Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 17.djvu/383

 Robert E. Lee. 375

and wisdom that twenty-five long years of peace have fostered in the Republican press and Senate of the North towards their white fellow- countrymen of the South, and bearing in mind the negro, Mormon and Irish questions, the future of the United States may well seem problematical.

Let me present to Lee's aspersers, in the hope that they may catch — though a long way off— a portion of his spirit, the calm, dignified, and patriotic **open letter*' written by him, after the close of hos- tilities to Governor Letcher, the war Governor of Virginia. It is as follows: **The questions- which for years were in dispute between the State and general Government, and which, unhappily, were not decided by the dictates of reason, but referred to the decision of war, having been decided against us, it is the part of wisdom to acquiesce in the result and of candor to recognize the fact.

" The interests of the State are, therefore, the same as those of the United States. Its prosperity will rise or fall, with the welfare of the country. The duty of its citizens, then, appears to me too plain to admit of doubt. All should unite in honest efforts to obliterate the effects of war, and to restore the blessings of peace. They should remain, if possible, in the country — promote harmony and good feel- ing, qualify themselves to vote and elect to the State and general Legislatures wise and patriotic men, who will devote their abilities to the interests of the country and the healing of all dissensions. I have invariably recommended this course since the cessation of hos- tilities, and have endeavored to practice it myself."

In referring to the Northern press, all honor should be paid to the New York Times^ for the pure, manly and patriotic tone of its reference to Lee, in its issue of May 30. There are also some other honorable exceptions.

Of the monument, but little can be said in its praise. The pedes- tal is pretty, but that is all. If you conceal the body of the horse and its rider, you might readily think that the legs were those of a cow. After having considered the admirable and comprehensive conception and spirited design of the Canadian sculptor, Mr. Gilbert Frith, for the Lee monument, one is amazed at the choice that was made.

Lee's retirement to the comparative obscurity of an humble citizen, and the self-supporting labor of a teacher of youth, when he might have lived in luxury and been pampered and idolized abroad, was in keeping with the general tenor of his life. How like the Roman Cincinnatus, who, having rendered signal service to the Roman arms