The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1903-02-12
WAR ONLY ON ARMED MEN.

I'D di1 1lliiti ti SA-So N!lCi vi
the Union, as one who did his best i'll
honest, even fight to destroy that
fragment of the army of the Confed-
eracy to which he found himself Op-
posed, | rejoice that no such hatred
attaches to the name of Lee. Reck-
less of life to attain the legitimate
ends of war, he sought to mitigate
its horrors. Opposed to him at Get
tysburg, | here 40 years later, do
him Justice.
NO more creditable order ever
issued from a commandina general
than that formulated and signed by
Robert E. Lee as at the close of June,
1868, he advanced on a war of inva-
sion. No greater disgrace, he then
declared, can befall the army and
through it our whole people than the
perpetration of barbarous outrages
upon the innocent and defenseless.
Such proceedings not only disgrace
the perpetrators and all connected
with them, but are subversive of the
discipline and efficiency of the army
and destructive 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 again kill and
burn; to make war hell. He did not
proclaim that he wanted no prison
ers. He did not enioin it upon his
soldiers as a duty to cause the peo-
pie of Pennsylvania to remember
they had been there. thank Heaven
he did not. He at least, though a
Confederate in arms, was still an
American, and not lilly nor a
Melac.
"And here, as soldier of the Army
of the Potomac, let me bear my tes-
timony to such of the Army of
Northern Virginia as may now be
present. While war at best is bad,
yet it's necessary and unavoidable
badness was not in that campaign
enhanced. In scope and spirit Lees
order was observed, and | doubt if a
hostile force ever advanced in an en-
emy's country or fell back from it in
retreat leaving behind it less cause
OF hate and bitterness than did the
Army of Northern Virginia in that
memorable campaign which culmi-
mated at Gettysburg. Because he
was a soldier Lee did not feel it in
cumbent upon him to proclaim him
self a brute or to eXhOrt his follow
ers to brutality.
A STATUE IN WASHINGTON.
Il have paid my tribute One
word more and | have done. Some
six months ago in certain academ-
ic address at Chicago l called to
mind the fact that a statue of Oliver
Cromwell now stood in the yard of
Parliament House in London, close
to that historic hall of Westminster
from the roof of which his severed
head had once looked down. Calling
to mind the strange changes of feel
ing evinced by the memory Of that
grinning skull and the presence of
that image of bronze, remembering
that Cromwell, once traitor and regi-
eide, stood now conspicuous among
England S wOrthiest and most hon
ored, | asked: Why should it not
also be so with Lee? Why should
not his eftigy, erect on his charger
and wearing his insignia of Confed-
crate rank, gaze from his pedestal
across the Potomac at the Virginia
shore and his once dearly loved home
in Arlington? He, too, is one of the
precious possessions of what is an
essential factor in the nation that
now is and is to be.
"My suggestion was met with an
answer to which | would now make
reply. 1t was objected that such a
memorial was to be provided for
from the National Treasury and
that Lee, educated at West Point,
holding for years the commission of
the United States, had borne arms
against the nation. The rest | will
not repeat. The thing was pro-
nounced impossible.
"Now let me here explain myself
1 never supposed that Robert E..
Lees statue in Washington would
be provided for by an appropriation
from the National Treasury. | did
not wish it; do not think it fitting.
Indeed, | do not rate high statues
erected by Act of Congress and paid
for by public money. They have
small significance. Least of all would
| suggest such a one in the case OF
Lee Nor was it so with Cromwell. His
efiy is a private gift, placed where it
is by an Act of Parliament. SO,
when the time is ripe, should it be
with Lee, and the time will come.
When it does come the effigy, as
signed to its place merely by Act OF
Congress- should bear some such in
scription as this:
ROBERT EDWARD LEE,
Erected by Contributions of Those Who,
Wearing the Blue or Wearing the Gray,
Recognize Brilliant Military Achieve
ments and Lofty Character
Honor Greatness and Humanity in War
And Devotion and Dignity in Defeat.
At the conclusion of Mr.. Adams
address he received great applause.
Cures rheumatism and Catarrh
Medicine Sent Free.
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