The National tribune., 1909-07-22
eTHE LEE STATUE.

The Minneakolis tMihn.) Journal u
one of the cieanest. snnest and most
ably edited papcrs in the country 1t
recently Said fHsa leading editorial:
| Virginia Offers as her contrlnntion
to Statuary HaH in the federal CapitoI
a bronze reproduction of the Houdon
| Washington and n marble image OF
Robert r. Lee! Il Lee is rejected, Vir-
ginia wilI it is said. withdraw wash
iington also and leave untenanted the
inches assigned to her in the room
where are to he assembled the efflgies
of the immortals of the Republic.
THE war isi-over: IL is history. and
Lee bids fair to rank as one of the
| favorite military heroes of the Amcrl-
can race. But the privilege should not
be conceded to Virginia of honoring
him in the Nations Capitol. even tho
she deems him typical of her manhood
and her chivalry.
"The Old Dominion mother of Presi-
dents, has among her sons men far
greater than Robert q. Lee. Surely
John Marshall or Thomas Jefferson is
more worthy to be paired with Wash
| ington. Lees work was destructive:
| theirs was constructive in the highest
sense.
Thomas Jefferson las left the inn
press of his thought and character
upon America for all time. There may
have been greater philosophers than
Jefferson but none-unless we except
Alexander Bamilton-eyer succeeded
| thru combination of personal force and
favorable circumstance in working a
philosophy into National institutions to
the extent that he did.
IF Virginia chooses not to offer two
heroes of the Revolutionary era, she
has an alternative in Marshall. one of
| the greatest jurists in our history, the
Chief Justice whose decisions construed
and developed the Constitution, en-
| larged and defined the idea of the Ma
ton. rendered the Federation para
| mount over the States ,and the Union
indestructible by sedition or secession
virginia. choosing Lee, the captain
of lost cause, the unsuccessful Gener-
al in destructive war, consults her
sentimentaIism. She passes over her in
tellect and true glory, her philosopher
her jurist who is the equal of Lord
Mansfield"
This is absolutely and historically
true. No two men made stronger
impress upon the history of our coun-
try than Thomas Jefferson and John
Marshall. Thomas Jefferson as an apos-
tie of the rights of man and of the
Government of the people, for the peo-
pie and by the people, which the re-
suit of the war of the rebellion estab-
lished as an eternal, dominating princi-
pie of our political Institutions. No
matter how much Jeffeison's principles
may be travested and distorted to-day
by such men as Bryan, yet as he taught
them they contained the very essence of
frIle ron,I1ar oouarpr,a,,f op6 tI,a paor
er We can keep the practical applica-
ton of these principles to the lines that
he laid down, the better will our Gov
ernment answer the purposes for which
it was founded Jefferson was truly a
statesman from the success. with which
he reduced the, best theory to the best
practice
On the 9other hand, John Marshall
was one OF the ablest jurists that ever
lived, and he laid deep and strong the
foundations upon which were built the
judicial structure of our unified nation
aiity. Thru his Interpretation of the
Constitution and the laws Marshall es-
tablished that this was Nation, and
not a mere league of States. The fame
of Marshall and, Jefferson both grow
brighter as the country develops and
the correctness of their political and
judicial principles is the more clearly
demonstrated by experience and prac-
tice. Virginia has every reason to have
the highest pride in both these men,
and If reason and not partisan prcju-
dice dominated her Legislature one Of
these men at least would have place
next to Washington in our gallery Of
fame.