Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 28.djvu/154

 148 Similn-rii Hialor tat I Society

t<> allow time for the action of the Governor in the matter, the con- vention will adjourn until the i2th of March next, unless interme- diately the State of Virginia should, by her sovereign convention, secede from the Union, in which event, and in case the Governor of the State shall not have then called a sovereign convention of the people of this State, this convention shall at once assemble at the call of the president, with a view of recommending to the people of this State the election of delegates to such a sovereign convention.

"Resolved further i as the sense of this convention, That the seces- sion of the several slave-holding States from the Federal Union was induced by the aggression of the non-slave-holding States, in viola- tion of the Constitution of the United States.

"Resolved further, That the moral and material interest and the geographical position of this State demand that it should act with Virginia in this crisis, co-operating with that State in all honorable efforts to maintain and defend the constitutional rights of its citizens in the Union, and failing in that, to associate with her in confedera- tion with our sister States in the Union.

"Resolved further, That the honor of this State requires that it should not permit its soil to be made a highway for Federal troops sent to make war upon our sister States of the South, and it is the opinion of this convention that an attempt on the part of the Fed- eral government to coerce the States which have seceded would necessarily result in civil war, and the destruction of the government itself."

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF GEN. ROBT. E. LEE.

Chancellorsville to Gettysburg March to August, 1863.

The following abstracts from the War Records, published by the United States Government, exhibit most strikingly, not only the profound ability of General Robert E. Lee as a military chieftain, but also the moral grandeur of his character.

The general belief has been, that General Lee had the finest army on the Gettysburg campaign that he ever commanded, and that the army as well as the commander was full of confidence and strength. This correspondence shows that the army was debilitated from being insufficiently fed; the horses were weakened from the same cause, and