Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1895-09-25
$taunto>l Spectator.
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER25
Letter from Gen. Robt. E. Lee.

We publish below letter from Gen.
Robt. E. Lee, written three months
before the passage of the ordinance OF
secession by the State Convention OF
Virginia, to cousin of his, in which.
in the confidence of private letter, he
gives full and frank expression to the
views he entertained in regard to the
then impending conflict between the
States. 1t will be remembered by the
older citizens that they are Identical
with those maintained at that time,
from week to week, in the SPECTATOR,
and are the views entertained by an
overwhelming majority of the citizens
of this section and by the soldiers who
rallied so promptly to the defense OF
their rights and fought SO gallantly as
long as the struggle could be main
tanned. Our people were devoted to
the Union and the Constitution. and
they desired both to be preserved in
their integrity, and desired peace and
harmony to prevail; but they knew
that the equality ofrightsguaranteed to
them by the Constitution was being
denied to them by the Northern peo-
pie, and, knowing their rights, they
had the manliness and the bravery and
the patriotism to maintain them at the
sacrifice of all save honor. They
preferred peace to war, and union to
separation, if the rights guaranteed to
them by the Constitution were not de
MED them in the Union.
1t was not that they loved the Con-
stitution and the Union less, that they
fought, bled, and died, but that they
loved their rights and liberties more.
They were truer friends of the Consti-
tuition than those who denied them
their rights under the Constitution.
But we are digressing-it was our
purpose merely to introduce the letter
of Gen. Lee, and to publish it that our
readers may learn, and be gratified at
the fact, that their views and feelings
accorded with those of that immortal
chieftain, hero, and patriot.
The letter of Gen. Lee referred to
was written to his cousin, Miss Annette
Carter, daughter of Mr.. Chas. H. Car
ter, of Cedar Grove, Prince George
county, Md, who afterward married
Mr.. Geo. M. Howard, and is as follows
GEN. RoBT. f. LEES LITTER.
FORT MASON, SAN ANTONIO P. O.,
January 10, 1861. {
l am very glad to learn from your
letter of the well-being of all at Cedar
Grove and Goodwood. think OF the
occupants of both very often, and hope
have the opportunity soon, for if the
Union is dissolved shall return to Vir
ginia and. share the fortune of my peo-
pie. But before so great calamity
befalls the country, | hope all honor
able means of maintaining the Consti-
tuition and the equal rights of the peo-
pie will be first exhausted. Tell your
father he must not allow Maryland to
be tackled on to South Carolina before
the Just demands of the South have
been fairly presented to the North,
and rejected, then. if the rights guaran-
teed by the Constitution are denied us,
and the citizens of one portion of the
country are granted privileges not ex
tended to the other, we can with a
clear conscience separate. I am for
maintaining all our rights-not for
abandoning all for the sake of one-our
national rights, liberty at home, and
security abroad; our lands, navy, forts,
dock yards, arsenals, and institutions
of every kind.
1t will result in war, l know fierce
and bloody war. But SO will secession;
for it is revolution and war at last, and
cannot be otherwise, and we might as
we'll look at it in it's true character.
This is long message, Annette, for
your father, and a grave one which l
had not intended to put in my letter to
you, but it is a subject upon which
my serious thoughts often turn; for as
an American citizen prize my govern
ment and country highly, and there is
no sacrifice l am not willing to make
for their preservation, save that of
honor. l trust there is wisdom and
patriotism enough in the country to
save them, for l cannot anticipate SO
great calamity to the nation as dis
solution of the Union.
(Signed) R. E. LEE.