(2). Letter dated January 12, 1852, by General Lee to Custis Lee. This is a letter of congratulation on Custis Lee's becoming- a Corporal in the Cadet Corps.
It is certain that this letter was found at Arlington during the war and was returned to General Custis Lee some years ago. A brief extract will show how it rings the changes on duty: "Do your duty honestly and faithfully, without favor and without partiality. Do not seek to report, but let it be seen that though it gives you pain, still you must do your duty. That this duty is equal. Never more or less rigid, but always the same, and your duty. The same as regards your dearest friend or worst enemy. You will thus gain esteem and affection, and not dislike or hatred. The just are always loved and never hated." It will be observed how close the date of the letter, January 12, 1852, is to that of The Duty Letter. Also that it is an excellent example of General Lee's style in his familiar letters to his children.
X.
But admitting that the forger, who connects himself with Arlington in what he wrote to the New York Sun, might have had access to letters of General Lee, disclosing his style, and suggesting the topics of The Duty Letter, the question of motive remains to be considered. One may borrow the "livery of Heaven to serve the Devil in," but why falsely assume the livery of Heaven to inculcate duty and teach morality? It has been said that one capable of feeling that "Duty is the sublimest word in our language," would hardly be capable, while penning that sentence, of committing a breach of duty by perpetrating a forgery. This seems paradoxical; but I think the explanation is plain, when we approach The Duty Letter from the right angle.
The key to the solution of the problem is found by remembering that The Duty Letter should not be taken too seriously. It is not forgery in a legal sense (such a letter could not be);
for granted that you mean to do right"; while in the other letter he says, "Acknowledge right to be your aim, and strive to reach it." What significance, if any, attaches to this parallelism is left to the reader's judgment.
