Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 40.djvu/299

Rh then, they are necessary now for the accomplishment of the designs of Providence. The Lord could not trust the North to fulfill His great purposes on this continent without the aid of the Southern people. Their sanity, their conservatism, their true Americanism were necessary elements in working out the great future of the race in this western land.

In closing let me call attention to the sublime self abnegation of General Lee. When this battle was over he wrote to the President of the Confederacy these words: "I have no fault to find with anyone but myself." Was there ever in all the annals of time a more splendid example of magnanimity than was thus exhibited by our great commander, our peerless leader—!