pages of the nation's history. Born and reared on the soil of the Old Dominion, he in common with her sons inherited that State pride which is characteristic of every true Virginian. A soldier by profession, when the tocsin of war sounded and the two sections stood arrayed in hostile attitude, he offered his sword to his native State, and was honored as commander-in-chief of the Virginia troops. Afterwards, when his State united her destinies with her Southern sisters, he was commissioned a general in the Confederate army and assigned to duty in the western part of Virginia. In 1862, when McClellan was investing Richmond and drawing closer and closer the lines of circumvallation, he was ordered to that post, and when General Johnston was wounded, was placed in command of the Army of Northern Virginia. Here his eventful career commenced-Cold Harbor, Malvern Hill, Cedar Mountain, Manassas, Sharpsburg, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Spotsylvania, and a host of other battles, culminating in the surrender of the little army he had so gallantly led at Appomattox, are the monuments he has left along his line of march to commemorate his skill and generalship. That he was a great soldier, none can deny. Contending at all times with a force superior to his own in numbers, arms, and equipments, well clothed and fed, for three years he baffled all the attempts. of his enemy and frequently wrenched victory from their grasp, and, when at last he surrendered his sword and stacked his 8,000 muskets in the face of more than 100,000 of the foe, the victors laid their dearly-won laurels at his feet. No brave soldier could fail to respect and admire him. Among his own soldiers he was loved and revered by all. Such was their veneration for him that none dared to speak ill of him. In the spring of 1864, on the morning of the first day's fight in the Wilderness, when the army of General Grant, having massed during the night on Lee's center, were throwing our men back and threatening to demolish our small force before reinforcements could be brought to their rescue, Lee,

seeing the peril of the situation, galloped forward and rallied the men. His appearance was greeted with a shout that caused the advancing line of the enemy to halt. The men realizing the danger to which their commander was exposed, begged of him to retire, and when he refused to yield to their solicitations, two of their number caught his horse by the bridle and led him away to a place of safety, while their comrades, encouraged by his noble example and cheering words, gallantly charged the foe and drove them back into the wilderness. There was a calm serenity about his face that denoted a courage which neither victory animated nor defeat depressed. Through all his campaigns he displayed the courage and fortitude of a Cæsar and the nobility and generosity of an Alexander. He was not a Pompey, a Marlborough, a Napoleon, but a Camillus, a Scipio, a Cincinnatus, a Washington; yes, he was more than these, for these were great only in victory. He was greatest in the hour of defeat. However much the American mind may differ upon questions at issue in the contest, all will agree in assigning him a true soldier's meed of praise and a spotless escutcheon.

But his sword is now sheathed forever-that sword which so often led to victory is sheathed forever.

"Forth from its scabbard all in vain,

Forth flashed the sword of Lee,

It is shrouded now in its sheath again,

It sleeps the sleep of our noble slain,
Defeated, yet without a stain,

Proudfully and peacefully."

Thus

The surrender at Appomattox and returning peace opened to him a new field for the exercise of his noble virtues. far others may have been his peers, but we must view him now as the individual man standing alone in his glory with none to divide with him the universal applause. Here, example fails, illustration finds no parallel, and Lee stands alone the model hero in defeat. Hungary wept without a crime, but peace soiled the bright armor of her favorite son.

Italy mourned her lost liberties, and her warrior is to-day a hapless adventurer; but Virginia's peerless soldier is her peerless citizen. Foremost in war, he battled heroically and manfully in her cause; foremost in defeat, he bore the burden of her oppression; foremost in peace, he taught her sons the noble lesson that all was not lost, that knowledge is power, that the unconquerable mind could look up through the ruin and desolation that surrounded it, and in the fields of literature and science fight new battles and gain new victories. I search history in vain for his peer! I look hopelessly to the future for his equal! But it has pleased God to remove him from his sphere of usefulness. But he is not dead. The truly great never die. Fathers and mothers will delight to tell their prattling children how he lived, fought, and died, and the name of Robert E. Lee, the brightest in the galaxy of the heroes of the Furled Banner, will ever be household words and his fame lasting as that conqueror of ages-time itself. He sleeps now in the land he so much loved, near by the soldiers he so gallantly led, and beneath the monument which commemorates his triumphs of peace. We leave him there to rest, assured he will not be forgotten. When the revolving seasons bring back the spring-time and the flowers, the sons and daughters of the South will delight to gather around that grave, water it with the tears of affection and strew it with the roses of memory.

"And throughout coming ages,

When his sword is rust,
And his deeds in classic pages,

Shall Virginia bending lowly,

Still a ceaseless vigil holy

Keep above his dust?”

COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA vs. HITT.

Edward Hitt was tried at Luray, Va., in July, 1882, for the murder of Strickler, which took place some five years previous. After killing Strickler, Hitt fled to Ohio, where he took an assumed name, married the daughter of a well-to-do farmer, who, upon her marriage, became acquainted with the fact that her husband was a fugitive from justice, and insisted that he should return and stand his trial. In accordance with her wishes he returned to Virginia and surrendered himself to the authorities, was tried and virtually acquitted, the jury imposing only a fine of $100. Senator Riddleberger and Major Armstrong for the State and J. W. Menifee and George Baylor for the defence. George Baylor's closing remarks were as follows:

"Gentlemen of the Jury: There are others beside this defendant interested in your verdict. In a distant State, the home of his refuge, it has pleased God to raise up for him a friend, that sticketh closer than a brother; one whose heart beats in sympathy with his own and they have become

Two souls with a single thought,
Two hearts that beat as one,'

and she has confided her life, her honor, and her happiness to his keeping. Her woman's heart was moved to tenderness at the story of this unfortunate, homeless, wandering boy, and gave him its priceless jewel of love and affection.

'She loved him for the sorrows he endured,

And he loved her that she did pity them.'

That woman who has sacrificed her all for him, asks you pleadingly to-day to restore him to her without a blot or stain on his name. She entreats you not to cloud her life as

well as his, with sorrow and disgrace. God grant that this day may end her trials and sufferings, and that this noble act of her young life may find its reward in your verdict. A. father and a sister look longingly towards you, and the eyes of an angel mother are suffused with tears, as she views from the spirit land her darling boy. Can you withstand their tears? Can you coldly and unfeelingly turn aside heedless of these eloquent tongues of affection? "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy," comes ringing in your ears. Say to the loving wife, you have sacrificed enough; here is your reward; we restore to you your husband. Say to the father who fondled his young life, we restore him and bless your grey hairs. Say to the fond sister, your prayer is heard and your brother is saved. Wipe the tear from the eye of the angel mother and light up her face with a smile, and as you go down to your homes and families to-night, the joy of these hearts will be ringing in your ears and render you nobler, better, and happier. I leave him in your care and keeping, and I know he is safe."