MEMOIRS OF GENERAL ROBERT LEE.*
A PECULIAR and touching interest belongs to this latest memorial of the abilities and high character of General Robert Lee. It has been written by General Long, for some time his Military Secretary, and afterwards a Brigadier-General of Artil- lery in the Army of Northern Virginia, a trusted officer who, since the great war closed, has been afflicted with blindness. He modestly tells the public that, desiring occupation, he learned to write on "a slate prepared for the use of the blind," and with the aid of his wife, sons, and daughter, who served as readers and copyists, and of soldier friends, who reviewed his manu- script, he was able to complete the somewhat bulky volume now given to the world. Few books have been composed under such circumstances, yet among the few are some renowned in the history of literature. The faculty of memory seems to develop with the loss of sight, and in this respect General Long is quite as remarkable as the late Professor Fawcett, whose loss to his country is so deeply felt. General Lee desired to write a narrative of his campaigns, and as he was truthful as well as temperate in all things, it can hardly be doubted that his book would have been a valuable addition to the store of military literature, which, despite its abundance, is not over- stocked with masterpieces. The cause of his inability to execute his design did not lie in himself. He died five years after the sanguinary struggle had ended, and during that short period his endeavours to procure authentic materials utterly failed. In fact, an immense mass of such documents was burned in the last disastrous retreat from Richmond, and a circular which the General sent out in order to obtain duplicates, if they existed, received no adequate response, and the War Department at Washington would not give him permission to take copies of official documents from the captured archives of the Confederacy. " He relinquished the work with less reluctance," writes General Long, "because he felt that its truths and indispensable facts must expose certain persons to severe censure," a sentence which renders it uncertain whether the censure would have fallen upon the soldiers or the politicians. General Long has not filled up the gap.
Naturally, the most valuable passages in the volume are those embedded in copious narratives of campaigning which give some glimpse of Lee himself; and as his biographer is a devoted admirer of the General, it may be assumed that we have all that was best in his singularly fine character. First of all, " it is proper to state that his ancestry may be clearly traced to the Norman Conquest,"—or, rather, to a certain " Launcelot Lee who came originally from Loudon in France." After con- quering England, the Lees figure as Crusaders ; and it is from a comrade of Richard I. that Robert was descended. His imme- diate ancestor was one Richard Lee, who went to Virginia as
Colonial Secretary in 1641, and from him came Thomas, who was Governor of the Colony, and died in 1756. Thomas had a younger brother, Henry, whose son was the " Light-Horse Harry " of the Revolution, and Robert was the youngest son of Washington's dashing comrade. It is recorded that he was born on January 19th, 1807, in the same room at Stratford, Westmoreland County, in which were born two Lees, " signers of the Declaration of Independence;" so that he had family
honours enough behind him, both English and Colonial, to give him the lustre of ancestry. Four years after his birth, his father removed to Arlington, then sought to repair his broken health by a voyage to the West Indies, but never saw his home again, dying on his return in South Carolina. The youthful Robert, it is written, became practically head of the house and domestic manager at the age of eleven, under the direction of his mother. " He was her housekeeper," writes one of his cousins, " relieved her of all domestic cares, looked after • Memoirs of Robert E. Lee: his Military and Personal History. By A. L. Long. London: Sampson Low and Co.
the horses, and did the marketing for the family." Not a bad initial career for a General, who is really a man of business—and such a business—on an enormous scale. His mother, it is said, taught him " self-denial, self-control, and the strictest economy," virtues much needed by great soldiers. No sort of faults are set down against this youth. At school, he was " an exemplary student;" and his master says " his specialty was finishing-up- he imparted a finish and neatness to everything he undertook."
The same trait is visible throughout the memoir. He was not first, but he was second at West Point, where he "never received a demerit mark for any breach of rules or neglect of duty." Yet he was not a "prig," and it was the union of strict conduct with amiability, and an especial regard for the feelings of others, which, together with his really great abilities, made him so respected and beloved wherever he served. Such a description smacks of indiscriminate eulogy, yet in this case it seems deserved ; at all events, there is no evidence to the con- trary. It should be added that he had the advantage of possessing "manly beauty," a phrase of frequent occurrence in Northern as well as Southern books ; that he was at once dignified and playful, and always carefully attired, without ever being in the least a dandy. " I knew Robert Lee from the time I can first recollect," writes a near relative, apparently a lady, "and I never remember hearing him censured for anything."
He left West Point in 1829, and two years later married Mary Custis, who, besides being an heiress, had received "a fine classical education," and she brought him one estate at Arling- ton, and another at the White House, on the Pamanky River, destined to play a part and be burned down in the war.
The principal services of the young soldier, who had entered
the Engineers, were performed on the coasts, on the Mississippi, near St. Louis, about New York, and in the Mexican War. It was in the Mexican campaigns that he first made his mark, where Grant also, a much younger officer, won his spurs. General Scott, indeed, was so greatly impressed by Lee's
"usefulness" in all directions, especially in matters pertaining to the higher branches of warfare, that he became warmly eulogistic of "the gallant and indefatigable Captain Lee," even in official reports, and of coarse drew the young soldier at once to Washington, in order that he might profit by his sterling abilities as an administrator. When the "irrepressible conflict" came to a head, the Government, through Mr. Francis Blair, offered Lee the command of the Army, an offer which he declined,—" stating as candidly and as courteously as I could," he wrote, "that though opposed to secession, and deprecating war, I could take no part in the invasion of the Southern States." He at once resigned his commission. General Scott remonstrated; but Lee's answer was conclusive. "I am com- pelled to," he replied ; "I cannot consult my own feelings in this matter." His feelings and convictions at the crisis, January, 1861 (he was then in Texas), are fortunately preserved in his own words. He held that the South had been aggrieved, and he was willing to take every proper step for redress. Then he went on—and the passage is a fair specimen of his lucid and measured style—to state his opinions :—
"As an American citizen, I take great pride in my country, her prosperity, and her institutions, and would defend any State if her rights were invaded. But I can anticipate no greater calamity for the country than a dissolution of the Union. It would be an accumu- lation of all the evils we complain of, and I am willing to sacrifice everything but honour for its preservation. I hope, therefore, that all Constitutional means will be exhausted before there is a resort to force. Secession is nothing but revolution. The framers of our Constitution never exhausted so much labour, wisdom, and forbear- ance in its formation, and surrounded it with so many guards and securities, if it was intended to be broken by every member of the Confederacy at will. It is intended for 'perpetual union,' so expressed in the preamble, and for the establishment of a government, not a compact, which can only be dissolved by revolution, or the consent of all the people in convention assembled. It is idle to talk of secession. Anarchy would have been established, and not a government, by Washington, Hamilton, Jefferson, Madison, and all the other patriots of the Revolution Still, a Union that can only be maintained by swords and bayonets, and in which strife and civil war are to take the place of brotherly love and kindness, has no charm for me. I shall mourn for my country and for the welfare and progress of mankind. If the Union is dissolved and the Government disrupted I shall return to my native State and share the miseries of my people, and, save in defence, will draw my sword on none."
The case for and against, as it appeared to men like Lee, has never been more succinctly put. He was not an advocate of slavery. On the contrary, he said in 1856 it was a "moral and political evil, greater to the white than to the coloured race ;" but he thought that Christianity would bring about emanci. pation, and insisted that the progress towards final abolition, as well as the results, should be left " in the hand of Him who sees the end, who choses to work by slow influences, and with whom a thousand years are but as a single day." He said that if he had four million slaves, he would emancipate every one to save the Union ; and in this frame of mind, sorrowful yet resolute, he accepted the demand of his native State upon his abilities, and became her leader in war. Doubtless he was wrong. But he had at least the highest excuse which man can possess in vindica- tion of wrong actions,—a rigidly unselfish devotion to what he considered his duty, the thing which his conscience commanded him to do at all risks and perils. So much cannot be said for all the Confederate leaders in that awful strife which lasted more than four years.
One or two aneciotes, preserved in this volume, may be cited to show the gentleness, courtesy, and fine temper of Robert Lee. When stationed near New York, in 1843-44, disputes arose in the little parish of which he was a vestryman. They were occasioned by Tract 90. Captain Lee would not take part ; and one evening, when the verbal strife was hottest, he turned to a young officer and expressed his pleasure that neither of them were mixed up in the quarrel. " But I must give you some advice," said Lee to his junior, "in order that we may understand each other : Beware of Pussyism Passyism is always bad, and may lead to un-Christian feeling ; therefore, beware of Pussyism,." The company for a moment were aghast, and then showed how the humorous reproof went home, by loud laughter. "That," says the narrator, General Hunt, a distinguished Federal officer, " was as near as they ever got to committing Captain Lee to a Church quarrel." His temper was admirable. One day, when a staff officer, who desired to save him trouble, and thought be was not attended to, angrily flung down a paper, Lee, who was greatly worried by some vexatious business before him, simply said, in a calm voice, " Colonel Taylor, when I lose my temper, don't let it make you angry." General Long says he never saw him lose his temper but twice —once, when he met a Confederate soldier with a stolen pig, and ordered him to be shot, a sentence Stonewall Jackson tried but failed to carry out by setting the man in the front of the battle ; and a second time, when he thought a scout was chattering about matters which should be reserved for the General. His aide-de-camp having proved to him that the man was only making some point of needful information plain, he took the scout into his tent and gave him hot coffee and food, by way of amende,—a most uncommon proceeding on the part of a Com- mander-in-Chief. His tenderness of heart was shown on many occasions, never more so than when, under a hot fire, he crossed an open space to lift up from the ground and put in safety an " unfledged sparrow." His talent for severe rebukes in quiet words was marvellous, and he had in perfection the soft answer which turneth away wrath. He inspired friend and foe with esteem and affection, and he was idolised by his troops.
It is not desirable to fight over again the campaigns of the Secession War ; but it may be remarked that, great as were his abilities, he was fortunate in having to contend against inferior men until Grant entered the field. General Long has no appreciative word for the Federal commander ; yet Lee, his idol, did not underrate Grant, but played a closer game and risked less than when he was in front of others. Besides being a soldier, accomplished in every branch of his profession, Lee had on his side the immense advantage con- ferred by the difficult country he had to defend. He complained, however, that Richmond "dragged down the army ;" and it was true, just as Washington often paralysed the Northern General's own armies. There was an astonishing amount of nervousness in both capitals, and it was made the subject of ceaseless experi- ment. But the question is one too large for summary treat- ment, and we must be content with a bare allusion to its momentous influence. If General Long had condensed his recollections, had indulged less in military narrative, and had applied his respectable powers to facts illustrating the life ar.d character of Lee, he would have made a better book, and one, perhaps, which would have stood a better chance of floating down the stream of time.
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