The National tribune., 1910-09-08
ALL AGAINST LEE.
Want Law Repealed-Penalty of
Treason Has New Meaning.
More Pensions Wanted.

the question of the Lee statue and the
propriety of its being placed under the
dome of the Capitol-a building which
Lee and his men tried to reach for four
years and which they would nave
burned as the British did, if the God
of Nations had not guided the guns of
the Union forces. Be it said to their
honor, however, scarcely man who
carried a musket has approved the act
of Virginia in forcing the effigy of her
diSloyal son upon loyal people, an
act, by the way, that many of her own
best people deprecate and deplore, the
late Gen. Fitzhugh Lee being one of
these
The ritual of the G. A. r. declares
"the penalty of treason is death" How,
then, can q member of the G.. A. r. he
true to his oath of muster and at the
same time approve treason's idolized
leader, Lee?
Robert E. Lee, educated, fed and
clothed by the Government for the eX-
press purpose of defending her against
all enemies, both foreign and domestic,
was first n deSerter and then a traitor.
and confessedly for money. He said
that all the property and other inter-
ests of his wife and children were in
Virginia. and he must protect these.
Lee had small holdings of his own.
Everything had come TO him with his
wife, and when she died she left her
property, including Arlington lin which
Lee never had a penny's interestD to
her son, Gusts Lee. with the proviso
that unless he dropped the name Lee
and took the name Gusts lie was not TO
inherit it. Mrs. Lee herself seems Lot
to have revered the name Lee
Again | say "diSlOyal," because after
the bloody war precipitated by Lee and
his friends was over he lived a traitor
to the end, and died as he had lived, ''in
rebellion to recognized authority" for
he never took the oath of amnesty, and
so never became a citizen of the United
States. He was simply "a resident of
Virginia. with no political rights out
side of his State.
But the Lees were never loyal. Wash
fngton was perpetually in turmoil
with them. They were cold-blooded
selfish and ambitious, always scleming
for place and power, and trying to un-
dermine Washington; at least it is so
recorded in history. There is also q
little story of cowardice attached to one
of the Lee tribe-given name inmate
rial-and Mad Anthony Wayne" WHO
had an effective vocabulary, threatened
to send the Skedaddlng Lee to warm
er climate than that about Stony Point
if said Lee didn't about-face and clean
out the British.
The thing that has panied me most
Is that any one of our Grand Army
leaders should temporiZe with treason;
that any Commander-in-Chi of the
G. A r. who has received these high
honorS from the battered remnant of
the mighty host that subdued and con-
quered the rebelliouS South. should lend
his voice to praise or even condone
treason's embodied presentment, shell
tered between walls that should echo
only the loftiest sentiments, the most
patriotic ideas.
nf hn anl md GIn
1 am grateful for their loyalty to prin-
c1ples. adherence to which during the
war of the rebellion has brought only
SUFFERING since, at least to thousands
who with Hpain-wracked bodies have to
go on, tho million of their comrades
nave passed on to the final muster
Yet among the thousands of protests
that have read in The National Trib-
une against the Lee statue scarcely half
q dozen have favored it, and of this
tiny number / felt humiliated wounded
to the soul, to read the names of men
we have heretofore used to coniure
with in the G.. A. r.
At banquet in Boston. March "a,
1910, S. S. Burdett, Past Commander
in-Chief, said of the removal:
1t would light a fame that would set
our whole armament on fire. Why OBJ
1ect to Lee, anyhow? He was the sec
ond great figure in the greatest epoch
-faAS NoSAliS ia LiiS HpTiu has ever seen.
1 have never believed that Lees heart
was in the fight on the side where he
offered himself. He was the victim of
a cult which had taught the Southern
people that there was not and should
not be Nation, but that to the State
the supreme allegiance belonged
Later in his speech Gen. Burdett
says: I'VE might repeal the law. but
that is unthinkable."
Gen. Burdett is mistaken The law
can be repealed, and the newspapers of
law
At the same banquet in Boston Past
Commander-in-Chie Tanner declared
IN FAVOR of the Lee statue remaining in
the National Capitol.
In the Columbus Dispatch of Aug 4
read the following:
Gen. r. B. Brown, formerly Com
n1ander of the Ohio G. A r., expresses
the right sentiment in these words:
Let the statue stand in its full regalia OF
rebel gray amid those of our Rational
heroes, majestic though I'm ruin" mute eyf
dence OF the fact that the wounds inflicted
Dy The cruel scourge of war are no Longer
Ielt-that We are a reunited people under
one glorious banner. and that the words OF
the immortal Lincoln have not been forgot
ten, With malice toward none and with
charity to ALL"
In the Associated Press dispatches
appeared the following interview with
Past Commanderin-Chief Torrance:
A civil war must end and I prefer I,
believe that onrs rnded II wears ago wb+r
Grant and Lee shcathed their swords Al
AppOmattox.
The terms of the surrender iInposed II,
penalties upon the living. did they cal
for any discrediting Of the memory Of lii,
dead
The war being over. the first duty o
every patriot. North and South was to for
get as far as possible the bitterness of tn,
strife. 10 bind up the Nations wounds
and to mutually treasure the heroism an,
seIf-sacrifce of the American soldier
Gen. Lee was one of the foremost In thi
patriotic duty, and history will accord hin
high praise for his sincere aud unqualified
acceptance of the results Of the war
The chief objection urged against hi,
statue is the uniform; bnt to ciothe it II
blue would be ridiculous. As history vii
class him among the great Generals of hi
age II seems altogether becoming that h,
shoald appear In a military uniform. II no
the blue. why then it must he the gray
Is IL not strange that opposition shoul,
be directed against placiBg his statue II
the Hall Of Fame and protest made 1,
the appointment of the two former Confed
crate soldiers 10 the Supreme Bench Of tn,
United StatcsE II is the duty Of these ivy,
Justices TO construe the Constitution ant
laws Of the land in cases affecting the wei
fare Of all the people If the decisions o
these two former CoHfedCFatcs on the high
est court in the land accepted as pa
triotic. wise and lust. what possible harm
can come 10 the Republic by placing in th,
National Capitol the bronze statue OF Gen
Lee?
happily past forever. when Gen. Lee AM
his army UouIl if given unw.r hoya Il,