Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1909-08-24
IN GENERAL LEES DEFENSE.

10 tne E'utOr OF Inc ot. Louis hepuOlics
The besottedly and cbaracteristicall!
Bourbon editorial in a mornirg repub
lican newspaper iu regard to placing
statue Of General Robert E. Lee In tht
federal Capitol calls for an answer.
The writer of the editorial, would ex
clude the statues because, forsooth. to hil
malignant and narrow brain, Genera
Lee led The southern army 10 the lst'
war between the states snd is not, mex
to Washfngtons, vi ginia's greatet son.
As to the lstter reason, 1t Is sufficien
10 say that the people OF Virginia hav'
decided that question for Themselves
once and forever, and they will not brooE
the interference OF smsll.minded inter
nedlers full oil rstslesDake venom t0wsrC
the southern people.
1t is true thst the Old Dominion Is th'
teemiug mother of great men, but, 70
genius coupled with chsrscer, and ss th'
heoric defender of pluudered aud con
q1ered people they have preferred Lse.
No pen can describe the agony OF BIZ
great beait for the unpsrslled suf .rlne
his people. They Iowa him in reiurl
with q desdless love.
Roosevelt has written that Robert E.
Lee was the greatest soldier Of the Eng
gllsh.speakiug people, greater than Mar
borough, greater than Wellington, snC
greater than Grant, and the verdict of tn
great soldiers of the wcrld confirms thi
eltimste.
Lord Wolssley, late commaDder.in-
chief of the British forces, said that bt
hsd met Bismarck, Won Moltke, Glad
stone, Csvour, aud all the other great
men of his day, but that General Lee
impressed him more than any one he
had ever met, and that he was overa we'd
By the nobleness of his character and
the simple mtj ,sty and d gnity OF his
manner.
Soon after the close of the civil war,
when General Lee was penniless, and
Virginia was q smoking ruin, be wss
offered position by a New York insur-
ance company, at salary OF $12, 0C0 a
year. He declined 1t on the ground
that he had had no experience in the
insurance. business, and, therefore, could
not earn such salary. When he was
told that sll the insurance company
wanted was his Influence with the
southern people, he replied with these
memorable words: "My Influence with
the southern people is not for ssle,
auh be accepted the position as president
of Washington College, at a salary
of IS, 900 year, and, until his death,
devoted his talents and valuable expert.
euce towards rebuilding the fortunes Of
his devasted and bleeding country.
Would to God that the United States
Senate had 10 the place Of Aldrich, De-
pew, Piat, Penrose, ''et Id omne alisd
genus scsIeratoruw, decoy ducks and
stool pigeons for the benefciaries Of the
criminal trusts and monopolies, men Of
the exq1isitely honorable instincts Of
Robert E. Lee.
As to his having espoused the south
ern cause, General Lee, as we'll az
StoneWall Jackson, Joseph E. Johnston,
Albert Sidney, Johnston, Jefferson
Davies, ]. E. B. Stuart, LoDgstreet
aud many others, while cadets at West
Point, we're taught constitutional Law
from book on that subject written BY
Mr.. Rswle, an eminent Philadelphis
lawyer, and in this book the right oi
secession was distinctly recognized and
admitted. Furthermore, General Lee
simply put into practice the right o.
secession expressly asserted by TIT
legislature of Massachusetts, when they
passed a resolution 10 1911 declaring
that the Congress Of the United StsteI
had no constitutional power or authority
to admit Louisiana into the union, anC
that If the Congress should do so, il
would then be proper for Massachusetts
to consider the expediency, as she hsC
the undoubted right, to secede from th'
| Union.
General Lse also remembered that 10
sish @ Qllncy, for many years 8 congress
man from Massachusetts, aud aflerwsrd
president of Harvard College, at the sam'
date publicly declared that If the Con
gress admitted Louisiana into the uniOr
| It would violate the federal constitution
and Massachusetts, would have q right t
secede.
General Lee slso bad the example o
the nullifcstion and secession convsn
lion held at Hartford In 1914 Nothing
bat the early termination Of the war o
1912, five months thereafter, prevented
New England actually seeding from tb
union. As 1t was, large number o
the most influential men of New Eog
land did sill In their power 10 cripple tn
national government in Its Management
of the var.
When General Lee was confronted
with the necessity Of either 6ghting BIZ
own kin and neighbors or lighting thoS,
who had for more than thirty year
foully slandered and libeled his owl
people, be naturally chose his people
cause.
CORNELIUS Il. FAUNTLERoY.