Page:Boissonnas, Un Vaincu, English, 1875.djvu/6

 up arms.

I was reading recently a sad, but true, sentence which lead my thoughts back to the painful crisis that General Lee had struggled through between two contradictory duties. "The most difficult thing during a revolution is not to do one's duty, but to know where it lies."

If my hero made a mistake, his loyalty has never been questioned. Even his adversaries paid tribute to it when they gave him a nicknarne, sweet to French ears : "Bayard Américain"

Such as he was, I want to acquaint you with him. I believe it is good to show you, in these days of universal intolerance, that men whose nobility is not easy to equal can march under a flag that would never be ours.

Wherever God has given rise to great characters, are they not our common assets ? Are we so rich that we can afford to let our minds forget them ? To let our minds forget invigorating examples ?

Whatever the name we give to the cause served by General Lee, you will discover that, for him, it was the cause of his country ; and you will consider him worthy of being known by all those of us who hope intensely for the resurrection of the