ed the place of commercial agent of the South
in New York, which would have proved exceedingly lucrative. In the
summer of 1865, however, he accepted an offer more congenial to
his feelings--that of the presidency of Washington College at
Lexington--and in the autumn of that year entered upon his duties,
which he continued to perform with great energy and success to the
day of his death. Of the excellent judgment and great administrative
capacity which he displayed in this new field of labor, we have never
heard any question. It was the name and example, however, of Lee which
proved so valuable, drawing to the college more than five hundred
students from all portions of the South, and some even from the North.

Upon the subject of General Lee's life at Washington College, a more
important authority than that of the present writer will soon speak.
In the "Memorial Volume," whose publication will probably precede or
immediately follow the appearance of this work, full details will, no
doubt, be presented of this interesting period. The subject possesses
rare interest, and the facts presented will, beyond all question,
serve to bring out new beauties in a character already regarded with
extraordinary love and admiration by men of all parties and opinions.
To the volume in question we refer the reader who desires the
full-length portrait of one concerning whom too much cannot be
written.

During the period extending between the end of the war and General
Lee's death, he appeared in public but two or three times--once at
Washington, as a "witness" before a Congressional committee, styled
"The Reconstruction Committee," to inquire into the condition of
things in the South; again, as a witness on the proposed trial of
President Davis; and perhaps on one or two additional occasions not of
great interest or importance. His testimony was not taken on the trial
of the President, which was deferred and finally abandoned; but he
was subjected before the Washington committee to a long and searching
examination, in which it is difficult to decide whether his own
calmness, good sense, and outspoken frankness, or the bad taste of
some of the questions prepounded to him, were the more remarkable.
As the testimony of General Lee, upon this occasion, presents a
full exposition of his views upon many of the most important points
connected with the condition of the South, and the "reconstruction"
policy, a portion of the newspaper report o