Page:Confederate Cause and Conduct.djvu/41

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
History Committee, Grand Camp, C. V.
21

tional strife recurring with every question of general interest; simply weary of quarrelling; convinced by the election of Lincoln that the quarrel never would end—went into the war in hope of conquering peace, and before going gave their negroes leave to be free, if they chose. The attitude of one or two prominent fighters with respect to slave property will be sufficient for our purpose. The "Campaigns of Stonewall Jackson," by Colonel G. F. R. Henderson, of the British Staff College, Camberley, England, should be read by every man, woman, and child in the South. It would help the Northern people to a knowledge of the truth. On page 108, volume I., of that great book we find the following extract from a letter of General Robert E. Lee: "In this enlightened age," wrote the future general-in-chief of the Confederate army, "there are few, I believe, but will acknowledge that slavery as an institution is a moral and political evil. It is useless to expatiate on its disadvantages. I think it is a greater evil to the white than to the colored race, and while my feelings are strongly interested in the latter, my sympathies are more deeply engaged for the former. The blacks are immeasurably better off here than in Africa—morally, socially, and physically. The painful discipline they are undergoing is necessary for their instruction as a race, and, I hope, will prepare them for better things. How long their subjection may be necessary is known and ordered by a merciful Providence. Their emancipation will sooner result from the mild and melting influence of Christianity than from the storms and contests of fiery controversy. This influence, though slow, is sure. The doctrines and miracles of our Saviour have required nearly two thousand years to convert but a small part of the human race, and even among Christian nations what gross errors still exist! While we see the course of the final abolition of slavery is still onward, and we give it the aid of our prayers and all justifiable means in our power, we must leave the progress as well as the result in His hands who sees the end and who chooses to work by slow things, and with whom a thousand years are but as a single day. The Abolitionist must know this, and must see that he has neither the right nor the power of operating except by moral means and suasion; if he means well to the slave