Whether posterity will assign to General Lee the rank as a commander which the South claims for him, is a question which need not be discussed here. The judgment of foreign critics of this generation places him high in the list of the born "leaders of men.” That he accomplished much with limited resources, that he elicited the best skill and valor of the Union by his persistent defense of Virginia, that he overmatched many generals and decimated several armies ere his own succumbed, and that he finally gave to the victor a costly triumph, are facts not to be gainsaid. In after years it will belong to all America to claim his fame as a common heritage-as the England of to-day finds glory alike in the motherhood of Cromwell, of Rupert, of Fairfax, and of Sidney. Of Lee's place among the prodigies of war there may be question. Of his title to honor for all the noble attributes of manhood there can be none. He fought for the cause of his conscience until further contest would have been a useless and criminal sacrifice of life. He surrendered in good faith to a generous foe, and thereafter gave his example to the building up of substantial peace and a real Union. He laid aside his stainless sword as bravely as he had drawn it, and withou repining for the past he turned to the duties of the present. Patiently. instilling the lessons of virtue into the minds of the Southern youth, presiding at the vestry meetings of his church, foremost in unheralded charities, so passed the few years that remained on earth to Robert Lee.

He lived amongst us, to all appearances, absorbed and contented in the routine of educational work. If he repined under failure, he gave no sign; if he found the utter revolution in his life irksome to the spirit once "wrapped in high emprise," he uttered no complaint; if he felt anxiety as to the judgment of posterity upon his military career, he made no effort to place the records in evidence. In the controversial disputes among others of our military chieftains, which sprung up from the ashes of defeat as weeds from the wreck of some proud edifice, he took no part. He seemed to be content to leave his character and services in the keeping of his countrymen without a word of his own to prejudice their judgment.

It should also be recorded that he never spoke nor wrote a word which would prolong the bitterness of our ended strife, or re-awaken sectional animosity. He seemed to have put the past behind him. It was only at the last when his mind wandered that the stirring memories of the old days triumphed over that strong will and as

.

serted a momentary sway.

The warrior in him awoke for one brief

instant ere the light of eternal peace cast all earth into shadow. "Bring up the troops," he said, "Let A. P. Hill prepare for action."

And so he passed away! And all the world were poorer for his death; but all mankind were richer by the legacy of a blameless life and a deathless example.

And blessed among nations that State to whom not once but twice such noble models have been given.

"Virginia's History is a sea
Locked in by lofty land!
Great Pillars, as of Hercules,
Above the shining sand-
I here behold in majesty
Uprise on either hand:

These Pillars of our History,

In fame forever young,

Are seen afar from every clime,
And known in every tongue;
And down through all the ages
Their story shall be sung.

The Father of his Country,

Towers above the land-locked sea,
A glorious symbol to the world
Of all that's great and free;

And to-day Virginia matches him
With the stately form of Lee.

And here to-day, my countrymen,

I tell you Lee shall ride

With that great 'rebel' down the years

Twin 'rebels' side by side!

And confronting such a vision

All our grief gives place to pride.

Those two shall ride immortal,

And shall ride abreast of Time;

Shall light up stately history

And blaze in Epic Rhyme

Both patriots, both Virginians, true;

Both 'rebels'; both sublime!"

And should our children, and our children's children, apply to

their own conduct, as men and as citizens, that supremest lesson which those models teach: That above the glamour of glory and the spell of genius

"The greatest greatness goodness is."

Then shall the future witness in this Old Dominion a moral, social and political structure of such perfect grandeur as eye hath not seen nor the mind of man conceived.

REPORT OF THE HISTORY COMMITTEE

Of the Grand Camp C. V., Department of Virginia, at Petersburg, Va., October 25, 1901.

By Hon. GEO. L. CHRISTIAN, Chairman.

A Contrast Between the Way the War was Conducted by the Federals and the Way it was Conducted by the Confederates, Drawn Almost Entirely from Federal Sources.

To the Grand Camp of Confederate Veterans of Virginia:

Before entering upon the discussion of the subject selected for consideration in this report, your committee begs leave to tender its thanks to the camp, and to the public, for the many expressions it has received of their appreciation of its last two reports. These expressions have come from every section of the country, and they are not only most gratifying, showing, as they do, the importance of the work of this camp in establishing the justice of the Confederate cause, but that this work is also causing the truth concerning that cause to be taught to our children, which was not the case until these Confederate camps effected that great result. Our report of 1899, prepared by your late distinguished and lamented chairman, Dr. Hunter McGuire, was directed mainly to a criticism of certain histories then used in our schools, and to demonstrate the fact that the South did not go to war either to maintain or to perpetuate the institution o

.

slavery, as our enemies have tried so hard to make the world believe was the case. That of 1900 was directed—

(1) To establish the right of secession (the real question at issue in the war) by Northern testimony alone, and

(2) To establish the fact that the North was the aggressor in bringing on the war, and by the same kind of testimony.

These two reports have been published, the first for two years, and the second for one year, and as far as we know, no fact contended for in either has been attempted to be controverted. We feel justified, therefore, in claiming that these facts have been established.

HOW THE WAR WAS CONDUCTED.

Having then, we think, established the justice of the Confederate cause, and that the Northern people were responsible for, and the aggressors in bringing on the war, and both of these facts by testimony drawn almost exclusively from Northern sources, it is only left for us to consider how the war, thus forced upon the South by the North, was conducted by the respective combatants through their representatives, both in the cabinet and in the field? We fully recognize that within the limits of this report it is impossible to do more than to "touch the fringe," as it were, of this important inquiry. The details of the horrors of the four years of that war would fill many, many volumes, and it is not our purpose or desire to go fully into any such sad and harrowing recital. We propose, therefore, only to give the principles of civilized warfare as adopted by the Federal authorities for the government of their armies in the field during the war, and then cite some of the most flagrant violations of those principles by some of the most distinguished representatives of that government in the war waged by it against the South. Of course, in doing this we shall have to refer to some things very familiar to all of us; but the repetition of them in this report would nevertheless seem necessary and proper to its completeness.

In performing this distasteful task we wish, in the beginning, to disclaim any and all purpose or wish on our part to reopen the wounds or to rekindle the feelings of bitterness engendered by that unholy and unhappy strife. As we said in our last report, we recognize that this whole country is one country and our country, and we of

the South are as true to it, and will do as much to uphold its honor and defend its rights, as those of any other section. But we are also true to a sacred past, a past which had principles for which thousands of our comrades suffered and died, and which are living principles to-day-principles which we fought to maintain, and for which our whole people, almost without exception, willingly and heroically offered their lives, their blood and their fortunes; and whilst we do not propose to live in that past, we do propose that the principles of that past shall live in us, and that we will transmit these principles to our children and their descendants to the latest generations yet unborn. We believe that only by doing this can we and they make good citizens of the republic, as founded by our fathers, and that not to do this would be false to the memory of our dead and to ourselves.

Then let us enquire, first: What were the rules adopted by the Federals for the government of their armies in war? The most important of these are as follows:

(1) "Private property, unless forfeited by crimes, or by offences of the owner against the safety of the army, or the dignity of the United States, and after conviction of the owner by court-martial, can be seized only by way of military necessity for the support or other benefit of the army of the United States.

(2) "All wanton violence committed against persons in the invaded country; all destruction of property not commanded by the authorized officer; all robbery; all pillage or sacking, even after taking place by main force; all rape, wounding, maiming, or killing of such inhabitants, are prohibited under penalty of death, or such other severe punishment as may seem adequate for the gravity of the offence.

(3) "Crimes punishable by all penal codes, such as arson, murder, maiming, assaults, highway robbery, theft, burglary, fraud, forgery and rape, if committed by an American soldier in a hostile country against its inhabitants, are not only punishable, as at home, but in all cases in which death is not inflicted, the severer punishment shall be preferred, because the criminal has, as far as in him lay, prostituted the power conferred on a man of arms, and prostituted the dignity of the United States.'

Now, as we have said, these were the important provisions adopted by the Federals for the government of their armies in war.