Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1862-1865, 1863-12-07
Gam. Lan,a nninion of tha Enemy.


When Meade crossed the Rspidan, with the view, as
was supposed, Of making another '0n to Richmond"
Gen. Lee issued battleorder, the following extract
from which is worthy of preservation:
A cruel enemy seeks to reduce our fathers and our
mothers wives and children to abect slavery
to strip them of their property aud drive them from their
homes Upon you these helpless ones rely to avert
these terrible caamites and secure to them the blessing
Of liberty and safety. Your past history gives them
the that their trust will not be in vain. Let
every man remember that all he holds dear depends
upon the faithful discharge Of his duty and resolve to
6ght and, if need be- to die, in defence Of
sacred and worthy the nameWon by this army on so
many bloedI fields.
Every SoutheTner and especially every Virginian
should cherish these temperate but 20 Eeru sentences
in his heart Of heart They come from man. vino is
accustomed to weigh his WOrdsWell before using them
and who disdans bombast he does cant or bravadO
He believes what be says aud hii habit to err on the
safe sideo understate rather than ovsrsate anything
In his kilograms in his orders to his troops, in his con-
yersation, he is ever the same dgnifed cautious mod
crate truthful gentleman His word is ndeed, good
his bond When he tells us that the enemy ia 'crue"
and that he seeks TO reduce fathers and mothers
our wives and children to Gset slavery, to strip them
Of their property aud drive them from their homes"
We may rely upon it he what he says aud is will
ing that this his deliberate opinion, should 60 forth to
the world.
Abjeet slavery Think of it. Eight millions Of
people stripped Of every Vesge of property, Without
home on EARTH driven into the mountains and forests
hunted down like wild beasts, kept in subsection by
armed negroes made Washer.Women and bootblacks to
Yankee satraps forced to perish outcass and vAga-
bonds or to peure their souls by oath of allegiance
and then doomed to draw Yankee rstiOns precisely
runaway negroes now do in the Federal bsrracoons-
think of this Southerners and know that the half has
not been told. But the two simple words chosen by
Robert Z. Lee tell it all -asG sldvsry-and volume
Of superlatiVes could tell no more. How brief and
guarded the words yet how strong the meaning That
"nobe army Of martyrs" which sleeps under oJr blood
drenched soil from the Potomac 10 the confines Of
Mexico and that scarcely lees noble army of refugees
now oiiug csaseesSy but withou! murmur or rypiung
in the Confederate capital aud in all the toEns cities and
country homes throughout the South attes. the solemn
trutbfuiness Of lees simple assertion. And yet these
myrsdI of copse and this host of old men and maidens
dssPoiled Of their oncs happy homes and earning
bare Subsistence by hard lAbour, do not realize in
their own person. or convey to those who have not
been despoled, the .fu'lneS5 Of meaning conveyed in
Lees To- language The dead lie peacefully under the
sod and their enfranchissd souls forever done with
the cages and Of this life the refugees have
found temporary homss amidst kindred and friends;
neither of them know what "a!jset slavery" H. The
dead fSe the refugees free; We are all free
as yet but be recreGnt 10 that cause which'Lee
calls sacred, shall all know the unspeAkabIs horrors
Of abject slavery.
Gen. Lee is no politician--no ranter He IL SOL
dier-was eminendy honoured by the old government
had soldiers devotion to the flag under which his first
aureS Weie and only yielded his position and his
splendid prospects because Of his greatlOvs for Virginia
and his sense Ofthe superior allegiance due to his ma
tive State When, at the request Of the Convention lie
drew his sword for the Old wealth. he made no
demsgogue defamation against the North, for the
North had not revealed its detestabe features to him
and the justice Of the cause in behalf Of which he had
pledged bis life and fortune did of itself warrant
the expectation Of such atrocities as he has Witnessed
and from which himself and his family have suffered so
much Even now, afer nearly three years of terrible
war; in which the enemy have committed every barbara
ty and violated alike the laws of humanity, cv1a ion
aud christianity he resorts TO none of the hyporboes
flown diGnibes He FeVles not again. He says in plain.
calm words "the enemy is cruel and he seeks to re-
duce fathers and mothers our wives and children
to slavery, to strip them of their property, and
drive them from their homes" he states facs he tells
the simple truth that is all.
It is we'll for the COnfederacy and especially we'll for
in Virginia. that this straightforward soldier came to
bur side. We know not what we should have done
without him. He is the only really great military man
in the Confederate army who has fallen under the ban
of the authorities. Why this is So it boots not to in
qure. Had it been otherwise, the Army of SorthernS
Virginia would long since have lost its unity and eff
cienOy the wave Of invasion would have swept over
the Capital of the COnfederacy and the hope of indie.
pendence would in all probability have died out in
every heart Thank Heaven there ia one truly abe
General who is not diSausei by his 5uperlors. That
General tells us the cause ia which We arc engaged is
sacred, and worthy the Won by bis army on 90
many bloody fields" Is there a man, woman or child
in the Con6deracy who will be recrea1t to that
causei