Charles Lee

“ This kind of temptation, to which Church succumbed at the first outbreak of the war, beset Lee with fatal effect after the Declaration of Independence, and wrought the ruin of Arnold after the conclusion of the French alliance.
To such a man as Charles Lee, destitute of faith in the loftier human virtues or in the strength of political ideas, it might easily have seemed that more was to be hoped from negotiation than from an attempt to resist Great Britain with such an army as that of which he now came to command the left wing. ”

“ This was General Charles Lee, who might well have been called a soldier of fortune. He was born in England, but the British Isles were entirely too small to satisfy his wild ambitions and his roving disposition. There are few heroes of romance who have had such a wide and varied experience, and who have engaged in so many strange enterprises. He was a brave man and very able, but he had a fault which prevented him from being a high-class soldier ”

“ The 'Lee Papers' are in course of publication by the New York Historical Society. Vol. i., dealing with the period 1754-72, appeared in 1871; vol. iii., containing the full minutes of Lee's court-martial, appeared in 1878; vols. ii. and iv. are not yet published. The latest biography of Lee is in Appleton's Encyclopædia of American Biography. See also Account of General Charles Lee in Sir H. E. Bunbury's Life of Sir Thomas Hanmer, with notices of a Gentleman's Family, London, 1838; Lee Papers in Transactions of the Historical Soc. of New York ”

“ Why, then, risk life and success? The British army, moreover, was strong and well equipped.
The most strenuous opponent of the fighting plan was General Charles Lee. When he was left in command of a body of troops at the time of Washington's crossing the Hudson river more than a year before, his orders were to hold himself in readiness to join Washington at any time. In his march across New Jersey, Washington had repeatedly sent for Lee, but Lee had delayed in an unaccountable manner, and finally was himself surprised by a company of dragoons, and taken captive. ”

“ He grew to young manhood in the post-Revolutionary days, and developed into an able lawyer, one of those stalwart citizens, giving his time and energy to his family, his church, and his city. He has been overshadowed by his more famous brothers, "Light Horse Harry" and Charles Lee, Attorney General in Washington's cabinet, and his immortal nephew, Robert Edward Lee.
At twenty-four, Edmund Jennings Lee married Sarah Lee, daughter of Richard Henry Lee of Stratford, his near cousin, and that same year, 1796, settled in Alexandria. ”

“ If it had not been for this unfortunate and jealous disposition, Charles Lee—a very different man from "Light Horse Harry" Lee—would have been one of the most useful officers in the American army. But he had such a jealousy of Washington, and hoped so continually that something would happen which [Pg 123] would give him the place then occupied by the Virginia country gentleman, that, although he was at heart an honest patriot, he allowed himself to do things which were not at all patriotic. ”

“ The better fortune of the northern army was ascribed to the superior talents of its leader; and it began to be whispered that General Gates was the man who of right should have the station sustained by Washington.
A cabal was soon formed, in which Gates, Mifflin and Conway were already engaged, and in which the congenial spirit of General Charles Lee, on his exchange as a prisoner of war, immediately took a share. ”

“ The silence and tortuous ways of the place oppressed Lee's senses like a nightmare dream; and he began to think that a guide through its dim passages was not altogether a mere courtly superfluity, but rather a thing of absolute necessity. "I'd sooner undertake to be finding my way for the first time through our hornbeam maze at home than in and out of all these crinkum-crankums," thought he; "and if this be your King Charles's merry court, give me the Nether Hall kitchen." ”

“ If we alone are concerned—"
Lawrence speaks out.
"We!" cried Lee, breaking to the front and sending all ceremony to the winds, and his bashfulness after it. "We! 'Tis there all the whole matter lies. 'Tis just because your majesty is 'We,' and never can be 'I.' The King is England, and England is the King!"
Charles's brow relaxed into an expression of amused curiosity at the earnestness of the speaker. "Your sentiments are loyal at all events," he said, as his dark eyes considered the young man's appearance from beneath their heavy lids. ”

“ The stamp appears upon it from his boyhood, and grows more plain as his years progress."
The old homestead in which Lee was born deserves some notice on its own account. It was built by Thomas Lee, a grandson of Richard Lee, the emigrant who came to Virginia about the time that Charles I was losing both his crown and his head. While Charles II was still in exile, this same Thomas Lee offered the king a haven in Virginia, which was not accepted. ”

“ Nor is the pile unworthy of the god.
"General Lee looks like a careless, hardy veteran, and by his appearance brought to my mind his namesake, Charles the Twelfth, of Sweden. The elegance of his pen far exceeds that of his person. . . .
"As to intelligence from Boston, it is but very seldom we are able to collect anything that may be relied on; and to report the vague flying rumors would be endless. I heard yesterday, by one Mr. Roulstone, a goldsmith, who got out in a fishing schooner, that their distress increased upon them fast. Their beef is all spent; their malt and cider all gone. ”

“ Charles Francis Adams, the historian and publicist, of Boston, Mass., in his address at Lexington, Va., on January 19, 1907, at the centennial celebration of General Lee’s birth, told the throng of Southerners, there in the shadow of Lee’s old home, that the Confederacy was beaten in the markets of the world, that the economic laws held it in an iron grip, that if 100,000 men could have been sent to reenforce Lee, in the last days of the war, his condition would have been worse than before, as even their meager food-supply would only the sooner have been exhausted. ”

“ Charles Kerr, in Baltimore, a small package for you. Be careful of your health, and do not eat more than half the plum-puddings Cousin Eleanor has prepared for Xmas. I am glad to hear that you are fattening, and I hope you will reach 125 lbs. Think always of your father, who loves you dearly.
“R. E. Lee.
“P.S., 22d.—Rob arrived last night with ‘Lucy Long.’ He thinks it too bad you are away. He has not seen you for two years.
“R. E. Lee.”
“Baxter” and “Tom, the Nipper” were Mildred’s pets. All of us had a fondness for cats, inherited from my mother and her father, Mr. Custis. ”

“ Under the circumstances it was but natural that there should be races among the clipper ships. The route from New York to San Francisco became the great racecourse of the ocean, fifteen thousand miles in length. As Maury wrote, “Some of the most glorious trials of speed and prowess that the world ever witnessed, among ships that ‘walk the waters’, have taken place over it. Here the modern clipper ship—the noblest work that has ever come from the hands of man—has been sent, guided by the lights of science, to contend with the elements, to outstrip steam, and astonish the world”. ”

“ I soon found that occupation, for some useful end or other, was the true secret of happiness.”
(Maury to Rutson Maury, August 31, 1840.)
“It’s the talent of industry that makes a man. I don’t think that so much depends upon intellect as is generally supposed; but industry and steadiness of purpose, they are the things.” ”

“ We want at once a navy for our rivers and creeks and bays and sounds; a navy consisting chiefly of vessels that, for the most part, will only be required to keep the sea for a few days at a time.” These ships would be so small as to present little more than a feather-edge as a target to the enemy, and therefore be more invulnerable than the best shot-proof men-of-war. ”

“ There must be thousands of you Pin Elves, and you could easily conquer five hundred soldiers.”
“It’s all well enough to talk,” returned Wamby, “but you forget another very serious fact, and that is the effect of the royal hat-pin, and the awe and terror it always inspires. You yourself have seen how easily I controlled those soldiers with the hat-pin; but imagine how much greater would be the effect if it were in the King’s hands.” ”

“ The Head Caterer, who had been staring open-mouthed at the table, tremblingly prostrated himself, and said, “If it please Your Royal Majesty, the table was duly set anon, but the viands have disappeared, I know not where.”
“Disappeared!” quoth the King; “how dare you allow the royal victuals to disappear? ”

“ Thus there were ranged close to the wall on one side of the doorway, Smithkin and five hundred elves; and on the other side, Harry and Kitey with five hundred elves.
Presently the door swung open, and the advance body-guard of the King of the Gnomes marched into the Hall without looking to the right or left. The elfin soldiers remained like statues; no one moved a muscle. Harry waited, every nerve in his body quivering with suppressed excitement, until the advance-guard had passed and the King of the Gnomes himself stepped into the Hall. ”

“ The throne was made for a Pin Elf, not for a good-sized boy, and it was so small that Harry had become wedged fast. The elves perceived at once what the trouble was, and forgetting all fear and decorum, laughed and danced about with glee, shouting, [Pg 66] “You’ve got to stay on the throne! You can’t get away! You’ll have to be our king always!” ”

“ That you are both poor is no ground of solicitude; happiness is above riches, and if you are not happy, being poor, wealth would not, I apprehend, make you happy. Poverty has its virtues, and my struggles with it are full of pleasant remembrances. ”

“ I came in at the door just now.”
“How’s that? I didn’t see you,” said Harry.
“No, of course not,” was the reply; “we elves are invisible to any mortal who hasn’t one of our hats on. You see me now because I just put my hat on your head.”
“Well, say, old fellow, or whatever your name may be—what is your name, by the way?”
“Wamby,” answered the elf.
“Well, Wamby,” continued Harry, “why am I shut up here, and what is going to be done with me?”
The elf answered: “You are shut up because at your former visit you turned your back on the King. ”

“ When the King of the Gnomes had gone, the new servants hurried away to the kitchen to help the cooks in the preparation of a second meal. As soon as the door closed behind them, Harry sprang into the room, shut the trap-door, and stealthily made his way to the door of the antechamber. Quietly slipping back the bolts, he opened it and beckoned the Pin Elves to enter the Hall.
“Don’t make a noise!” he cautioned, as they swarmed in. “Those of you armed with spears take your station on each side of the main door opposite. Smithkin, you take command of them. ”

“ One day at a banquet Kitey sat next to me, and I told him a funny story and made him laugh. Of course he was looking at the King all the time, and just then the King unluckily spilt some soup on his royal mantle, and seeing Kitey looking at him and laughing, he thought he was laughing at him; so away Kitey went to the Gnomes.”
“It’s shameful!” exclaimed Harry, indignantly. “Why do you stand it? I should think all of you would hate such a wicked King.”
“Well, everybody does hate him,” said Wamby, “except a few persons, like the Lord of the Safety-Pin, who are the King’s favorites. ”

“ He held out to Harry the three jewels, but the boy exclaimed, “Keep them, old chap; you have more than earned them by your bravery.”
“You have also earned pardon for your former treachery,” said King Wamby, with a gracious smile. “Here is the reward I promised for the recovery of my hat,” handing him a rich jewel and a small gold hat-pin, “and I hereby restore you to your old position as commander of my body-guard.”
When Smithkin had retired, Harry turned to Kitey and exclaimed, “I say, little chap, why on earth didn’t you tell me the Gnomes were afraid of the toad?” ”

“ This fine appraisement, coming from an independent and impartial source, was unspeakably pleasing to the man around whom this school had grown, and he could but cherish the hope that some large-minded man of wealth would arise to follow the suggestion of endowment made in the quotation.
A rare sensation was sprung on the Hollins community in the celebration of Mr. and Mrs. Cocke's Golden Wedding, December 31, 1890. All unknown to them, a group of loving hearts and hands had prepared an elaborate and impressive program. ”

“ In 1869, Abbé took the question up and began issuing local forecasts from Cincinnati Observatory and out of his success here and efforts in Washington grew the Weather Bureau in November, 1870, with General Myer at its head, to whom belongs the credit of working up all the details and putting the thing on such a practical footing. Till now the Washington work is the admiration of all the world as its daily charts and reports embrace not only the United States but the whole of the northern hemisphere, Australia, and the Cape of Good Hope. ”

“ Rebellion is the matter! My soldiers have defied me. The King shall know of it, and every one of them shall be sent to the Gnomes!”
“Here, leave him to me,” said Wamby, taking Smithkin by the arm and drawing him aside.
After a long talk with him, Wamby returned to the others, and said, “He has had some trouble with his men, and they dumped him down here out of revenge. But it will turn out to our advantage, for he knows where the door is that leads out of this hole. Give me your pin, Harry. Smithkin’s is in possession of the soldiers above.” ”