Details
LEE, ROBERT E., General, C.S.A.. Autograph letter signed ("R.E.Lee"), to General E.G.W. Butler, Lexington, Virginia, 11 October 1867. 4 pages, small 4to, closely written.
LEE PONDERS THE EXECUTION OF MAXIMILIAN AND DECLARES THAT "OUR GOVERNMENT...RESTS UPON FORCE AS MUCH AS ANY GOVERNMENT THAT HAS EVER EXISTED"
A thoughtful letter from the newly appointed president of Washington College to an antebellum West Point colleague. Lee reacts to news of the execution (by firing squad) of Maximiliam, King of Mexico, and expresses his conviction that the Federal government rules by force of arms, rather than by the consent of the governed. "...Though it has been nearly a month since my return [from White Sulphur Springs], so filled did I find my table with letters requiring answers & so constantly have I been occupied in organizing classes & establishing students in their course of studies, that I have not, until today, been able to reply....As regards Mr. Guyanez' pamphlet on 'Oaths, Amnesties & Rebellion,' I think I have acknowledged it. I recollect its reception, & as I was only able to glance at its contents...I placed it in the College Library...A discussion of the matter, now, is not profitable; but, we are obliged to confess that, notwithstanding our boastful assertions to the world, for nearly a century, that our government was based on the consent of the people; which, we proclaimed, was the only rightful foundation on which any government could stand; that it rests upon force; as much as any government that ever existed. You cannot too strongly deprecate the execution of Maximilian. His death was not necessary; & accomplished nothing, but the excitement of the horror of the civilized world. He went to Mexico at the formal invitation of her people, & labored hard for their improvement...
"I have grieved much at the sufferings of our Southern people. The floods & the fevers have united in bringing devastation & distress upon them, but I trust that, at no distant day, there will be an end to their afflictions: 'for time, at last, sets all things even...'" He speaks of a mutual friend he met at [White Sulphur] Springs, where his wife and a daughter were taking the waters, and of his own fragile health and an "attack" which "left me so weak that I could hardly ride home." He adds that "the prospects of [Washington] College, this year, are good. We have nearly 400 students, & about 100 more than we had, at this time last year....The students, too, are of a fine order of young men; earnest and faithful..."
LEE PONDERS THE EXECUTION OF MAXIMILIAN AND DECLARES THAT "OUR GOVERNMENT...RESTS UPON FORCE AS MUCH AS ANY GOVERNMENT THAT HAS EVER EXISTED"
A thoughtful letter from the newly appointed president of Washington College to an antebellum West Point colleague. Lee reacts to news of the execution (by firing squad) of Maximiliam, King of Mexico, and expresses his conviction that the Federal government rules by force of arms, rather than by the consent of the governed. "...Though it has been nearly a month since my return [from White Sulphur Springs], so filled did I find my table with letters requiring answers & so constantly have I been occupied in organizing classes & establishing students in their course of studies, that I have not, until today, been able to reply....As regards Mr. Guyanez' pamphlet on 'Oaths, Amnesties & Rebellion,' I think I have acknowledged it. I recollect its reception, & as I was only able to glance at its contents...I placed it in the College Library...A discussion of the matter, now, is not profitable; but, we are obliged to confess that, notwithstanding our boastful assertions to the world, for nearly a century, that our government was based on the consent of the people; which, we proclaimed, was the only rightful foundation on which any government could stand; that it rests upon force; as much as any government that ever existed. You cannot too strongly deprecate the execution of Maximilian. His death was not necessary; & accomplished nothing, but the excitement of the horror of the civilized world. He went to Mexico at the formal invitation of her people, & labored hard for their improvement...
"I have grieved much at the sufferings of our Southern people. The floods & the fevers have united in bringing devastation & distress upon them, but I trust that, at no distant day, there will be an end to their afflictions: 'for time, at last, sets all things even...'" He speaks of a mutual friend he met at [White Sulphur] Springs, where his wife and a daughter were taking the waters, and of his own fragile health and an "attack" which "left me so weak that I could hardly ride home." He adds that "the prospects of [Washington] College, this year, are good. We have nearly 400 students, & about 100 more than we had, at this time last year....The students, too, are of a fine order of young men; earnest and faithful..."