were to flow across the breadth of a continent. It was no accidental event. It was not the isolated act of a desperate fanatic. The Abolitionists of the North gave significance to the John Brown expedition by their enthusiastic and permanent approbatior of its object, and spread alarm and apprehension through the South by their displays of honour to his memory. After his death on the gallows, prayers were offered up for him as if he were a martyr, and even blasphemy was employed to consecrate his memory. It is curious, indeed, that the party that afterwards made war upon the South carried the memory of this man in the van of their armies, and have ever since honoured him as a saint or a martyr in a holy cause. The event of Harper's Ferry was not without its lesson to Virginia. Governor Wise was one of those who saw the impending conflict. With the ostensible design of providing against a rescue of the criminals from the Charlestown jail, he encouraged the organization of military companies throughout the State, and used every legitimate means to excite a war spirit among the people. Companies were received at Charlestown, and after a short stay there, were sent away to make room for others, in order that the war spirit might be disseminated throughout the State. The attention of the Legislature was called to the state of the Commonwealth, and initiatory steps were taken to put Virginia upon a war footing. All over the State, military organizations sprang up, and serious preparations were made for war. It was to come sooner than any man of that day expected CHAPTER III. Abraham Lincoln elected President of the United States.-Anxiety and hesitation of Lee at the commencement of hostilities.-His sense of duty.-He debates the question of his allegiance to Virginia. His peculiar school of politics.-A reply to a Northern newspaper.-Attitude of Virginia.-A sublime struggle in Lee's mind. He goes to Richmond.-Appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Virginia forces. His reception by the State Convention.-Appearance and carriage of the man. Military preparations in Virginia.-She joins the Southern Confederacy. THE election of Abraham Lincoln by the votes of the Republican or Anti-Slavery party, President of the United States, alarmed the South. When he assumed office, March 4, 1861, the States of South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas, had withdrawn from the Union; and what were loosely called the Border Slave States, were agitated by the discussion of instant and dread necessities. In the first commotions which threatened war, Robert E. Lee, as a member of the United States Army and a native Virginian, gave evidence of the most painful anxiety. His mind was torn by conflicting emotions. He was ardently attached to the Federal service; he had spent more than thirty years in it; he had obtained in it the best honours of his life. He was unskilled in politics, but he had a sentimental attachment to the Union and its traditions. He saw with alarm and anxiety the indications of a movement to dissolve the old Federal compact, and array against it a new league of States. He was sincerely opposed to such a movement; he saw no necessity for it; and in the doubts and anxieties of his mind, he could determine no other course than to await the action of his native State, Virginia, and to adopt in an overruling sense of duty, whatever she should decide. In the subsequent development of events, when Lee had decided to stand by his mother State, when she drew the sword, a letter from his wife referred to the terrible trials of his mind in reaching this conclusion. She wrote: "My husband has wept tears of blood over this terrible war; but he must, as a man of honour and a Virginian, share the destiny of his State, which has solemnly pronounced for independence." Lee's early hesitation at the commencement of hostilities was simply the doubt of duty. Ambition, the bribes of office, personal interest, did not enter into a mind pure, conscientious, introspective, anxious only to discover the line of duty, and then prompt and resolute to follow it. As long as Virginia wavered, Lee stood irresolute. While he maintained an attentive neutrality and waited for events, the Federal authorities at Washington used every effort to commit him to the service of the Union, and did not hesitate to urge his choice by the most splendid bribes. Mr. Blair, senior, has freely admitted that at this time he was deputed by President Lincoln to sound Lee, and to suggest to him his early appointment to the chief command of the Federal forces, in the event of his declaration for the Union. Those who thus approached Lee to tempt his ambition little knew the man. They did not have the key to those quiet meditations which made him reticent and kept him undecided. His only thought was duty. There is a very noble letter written several years before the war by Lee, which exhibits the man and indicates his characteristic idea of the conduct of life. He wrote to his son, who was at West Point in 1852, the following lesson: "In regard to duty, let me in conclusion of this hasty letter, inform you that nearly a hundred years ago there was a day of remarkable gloom and darkness-still known as 'the dark day' -a day when the light of the sun was slowly extinguished, as if by an eclipse. The Legislature of Connecticut was in session, and as its members saw the unexpected and unaccountable darkness coming on, they shared in the general awe and terrour. It was supposed by many that the last day-the day of judgment—had come. Some one, in the consternation of the hour, moved an adjournment. Then there arose an old Puritan legislator, Devenport, of Stamford, and said, that if the last day had come, he desired to be found at his place doing his duty, and, therefore, moved that candles be brought in, so that the house could proceed with its duty. There was quietness in that man's mind, the quietness of heavenly wisdom and inflexible willingness to obey present duty. Duty, then, is the sublimest word in our language. Do your duty in all things like the old Puritan. You cannot do more, you should never wish to do less." Such was the lesson which Gen. Lee was now to observe and exemplify in his own life. Assailed by importunities, tempted by the highest military office in the gift of the Federal Government, solicited by the voices of friendship, he remained silently waiting for the call of duty. He was prompt to respond to it. On the 17th April, 1861, Virginia seceded from the Union; on the 19th Lee knew it; on the 20th he dissolved his connection with the Federal army, and sent the following letter to Gen. Scott: ARLINGTON, VA., April 20, 1861. GENERAL:-Since my interview with you on the 18th instant, I have felt that I ought not longer to retain my commission in the army. I therefore tender my resignation, which I request you will recommend for acceptance. It would have been presented at once, but for the struggle it has cost me to separate myself from a service to which I have devoted all the best years of my life and all the ability I possessed. During the whole of that time-more than a quarter of a century—I have experienced nothing but kindness from my superiours, and the most cordial friendship from my comrades. To no one, General, have I been as much indebted as to yourself for uniform kindness and consideration, and it has always been my ardent desire to merit your approbation. I shall carry to the grave the most grateful recollections of your kind consideration, and your name and fame will always be dear to me. Save in defence of my native State, I never desire to draw my sword. Be pleased to accept my most earnest wishes for the continuance of your happiness and prosperity, and believe me, most truly yours, LIEUT.-GEN. WINFIELD SCOTT, R. E. LEE. Commanding United States Army. A copy of the preceding letter was inclosed in the following letter to a relative, which more completely discovers the state of 'Gen. Lee's mind: ARLINGTON, VA., April 20, 1861. MY DEAR SISTER:-I am grieved at my inability to see you I have been waiting "for a more convenient season," which has brought to many before me deep and lasting regret. Now we are in a state of war which will yield to nothing. The whole South is in a state of revolution, into which Virginia, after a long struggle, has been drawn, and though I recognize no necessity for this state of things, and would have forborne and pleaded to the end for redress of grievances, real or supposed, yet in my own person I had to meet the question, whether I should take part against my native State. With all my devotion to the Union, and the feeling of loyalty and duty of an American citizen, I have not been able to make up my mind to raise my hand against my relatives, my children, my home. I have, therefore, resigned my commission in the army, and save in defence of my native State, with the sincere hope that my poor services may never be needed, I hope I may never be called on to draw my sword. I know you will blame me, but you must think as kindly of me as you can, and believe that I have endeavoured to do what I thought right. To show you the feeling and struggle it has cost me, I send a copy of my letter to Gen. Scott, which accompanied my letter of resignation. I have no time for more. May God guard and protect you and yours, and shower upon you every blessing, is the prayer of your devoted brother, R. E. LEE. A Northern publication has remarked on the letter quoted above, that it exhibited a narrowness of mind, and a very imperfect patriotism, in that Gen. Lee was not able to sacrifice for the good of the country his affections for Virginia, and pleaded a partiality for his State against his duty to the general government. But this commentary is as unjust as it is plausible—an instance of that shallow fallacy, the petitio principii. It begs the whole question, and proceeds on the supposition that there was no federation of the American States, that the government at Washington represented a national unit, and that any hesitation between its authority and that of the State was the hesitation between loyalty and a mere local affection. It ignores that school of politics to |