll as member of the Loyal Legion
to do honor to the memory of him
who was chief among those once set
in array against us. OF him what
shall | say? Essentially a soldier, as
a soldier Robert E. Lee was a many
sided man. | might speak of him as
strategist, but of this aspect of the
man enough has perhaps been said
| might refer to the respect, the con-
tidence and love with which he inspired
those under his command. ] might
dilate on his restraint in victory, his
resource and patient endurance in
the face OF adverse fortune; the serene
dignity with which he in the end
triumphed over defeat. But, passing
over all these well-wOrn themes, |
shall cOnfine myself to that one at
tribute of his which, recognized in a
soldier by an opponent, l cannot but
regard as his surest and lOftiest title
to enduring fame | refer to his hu-
manity in arms and his scrupulOus
regard for he most advanced rules Of
civilized warfare.
"Gn this point two views, / am
well aware have been taken from the
beginning and still are advanced. On
the one side it is cOntended that war
fare should be strictly confined to
combatants and it's horrors and de-
vastations brought within the mar
rOWest limits; that private property
should be respected and devastation
and violence limited to that neces-
sary to overcome armed opposition
at the vital points of conflict. This
by some. But, On the other hand,
it is insisted that such a method of
procedure is mere cruelty in disguise;
that war at bestis hell and that true
humanity lies in exaggerating that
hell to such an extent us to make it
uncomfortable. By so doing it isforced
to a speedy end
CONTRASTS IN THE PAST.
''On this issue | stand with Lee.
Moreover, looking back over the
awful past, replete with mans inhu-
manitY to man, | insist that the YER
diet of history is distinct. That war
is hell at best, then make it hell in
deed-that cry is not original with
US; far from it. 1t echoes down the
ages. Take Europe for example. Let
me cite two instances separated by
half a century and two names which
have come down to us loaded with
execration and sunken deep in in
fanny. The instances are the repeated
and complete devastation OF what
was known as the Palatinate-once
during the Thirty Years War and
again at the order of Louis XIV; the
names of Tilly and Melac.
You have heard of Tilly and of
the sack of Madgeburg. Tilly fully
believed in making war hell-fast,
furious and bloody. His orders were
to kill and burn, burn and kill, and
burn and kill again. He wanted no
prisoners and none was made. The
more his subOrdinates killed and the
more they burned the better he was
pleased. He wished the Palatinate
to be made Il bowling wilderness. 1t
is a familiar story, the lamentation
and an ancient tale OF wrong, and
you remember it's outcome Even
today, as we read the story of those
horrors centuries ago, we thrill with
vindictive pleasure when the humane
Gustavus AdOlphus sprang into the
arena and bore down helfs advocate
in hopeless defeat and irrevocable
death.
CRUELTY BEGETs CRUELTY.
again, 80 years later, the same
gospel of hell is proclaimed and en-
forced. Once more the Palatinate is
devastated by sword and fire. War
is hell; then make it hell indeed, and
have it over. They did make it hell,
but was it over? Was it even short
ened? A French general, Melac by
name, acting for Louis XIV, repeated
Tilly's work; he could not improve
it. He also believed that to carry on
war, disguise it as we may, it is to be
cruel. 1t is to kill and burn, burn
and kill, and again burn and kill.
The Great Monarch desired him also
to bear himself as to leave on the in
habitants of the Palatinate an i'm
preston that future generations
would know that he had been there.
He did so bear himself.
''What was the result? He'll was
indeed let loose, but so was hate.
Was the war made shorter? No, not
by an hour. 1t was simply made
needlessly bitter, brutal and barbar-
Gus. To this day the ruins Heidel-
burg remain Melac's monument. Re-
membered to be cursed, pilloried with
Tilly, his name is in the Palatinate a
household word.
"SiN generations of men have since
passed, and today, with those of the
seventh, Melac is a name there given
to dogs. Many of you have doubt
less stood, as have |, on the still
shattered and crumbling battlements
of Heidelberg. looking out over the
peaceful valley of the Necker and lis
tening to its murmuring flow. Thirty
years ago l was there and | vividlv
recall a little incident strikingly illus
trative 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
saw it again year or two ago; but
when | saw it first in 1872 it bore an
inscription, an inscription eloquent
of hate. Melac had in March, 1859,
blown up the castle. burned the
town and devastated the surround
ing country-given future genera
tions to know that he had 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 in
flicted on the French the misery and
shame of Sedan; they beseiged and
captured Paris. Two years afterward,
in 1872, read this inscription in let
ters large and black beneath the por-
trait of Melac at Heidelberg: 1859
Avenged 1871 They had indeed
been given cause to remember, nor
l. i al loh +xr-|