James Ford Rhodes says:
"A careful survey of his (Lee's) character and life must lead the
student of men and affairs to see that the course he took was, from
his point of view, and judged by his inexorable and pure conscience,
the path of duty to which a high sense of honor called him. Could we
share the thoughts of that high-minded man as he paced the broad
pillared veranda of his stately Arlington house, his eyes glancing
across the river at the flag of his country waving over the dome of
the capitol, and then resting on the soil of his native Virginia, we
should be willing now to recognize in him one of the finest products
of American Life."[202]
If such were the character of the Virginians of the Civil War period,
is it reasonable to speak of their "degeneracy" under the debasing
influence of "slave breeding" and "the slave trade?" "Do men gather
grapes of thorns or figs of thistles?"
Again, how was it possible that this system of breeding slaves for
market could have so established itself in Virginia, and inspired the
great body of her citizenship with a willingness to fight for its
maintenance, in view of the existence of a public opinion which
pursued with relentless ostracism the men who engaged in the traffic?
For no offense was the public opinion of Virginia so merciless as for
that of buying and selling slaves. More than for any other crime, the
disgrace of its guilt passed beyond the offender to his innocent
offspring. The existence of this public sentiment is an historic fact
of unquestioned verity.