A STORY OF GENERAL LEE.

Southland Times, Volume III, Issue 236, 2 April 1866, Page 3

A STORY OF GENERAL LEE.

{From the British Quarterly Review.) General Lee fills a high place in the esteem of many persons, and I am far from wishing to detract from his just reputation. But the fact I have to mention is of. importance, as showing that the irresponsibility of power which the slave system gave to the slaveholder over his slave may be very perilous even to men deemed honorable and humane. As you cross the Potomac by the bridge at Washington, and ascend the Arlington heights, you come upon the large estate lately in possession of the great Confederate general. The mansion on this estate is a classical structure, beautifully situated. It overlooks a landscape richly undulated and wooded, with the yellow Potomac passing through the midst, very much as the Severn may be seen from some points overlooking the vale, of Gloucester. Washington chanced to halt for a night at this stately dwelling, then occupied by Mrs. Curtis, a widow, with two boys, her sons. Mrs. Curtis was a lady of much personal attraction,' and was as rarely gifted in mind as in person. Suffice it to say that, with little economy or delay, she became the wife of Washington ; and, on the death of her grandson, the last Curtis, a little before the late war, the property passed into the hands of General Lee. But it was a provision in the will of Curtis that at his death the slaves on the estate should be 'free. Lee construed that document so as to require the slaves to remain in bondage five years longer. Hitherto Lee had been popular with the dependents on the estate, but this proceeding wrought a great change. The slaves threatened to leave. One did leave. This was a young Woman who had been a seamstress, and a sort of lady's maid to Mrs Lee, and had been much prized for her useful capabilities. The fugitive was apprehended, brought back, and, by order, of the general, was taken to the building within sight of his residence to be flogged, as a warning to the disaffected. The young mmm was required, to strip he?-

self. Bhe refused to do so. Lee insisted on the removal of her clothes. She was tied to a post, and her owner looked on while she received, some say, 200 lashes, certainly a much greater number than such a man should have witnessed. The injured woman is still living. All this I learnt from her sister, a Mrs Grey, who, as a slave also, had been housekeeper to the family, and still resides in a house near the mansion. Mrs Grey is a wellspoken mulatto women, with a husband and family, and a person who manifestly felt no pleasure in giving this information. It came bit by bit, in answer to questions. General Lee may be a chivalrous and estimable man, but so much the worse for the slave system if this be true of him, and I have no doubt of its truth. — Dr Vaughan.