The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1903-07-29
LEE, TRE PLTMOT.
Ray. ynlan Abbott Endorses Judge
Emory speer's Estimate Of Gei-
eraI Robert E. Lee.
SIJMTER, 8. o..
81 so pal. sanum-in advance.

gshe following editorial IN the Out
lock of July II viii Indicate the i'm
nrassion made on the liberal thought
Of rhe count-F by Judge sspeer's Emory
college address on General Lee:
The Loyalty Of Robert =. Lee.
A5 the commencement exercises OF
Encry college, at Oxford, Ga., Judge
Emory Speee made an eloquent plea.
for the honoring Of Robert Z. Lee, the
commander of the Confederate armies,
as national hero. After g brief ac-
couns os General Lees ancestry and
education, and an explanation CT the
motives which determined his decision
TO support the Confederate cause IN
spite of his dread and hatred OF dis.
union, Judge Speer sketched IN warm
and yivid southern phrase his career
and compartment during the war, and
rscounting incidents and estimates
throwing light on his character, at
once spiritual and human, chiyalrous
and practical, aggressive and unsel-
Hsh. brave and mild humble and
sdigna6ed, concluded with an appeal
60 the nation to accept Lee among the
prsat patriots of America.
- We call attention 10 this speech of
Judge Speer,s not simply because OF
the honor it offers to man who was
worthy of admiration equally for has
coasummase military geniUs, has gentle
colrtaiRess and his hagh Christian
character, butt more especially because
of the explanation which it offers for
the course Of man Of taese qualities
ii leading armed forces against his
conntry's Aass.
Robert e. Lee was never an advocate
s Of secession. He was q. devoted sup
Doyter Of the Censti tuition and an earn
est oelieser in the Union When the
acts Of secession were passed and. the
Union was menaced, he was distressed
and d;smayee as truly as any northern
er. In letter to his wife ia January,
1851. from wlaich Judge Speer quotes,
he saws of Washington: How his
spirit weald iDe grieved could he see
the wreck of his mighty labors. 1 will
not, hcWever, permit myself to believe,
until all grounds Of hope are gone,
that the fruit of his noble deeds will
be destroyed and his precious advice
and yirtuous example will soon be for
gotten. >, And again, writing on the
same day, he says of the dissolution
OF the union that it would be the great.
est of calamities, san accumulation OF
all the evils we complain OF, and
nothing bnt revolution. Judge
Speer, himself southern man, sums
m Lees attitude with these words:
He knew shat SO soon as the cohe-
siye influence of present danger was
Withdrawn, the states to compose The
8 Confederacy might again separate. He
clearly raw that instead Of proud
and united nation, which was winning
the admiration and commanding the
respect of the world, the American
sfafss. North and South, might soon
present shameful spectacle, the de-
sDair Of the friends of popular govern
nent everywhere, snarl Of wrangling
communities. :
He might have seen the soil of the
onposing republics in war after wal
dranched in fratricidal blood =
and the genius of American freedom
ngrish by the folly and fury of those
Who once worshipped at her shrine. :"
For man with such devotion fol
the Union and such dread of anything
that might destroy it to give himself
IN the cause which aimed at its de-
struction would have been absolutely
impossible, eEcept for the strongest
conceivable motive. Robert E. Lee
found that motive in his loyalty to
9 his convictions. No motive of self-ad-
vancement and personal glory could
move him eFen when coupled width