The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-01-27

wanted to know whether the time had in- deed come when the old friendly feeling was restored and the foes of former generation could again talk together calmly and as brethren over issues once burning. The reception of what said justified my faith in those to whom said It. Never have I met with more cordial welcome. never did receive a more fra ternal response.
 Next came the Confederate veterans of New York. they called and 1 am here. At this banquet given in honor of the mem ory of Robert E. Lee am asked to re- spond to a sentiment in his honor, and. without reservation. 1 do so; for, as fled those lofty clements of personal char acter. which, typifying Virginia, made Washington possible. The possession of such qualities by an opponent. cannot but cause thrill of satisfaction from the sense that we also. as foes no less than as countrymen, were worthy of him and of those whom he typified. It was a great company, that old. original thir- teen; and in the front rank of that com pany Virginia. Massachusetts and South Carolina stood conspicuous. So I recog- nize peculiar fellowship between them the fellowship of those who have both contended shoulder to shoulder and fought face to face. This. however is of the past. Its is sues are settled. never to be raised again. But. no matter how much we may dis | cuss the rights and the wrongs of a day that is dead-its victories and defeats one thing is clear beyond dispute, victor and vanquished, Confederate and Union
 ist the descendants of those who be- tween 1861 and 1865. wore the gray and of
 those who wore the blue, enter as es-
 sential and as equal factors into the na- tonal life which now Is, and in future
 Is to be. Not more so Puritan and Cava- Her in England, the offspring of Crom- well and Straffori's descendants. With II AS uvit ents of either side became in time com mon property. and equally the glory of all.
 So am here this evening--as I have said. Massachusetts man as well ,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? Essential ly soldier. as a soldier Robert E. Lee was a many-sided man. 1 might speak of him as a strategist; but, of this as- pect of the man, enough has perhaps been said. l might refer to the respect, the confidence and love with which he in spired those under his command. might diate on his restraint In victory, his re- source 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, l shall confine myself to that one attribute of his which, recog- nized in a soldier by an opponent, l cam
 
 title to enduring face. I refer to his humanity in arms, and his scrupulous re- gard for the most advanced rules of civ- ilized warfare.
 On this point two views I am well
 aware have been taken from the begin ming, and still are advanced. On the one side 1t is contended that warfare should be strictly confined to combatants, and it's
 horrors and devastations brought within
 the narrowest limits-that private proper ty should be respected, and devastation and violence limited to that necessary to
 overcome armed opposition at the vital points of conflict. This by some. But, on the other hand. 1t is insisted that such a method of procedure is. mere cruelty In disguise-that war at best is hell and
 that true humanity lies in exaggeratinR
 that hell to such an extent as to make it uncomfortable. By so doing, it is forced to speedy end. On this issue, I stand with Lee. Moreover looking back over the awful past, replete with mans inhuman- fly to man, insist that the verdict of history is distinct. That war is hell at best, then make 1t hell indeed, that cry Is not original with us-faF from it. it echoes down the ages. Take Europe for example. Let me cite two instances sep arated by half century and two names which have come down to us loaded with execration and sunken deep in infamy- the instance: the repeated and com plete devastation of what was known as the Palatnate, once during the war of Thirty Years and against the order of Louis FOurteenth-the names: lilly and Lelac.
 You have heard of Tiliy and of the sack of Magdeburg. lilly fully believed in making war hell-fast, furious and bloody. His orders were 10 kill and burn, burn and kill; and burn and kill again. lie wanted no prisoners, and none were made. The more his subordinates killed and the more they burned, the better he was pleased He wished the Palatinate to be made bowling wilderness It is a familiar story, lamentation and an an- cient tale of wrong; and you remember its outcome. Even today. as we read tha story of those horrors centuries gone. we thrill with Vindictive pleasure when the humane Gustavus Adolphus sprane into the arena. and bore down heII's adsocate In hopeless defeat and irreVocable death.
 Agaln, nfty years later, the same gos- pei of Hell is proclaimed and enforced once more the palatinate is devastated by sword and fire War Is hell-then make if hell indeed-and have it over! They did make 1t hell-but was it over? Was it shortened even? A French General, Me lac by name, acting for Louis the Four teenth, repeated Tlllys work; he could not improve it. He also believed that to carry on war, disguise 1t as we may, it is to be cruel. 1t Is to kill and burn. burn and kill; and again kiJl and burn The great monarch desired htm also so to bear himself as to leave on the inhabitants of the Palatinate an impress son' that future generations would know he Hdu Deel tneFc. lie QlQ so bear nim- self.
 What was the result? Hell 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 ana barbarous. To this day the ruins Of Ilei- delberg remain Melacs monument Re membered now be cursed-pllorled with IIily-his name IS in the Palatinate a household word. Six generations of men have since passed, ana, today. with those of the seventh, MelaC Is a name there given to dogs. Many of you have douot- less stood, as have I, on the still shat tered and crumbing battlements of Ifel- delberg. looking out over the peaceful vallew of the Necker, and listening to its murmuring flow. Thirty years ago was there, and l vividly recall little in- cident strikingly illustrative of the ex- act opposite of what l am here today To say of Lee, A portrait of Meac hung in the gallery of the castle 1t hangs there stili-I saw it again a year or two ago: but when l saw it first in 1872 it btre an inscription, an inscription eloquent of hate. Malac had. in March. 16Sy blown up the castle, burned the town and deV- astated the surrounding country-g.ven future generations to know he had been there A Frenchman, he made war hell. | Later the turn of Germany came. Then. ToTn 4t.,