when called to the supreme command; his tact in turning the military vanity of Jefferson Davis to the advantage of the army; the energy and secrecy with which he combined his forces so as to out-general McClellan, and the vigorous strategy with which he drove him from the Peninsula; and, when times of disaster came, his fertility in gathering resources, his wisdom in harmonizing the civil with the military authorities, his power of self-command, his influence over officers and men, his patient endurance of ill fortune, his desperate struggle against hope, and, at last, his dignified resignation to defeat—these all were pictured and illustrated as exhibiting military genius of a high order and entitling Lee to a place in history among the first generals of the world.
Lee's failure in the offensive was imputed to the intermeddling of Davis with the army; but two defects as a general were ascribed to him personally—an, indifference to discipline, and a too kindly consideration for incompetent officers, both resulting from excess of good nature. Captain Mangold was persuaded also that, from first to last, Lee's heart was not in the cause of secession. This was shown by the letter in which he threw up his commission in the United States army, and by his refusal to make himself military dictator when it became evident that Davis was ruining the Confederacy and the whole South was ready to transfer its allegiance to Lee.
One point in Lee's conduct Captain Mangold could not reconcile with the apparent sincerity of his character, nor with the code of military ethics—the violation of his oath as a United States officer. To a Prussian officer the violation of an oath is a crime so damnable as to be inconceivable. Captain Mangold stated fairly the reasons by which Lee justified his action in the trying dilemma in which he was placed; but he could find no ground upon which a Prussian officer could justify or even extenuate such a breach of honor. This must, indeed, remain a melancholy stain upon a name otherwise attested as noble and good. But the North should remember that Lee acted only for himself when secession forced the issue, and did not seek to organize a conspiracy against the government he had sworn to defend. One of the saddest comments on secession is the perversion it gave to such a character. Let the warning live with the memory of Lee!
The prejudice and ignorance exhibited in the above quotation are very singular, especially as coming from an accomplished scholar who writes books to acquaint the European mind with American institutions. The ignorance of foreigners of the geography of the country has become a standing jest. That they should not understand our peculiar political institutions, our complex and novel systems of governments, wheels within wheels, is less strange. This matter of breach of faith, so quietly assumed in this accusation by Captain Mangold and Dr. Thompson, turns
