one passage, the very striking lines in which the poet touches upon Heine's well-known aversion to England : "I chide thee not, that thy sharp We too say that she now, Scarce comprehending the voice "Yes, we arraign her! but she, Well nigh not to be borne, Of" Empedocles or Etna," a poem in its way, of very great merit and interest, I have no space left to speak. From one point of view, it may almost be regarded as a poetical rendering of the Positive Philosophy: there are verses in it which breathe the Positivist spirit in its purest and most essential form. "There is in that man," says the French historian De Tocqueville of Plato, "a con"tinual aspiration towards spiritual and lofty "things which stirs and elevates me. And "that, I am inclined upon the whole to think, "is the secret of the glorious progress "he has had through the centuries. For "after all, and in every age, men like to be "talked to about their souls even though, "for their own part, they may take little "thought except for their bodies." It is only doing Mr. Arnold justice to say that he also merits this praise. Whatever faults or deficiencies we may discover in him it is beyond dispute that his influence as a writer, whether in prose or verse, tends constantly to the refining of our taste, and the ennobling of our moral sense. This alone constitutes him one of the best teachers of our age, and an honour to the English nation. A VISIT TO GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. BY LT.-COL. GEO. T. DENISON, JR. N March, 1870, being in Richmond, scenery is wild and romantic, and much IN March, 1870, being in my pocket a letter of introduction to General Lee, I decided to take the opportunity of seeing the great soldier who, during four years of unexampled difficulties and hardships, upheld the fortunes of his country against overwhelming odds. I had watched his campaigns with the closest care; had sympathized with his cause from the beginning; had rejoiced at his victories; and had deeply regretted the sad termination of his military career at the surrender of Appomattox: and I, therefore, naturally had a strong desire to see and converse with him. more interesting than by the travelled road. Along the whole route there was not one tavern or place of public entertainment, and I was obliged to get my meals at farm-houses on the way. I was most hospitably treated and was not allowed to pay for the accommodation. After walking some twenty-five miles from Lynchburg, I came to the Blue Ridge Mountains, through which the James River forces its way through a deep gorge. For some miles further, before reaching Balcony Falls, the scenery is most striking. The mountains tower up on each side, while the river, narrowed in its channel, rushes onwards, broken into foam by the rocks over which it passes. After leaving Balcony Falls the canal follows the valley of the North River, a broad fertile tract of comparatively level land. The farms here seem in better condition than nearer Richmond. Shortly after getting into the valley of the North River, finding Finding that one could go either by rail or by canal packet-boat as far as Lynchburg, I chose the latter means of transport, as it was a method of travelling I had heard of but had never experienced. The canal follows the valley of the James River, and the scenery between Richmond and Lynchburg, although not wild, is nevertheless pic-night coming on, and being still some twelve turesque and varied. From time to time or fourteen miles from Lexington, I exwe passed what had been fine plantations, plained my position to a gentleman who but there seemed a general air of ruin and was standing by the river side watching his desolation along the whole route. Every two little children fishing, and asked him few miles we saw the ruins of mills that had the nearest hotel or tavern. He said there been burnt during the war-their broken was none nearer than Lexington, and inwalls and chimnies, blackened and crumb-vited me to stay with him over night. I ling, giving a melancholy aspect to the cheerfully assented, and was most hospitably and kindly entertained by my host and his amiable lady. After breakfast next morning, I went on my way, my host sending with me his servant on horseback, and also pro scene. The packet-boat arrived at Lynchburg about six a. m., and as it did not leave there until seven in the evening, I determined to walk on to Lexington, which is about forty-viding me with a mount in order to put me six miles further up in the valley of Virginia. I followed the tow-path of the canal as it skirted the river, along which the across the Buffalo Creek ford some four miles from his house. We rode to the ford, crossed it, the water being almost up to the saddles, and after landing me safely on the far side my guide took leave of me, and I tramped on again, arriving in Lexington about mid-day. Lexington is a lively little town of some 4,000 or 5,000 inhabitants, is prettily situated and possesses some fine buildings and private residences. Here are established two public schools or colleges-one the Lexington Military Institute, being the Military Institute of the State of Virginia; the other, Washington College, immortalized by its connection with Robert E. Lee, and by being the scene of his last labours and death. The President's house, in which the general lived, is a plain square brick house, with a verandah on three sides, the hall in the middle with rooms on each side of it. A small picket fence separates the lawn from the square or green upon which the buildings front. To the north of the general's house are the residences of other professors, then the college itself and beyond it again the Military Institute. This latter was burned during the war by the Northern troops under General Hunter but has been rebuilt since, and has a large attendance of students, who, in their handsome grey military uniforms, are to be seen strolling about the town. Shortly after arriving I delivered my letter of introduction. The general, who had received a letter from his nephew General Fitzhugh Lee informing him of my intended visit, was expecting me, and received me with great kindness. He asked me, no boat or stage having arrived at that time, how I came, and seemed surprised when he heard I had walked from Lynchburg, saying "it was characteristic of the English," mentioning that about a month before he had been visited by two young Englishmen, who had walked from Staunton to Lexington, and from there on to the Natural Bridge. versation turned upon the war, and although General Lee was usually reticent on the subject, he was kind enough to converse freely with me in reference to the seven days' battles before Richmond, and the march of Stonewall Jackson from the Valley to his aid at Gaines' Mill. I had published a military work in which I referred to these operations, following the published histories, and had fallen into an error common to them all. I had sent the general a copy of the book, and he noticing the error, with great courtesy took the trouble of explaining the operation to me. As it differs somewhat from the received accounts, particularly with reference to the object of the Battle of Mechanicsville, I shall give a short resumé of a campaign. without doubt one of the most brilliant operations in the history of war. In the spring of 1862 the Federals had made preparations on an extensive scale for a combined advance of several armies on Richmond. McClellan had arranged a plan of campaign upon what the Northern press called the "anaconda" principle, by which the Southern armies were to be crushed out of existence by the tightening of the coils he was winding around them. McClellan himself with the main army, with his base at Fortress Monroe and afterwards at White House, was besieging Richmond from the east-his lines advanced to within sight of its spires and capitol. General McDowell was in command of a large army round Fredericksburg and was advancing from the north, purposing to unite his left wing with McClellan's right; while Banks was moving up the Shenandoah Valley to unite with Fremont who was coming from the north-west: combined, they were to march on Richmond from that direction. Stonewall Jackson, by a series of the most brilliant operations, defeated Milroy and afterwards Banks and drove the latter and his army in utter confusion and rout across After discussing various topics the con- the Potomac into Maryland. Hearing that a great portion of McDowell's army under Shields was marching from the east against his line of communications, while Fremont was also threatening them from the west, he made a series of forced marches and threw himself between them at Port Republic on the Shenandoah river. There, making a skilful use of the bridge across the river, he first defeated Fremont on the west, then rapidly marching his army across the bridge, routed Shields on the east and drove them both by divergent roads in a northerly direction. By these operations the armies of Banks and Fremont, as well as a portion of McDowell's, were defeated and for the time paralyzed, and McClellan alone remained with a powerful army threatening Richmond. McClellan's army was so large that General Lee could not hope to defeat it unless reinforced by Jackson, and at the same time it was clear that if the Federal Government discovered that Jackson was withdrawn from the valley, not only would they at once be delivered from all fear for their own capital which would enable them safely to throw McDowell's army into the scale, but Banks and Fremont would have had the valley open to them with all its stores, its roads, and its important strategical advantages, and would have been in a position to cut off the communications of Richmond with the west. The importance of absolute secrecy in this withdrawal of Jackson's army is manifest, as well as the necessity of deceiving the enemy into the belief that the contrary course had been determined upon. The means employed by Generals Lee and Jackson to mask their designs are well worth repeating. Lynchburg is about 100 miles west of Richmond on the James river, and there are two lines of railway by which troops can be moved from one place to the other -one on the south side of the James river by the Danville road to its junction with the South Side Railroad and then by the latter line to Lynchburg; the other starting due north from Richmond to Hanover Junction, thence by the Virginia Central through Gordonsville to Charlottesville, and thence by the Orange and Alexandria Railroad to Lynchburg. It will be seen that a train might leave Richmond by the southern road, run to Lynchburg, and thence proceed by the northern road through Gordonsville and Hanover Junction and come down upon Richmond from the north. This peculiarity was turned to the fullest advantage by GenLee in masking his designs from the Federals. Three brigades under Whiting, Hood, and Lawton were unostentatiously detailed for duty in the valley, and despatched by the South Side road to Lynchburg. Their stores and baggage were all ordered to be sent to the valley, and it quietly leaked out that a large army under Jackson was about to invade Maryland and attack Washington. Officers from Maryland made applications to be attached to this force in order that they might have an opportunity of seeing their friends in the campaign which was expected to come off in their native State. General Lee, on being applied to, transferred a number of Marylanders to this force in order that they might have this opportunity of seeing their relatives. While he by this means deceived his own army and his own officers as to his designs, the movement of all these troops to Lynchburg served another most important end. General Jackson had taken a number of prisoners in the battles around Port Republic, and they were sent by rail from Lynchburg to Richmond at the same time as the 7,000 men under Whiting, Hood and Lawton were going in the opposite direction; so of course the road seemed blocked with troops moving to the valley. These prisoners on reaching Richmond immediately made application for exchange or for permission to return on parole. number of the officers were allowed to go, and they, as might naturally be expected, carried the news to Washington of what they A |