The fact cannot be concealed that this
proceeding on the part of General Lee was a subject of deep regret to
the Southern people; but there can be no question that his motive was
disinterested and noble, and that he presented, in so doing, the most
remarkable evidence of the true greatness of his character. He had no
personal advantage to expect from a pardon; cared absolutely nothing
whether he were "pardoned" or not; and to one so proud, and so
thoroughly convinced of the justice of the cause in which he had
fought, to appear as a supplicant must have been inexpressibly
painful. He, nevertheless, took this mortifying step--actuated
entirely by that sense of duty which remained with him to the last,
overmastering every other sentiment of his nature. He seems in this,
as in many other things, to have felt the immense import of his
example. The old soldiers of his army, and thousands of civilians,
were obliged to apply for amnesty, or remain under civic disability.
Brave men, with families depending upon them, had been driven to this
painful course, and General Lee seems to have felt that duty to
his old comrades demanded that he, too, should swallow this bitter
draught, and share their humiliation as he had shared their dangers
and their glory. If this be not the explanation of the motives
controlling General Lee's action, the writer is unable to account for
the course which he pursued. That it is the sole explanation, the
writer no more doubts than he doubts the fact of his own existence.

XIX.

GENERAL LEE'S LAST YEARS AND DEATH.

For about five years--from the latter part of 1865 nearly to the end
of 1870--General Lee continued to concentrate his entire attention and
all his energies upon his duties as President of Washington College,
to which his great name, and the desire of Southern parents to have
their sons educated under a guide so illustrious, attracted, as we
have said, more than five hundred students. The sedentary nature of
these occupations was a painful trial to one so long accustomed to
lead a life of activity; but it was not in the character of the
individual to allow personal considerations to interfere with the
performance of his duty; and the laborious supervision of the
education of this large number of young gentlemen continued, day after
day, and year after year, to occupy his mind and his time, to the
exclusion, wellnigh, of every other thought. His personal popularity
with the stude