The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1904-01-20


He is one of fhe highest living mil
itary authorities. What he says of the
Confederacy and General Lee should
be read by all Southerners.
Lord Wolseley was one of the British
officers hurried to Canada with their
regiments at the time of the Trent af-
fair. There is no doubt that, unless
the captured envoys, Messrs. Slidell
aud Mason, had been returned, and
due apologies for their capture had
been made, we should have found our
selves involved in war with Great
Britain. Lord Wolseley's comment on
the incident runs as follows: Gone Of
the very shrewdest of men and most
sagacious of citizens, Mr.. Abraham
Lincoln, was then President, and was
determined to suppress what the peo-
ple of the Northern States regarded as
the rebellion of the Southern States.
But he was wise enough to realize that
he could not do so Ii our fleet, by keep
ing open the Southern ports, enabled
the young Confederacy to obtain from
Europe anything they required for
their war. Without doubt thousands
of recruits from all parts of Europe
would have poured in through the
ports we should have kept open. He,
therefore, most wisely determined to
disown the overzealous act of by no
means far-seejng naval captain, and ac-
c'rdingly, with apologies for the insult
offered to our flag, he delivered over to
us the ENJOYS who had been taken by
force from British merchant ship.
Thus ended an episode that must have
brought on terrible war if the United
States had then been ruled by an ordi-
nary man."
VISIT TO LEE.
In the autumn of 1862 our author,
Col. Wolseley, paid a visit to the Con-
federacy and spent some days at the
headquarters of Gen. Lee, not long
after tina, commander had been re-
pulsed by Mcclellan at Antietam. The
impressions made upon the English
visitor were set forth in an article con-
tributed to Blackwood's Magazine in
January, 1868. Lord Wolseley tells us
that, though he has had the privilege
OF meeting Won Moltke and Prince
Bismarck, yet to him Lee seemed the
ablest General and greatest man he
has ever conversed with. ''Forty
years have come and gone since our
meeting, yet the majesty of his manly
bearing, the genial, winning grace,
the sweetness of his smile and the inn
pressive dignity of his old fashioned
style of address, come back to me
among the most cherished of my recol-
lections. His greatness made me hum
BILE, and | never felt my own insignif-
canoe more keenly than 1 did in his
presence. Care had already wrinkled
his brow, and there came at moments
look of sadness into his clear, honest
and speaking dark brown eyes, that in
dicated how much his overwhelming
national responsi oility had already told
upon him.
LOOKED INTO YOUR HEART.
AS he listened to you attentively he
seemed to look into your heart and TO
search your braic. He spoke of the
future with confidence, though one
could clearly see he was of no very
sanguine temperament. He deplored
The bitterness introduced into the
struggle, and also the treatment of the
Southern folk who fell into hostile
hands. But there was no rancor In
his tone when he referred to the
Northern government--not even when
he described how they had designedly
destroyed his home at Arlington
Heights, the property on tho Potomac
he had inherited from Gen. Washing.
ton. This was, indeed, a beautiful
character, and of him 1t might truth
fully be written: In righteousness he
did Judge and make war;" Lee
talked with utmost fcankness with
Col. Wolseley about the incidents OF
the recent battle at Atietam. "He
spoke very nicely Of Gen. Mcclellan
and Of the electric effect his reappoint.
ment to command the Northern army
had had upon all its soldiers. 1t was
this, gathered from his conversation,
that alone had, in his opinion, saved
Washington from capture by the army
with which Lee had invaded Maryland.
This recall Of Mcclellan had not been
foreseen. The well known jealousy
entertained of him by Stanton, Seward
and Gen. Halleck was so great, on ac-
count of the attachment felt for him
by all ranks in the Northern army,
that his recall to power had not been
regarded as possible factor In the
calculation of chances which deter
mined the Invasion of Maryland. The
result was that, when 1t did take place,
Lees Immediate designs upon Wash
ington were checkmated. In his dis
cussion OF the battle at Autietam the
Confederate commander expressed to
Col. Wolseley the conviction that he
had but 5000 fresh men toward eye-