Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1907-01-20

ant: and yet more glad had It been the
fortune OF the command IN which / served
years have since gone. Their close finds
me here today-certainly, a much older
and, in my own belief at least, a, wiser
resentative Of Massachusetts,, speaking in
the senate Of the United States, shortly
after Lees death, upon the question OF
return TO Lees family OF the ancestral es-
tate Of Arlington, used thees words: Flo
quent senators have already characterized
commemorate. I am not disposed to speak
for General Lee. IL is enough to say he
s STANDS hlgn IN the eataiogue on nose VINO
blood. hand him over to the avenging
pen OF history 1t so chances that not
only am ! also from the state Of Massa-
chusetts but for more than a dozen years
have been the chosen head Of its typical
historical society-the society chartered un-
wealth considerably more than a century
ago-the parent of all similar societies.
BY no means would on that account seem
character as respects the employment of
history's pen, whether avenging or other
tive Of the Massa chusetts Historical So
ciety; but, whole generation having
passed away since Charles Sumner uttered
vitatlon, chance TO stand here today, as I
have said, both a Massachusetts man and
the head OF the Massachusetts Historical
dramatic.
First Yankee to Speak.
SO far as I am aware never until now
has one born and nurtured in Massachu-
sette-a typical bred-ln-the- bone yankee,
Il you please-addressed at its invitation
the war Of secession and its foremost con-
federate military character.
against e in that section Sie V Of the eommon
country TO which 1 belong and with which
I sympathize, is that in plain language,
he was false to his hag-educated at the
national academy, officer Of the United
States army, he abjured his allegiance
and bore arms against the government he
had sworn to uphold. In other words he
was military traitor. l state the charge
IN the terstest language possible. Having
done So, and admitting the facts as
much patient study and most mature re-
hection, that under similar conditions 1
would myself have done exactly what Lee
Coming directly to the point, maintain
that every man in the eleven states seced-
Ing from the union had In 1861, whether he
would or not to decide for himself whether
to adhere to his state or TO the nation;
and finally assert that whichever way
he decided II only he decided honestly,
right
But this. It will be replied though true
| OF the ordinary man and citizen, should
not have been true OF the graduate Of the
M tba q9adspy the %GSr Of the army
| George G.. Thomas did not so construe
| their allegiance; when the issue was
presented. they remained true to their
| flag and to their oaths. Robert e. Lee
| false to his oath and flag, was renegade
Answer to Proposition.
The answer is brief and to the point
| the conditions in the several cases were
was Lee. 1t was our Boston DIR. Holmes
who long ago declared that the child's ed
ucation begins about $50 years before 1t
| is born; and 1t is quite impossible to sep
arate any man-least OF all, perhaps, a full
blooded Virginian-from his prenatal ira
| ditions and living environment. From
lists. Robert e. Lee was the embodiment
| OF those conditions, the creature of that
enyironment-a ,virginian OF virginians; TO
ask Lee to raise his hand against vir-
| ginta was like asking Montrose or Mac
Callum to head a force designed for
the subjeotion Of the Highlands and
such a stern election is forced upon a man
as confronted Lee the single thing the
account is the loyalty, the single minded
ness of the election. Was 1t devoid of
selhshness; was it fresh from any baser
and more sordid worldly motive, ambition,
pride, Jealousy, revenge or self-interest?
To this question there can, in the case of
Lee, be but one answer. When. after long
his fate with Virginia he knowingly sac
rfced everything which man prizes most
port, his professional standing, his asso-
| clates, a brilliant future assured to him.
| Born a Shareholder In race of slavehold-
ers, he was himself no defender, much less
an advocate of slavery; on the contrary
he did not hesitate to pronounce It In his
he manumitted his slaves. He did not be.
leve In secession; as a right reserved un-
der the constitution he pronounced 1t Idle
talk" but, Virginian, he also added
III the government is disrupted, l shall re-
turn to my native state and share the
miseries of my people and save in defense
will draw my sword on none"
Early Days of War.
Napoleon is alleged first to have re
marked that In war men are nothing;
man is everything" AS former soldier
OF the Army St t9 is F9tTmaS nov staaS
anterior to July, 1863, when confronting
the Army Of Northern Virginia, com
The situation was in fact as bad with u
in the Army of the Potomac as 1t wa
with the confederates in the southwest
The unfortunate Pemberton there was sim
ply not in the same class as Grant anC
Sherman, to whom he found himself op
posed. Results there followed accordingly
So, in Virginia, Lee and Jackson made al
extraordinary, a most exceptional, combi
naticn. They outclassed them sometime
terribly, sometimes ludicrously; Away
hopelessly; and results in that case ais
followed accordingly. That we were no
utterly destroyed constitutes fiat ant
final refutal of the truth of Napoleon
aphorism.
Character Was Great.
The speaker sketched Lees caree
throughout the civil war and gave hin
high credit for his decision to surrende
at Appomattox rather than prolong tn
inevitable by guerilla warfare MI
Adams then concluded:
Speaking advisedly and on full reflection
! l say that of all the great characters o
the civil war, and It was productive o
many whose names and deeds posterit
will long bear in recollection there wa
not one who passed away in the serene al
mosphere and with the gracious bearing Q
Lee From beginning to end those partin
, years of his will bear closest scrutiny
, There was about them nothing venal, moth
ing querulous, nothing in any way sordi
or disappointing. In his case there was n
anti-climax; for those closing years Wer
A dignihed, patient useful; sweet In domes
h ITCHY they in all things commanded re
a spcct.
Because no blood flowed on the scaffol
! and no confscations OF houses or land
marked the close Of our war OF secession,
has always been assumed by us OF IN
: victorious party that extreme, indeed un
, precedented, clemency was shown to tn
vanquished, and that subsequently the
h | had no good ground of complaint or suffi
cient cause for restiYeness. That histO-
will accord assent TO this somewhat self
: complacent conviction is open to question
: On the contrary. II may not unfairly b
. doubted whether a people PROSTATE afte
| civil strife have often received severe