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 & Dictatorship."
"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, generalship--the unknown factor in war is luck. The North has had it all. At Shiloh 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!"
Alexander eagerly protested.
"I don"t agree with you, sir. G.o.d has given the South Lee as her Commander. Your genius is equal to a hundred thousand men. And in all our terrible battles, at the head of your men, again and again, as you were to-day, with bullets whistling around you, you"ve lived a charmed life. You"re here to-night strong in body and mind, without a scratch.
Don"t tell me, sir, that we haven"t had luck!"
Stuart broke in.
"You"re the biggest piece of luck that ever befell an army."
Lee rose.
"I appreciate your confidence and your love, gentlemen. But I"ve made many tragic mistakes, and tried to find an abler man to take my place."
"There"s no such man!" Stuart boomed. "Give the word to-night and every soldier in this army would follow you into the jaws of h.e.l.l!"
Lee"s eyes were lifted dreamily.
"And you ask me to blot out the liberties of our people by a single act of usurpation?"
Alexander lifted his hand.
"Only for a moment, General, that we may restore them in greater glory.
The truth is the Confederate Government is not fitted for revolution.
Let"s win this war and fix it afterwards."
"I do not believe either in military statesmen or political generals.
The military should be subordinate always to the civil power--"
"But Congress," Rives broke in, "speaking for the people, offers you supreme power. Mr. Davis has not proven himself strong enough for the great office he holds."
Lee flared at this a.s.sertion.
"And if he has not, sir, who gave _me_ the right to sit in judgment upon my superior officer and condemn him without trial? Mr. Davis is the victim of this unhappy war. I say this, though, that he differs with me on vital issues. I urged the abolition of Slavery. He opposed it. So did your Congress. I urged the uncovering of Richmond and the concentration of our forces into one great army for an offensive--"
Rives interrupted.
"We ask you to take the supreme power and decide these questions."
Lee replied with a touch of anger.
"But I may be wrong in my policies. Mr. Davis is a man of the highest character, devoted soul and body to the principles to which he has pledged his life. He is a statesman of the foremost rank. He is a trained soldier, a West Point graduate. He is a man of n.o.ble spirit--courageous, frank, positive. A great soul throbs within his breast. He has done as well in his high office as any other man could have done--"
He looked straight at Rives.
"We left the Union, sir, because our rights had been invaded. Our revolution is justified by this fact alone. You ask me to do the thing that caused us to revolt. To brush aside the laws which our people have ordained and set up a Dictatorship with the power of life and death over every man, woman and child. For three years we have poured out our blood in a sacred cause. We are fighting for our liberties under law, or we are traitors, not revolutionists. We are fighting for order, justice, principles, or we are fighting for nothing--"
A courier dashed to the door of the tent and handed Lee a message which he read with a frown.