Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 40.djvu/113

Rh father's style, and is probably taken in part from some of his letters.

(Signed)""

It would seem that The Duty Letter, repudiated by both the alleged writer and the addressee, is so discredited, that its spuriousness would be conceded, "without hope of rescue." But this is by no means the case; and we must now examine several theories (or suppositions) upon which its substantial genuineness is by some still maintained. These theories I shall call (1) The Wrong Date Theory; (2) The Editorial Emendation Theory, and (3) The Compilation Theory. Let us examine them in their order.

This is the theory of several valued correspondents; and at first blush it seems plausible. The date of The Duty Letter, it will be remembered, is "April 5, 1852," three years before General Lee became Lieutenant-Colonel of the Second Cavalry. He could not, therefore, at that time, have written the first two sentences.

But may not "April 5, 1852," it is asked by those who espouse The Wrong Date Theory, be an error of General Lee, or of the copyist, or of the printer? Should not the date be changed to some other time which will fit the facts? Is it not more reasonable, they ask, that there should be an error in the date of The Duty Letter, than that the first two sentences, assuming the date to be correct, should contain so glaring an anachronism, so egregious a blunder? And they insist, when General Custis Lee declares, after showing the mistake in the first two sentences, "The first part of the letter enclosed was not, therefore, written by General Lee," that this means no more than that it was not written by General Lee at the date on the face of the letter. General Custis Lee may not have thought