Part 84 (1/2)
Lee spoke with irritation.
”How can you ask me to go over the head of my Chief with such an order?”
Alexander pressed forward.
”But you might consider a proclamation looking to peace under this plan--if you were in a position of supreme power?”
”I have no such power. I advised our people to make peace before I invaded Pennsylvania. I have urged it more than once, but they cannot see it. And I must do the work given me from day to day.”
”We now propose to give to you the sole decision as to what that work shall be.”
”How, sir?”
”I am here to-night, General, as the agent of our Government, to confer on you this power. The Congress has unanimously chosen you as Dictator of the Confederacy with supreme power over both the civil and military branches of the Government.”
”And well done!” cried Gordon.
”We back them!” echoed Alexander.
”Hurrah for the Confederate Congress,” shouted Stuart--”the first signs of brains they've shown in many a day--”
He caught himself at a glance from Rives.
”Excuse me, Senator--I didn't mean quite that.”
Lee fixed Rives with his brilliant eyes.
”The Confederate Congress has no authority to declare & Dictators.h.i.+p.”
”We have.”
”By what law?”
”By the law of necessity, sir. The civil government in Richmond has become a farce. I acknowledge it sorrowfully. Your soldiers are ill clothed, half starved, and the power to recruit your ranks is gone. The people have lost faith in their civil leaders. Disloyalty is rampant. In the name of ultra State Sovereignty, treason is everywhere threatening.
Soldiers are taken from your army by State authorities on the eve of battle. Men are deserting in droves and defy arrest. You have justly demanded the death penalty for desertion. It has been denied. Bands of deserters now plunder, burn and rob as they please. You are our only hope. You are the idol of our people. At your call they will rally. Men will pour into your ranks, and we can yet crush our enemies, or invade Mexico as you may decide.”
”He's right, General,” Gordon agreed. ”The South will stand by you to a man.”
Alexander added with deep reverence:
”The people believe in you, General Lee, as they believe in G.o.d.”
A dreamy look overspread Lee's face.
”Their faith is misplaced, sir! G.o.d alone decides the fate of nations.
And G.o.d, not your commanding General, will decide the fate of the South.
The thing that appalls me is that we have no luck. For in spite of numbers, resources, generals.h.i.+p--the unknown factor in war is luck. The North has had it all. At s.h.i.+loh at the moment of a victory that would have ended Grant's career, Albert Sydney Johnson, our ablest general, was shot and Grant escaped. At the battle of Chancellorsville in these very woods, Jackson at the moment of his triumph-Jackson my right arm--was shot by his own men. To-day Longstreet falls in the same way when he is about to repeat his immortal deed--”
He paused.
”The South has had no luck!”