MY DEAR SISTER:  I am grieved at my inability to see you ...  I have been waiting “for a more convenient season,” which has brought to many before me deep and lasting regret.  Now we are in a state of war which will yield to nothing.  The whole South is in a state of revolution, into which Virginia, after a long struggle, has been drawn, and, though I recognize no necessity for this state of things, and would have forborne and pleaded to the end for redress of grievances, real or supposed, yet in my own person I had to meet the question, whether I should take part against my native State.  With all my devotion to the Union, and the feeling of loyalty and duty of an American citizen, I have not been able to make up my mind to raise my hand against my relatives, my children, my home.  I have, therefore, resigned my commission in the army, and, save in defence of my native State, with the sincere hope that my poor services may never be needed, I hope I may never be called on to draw my sword.

I know you will blame me, but you must think as kindly of me as you can, and believe that I have endeavored to do what I thought right.  To show you the feeling and struggle it has cost me, I send a copy of my letter to General Scott, which accompanied my letter of resignation.  I have no time for more....  May God guard and protect you and yours, and shower upon you every blessing, is the prayer of your devoted brother,

    R.E.  LEE.

The expression used in this letter—­“though I recognize no necessity for this state of things”—­conveys very clearly the political sentiments of the writer.  He did not regard the election of a Republican President, even by a strictly sectional vote, as sufficient ground for a dissolution of the Union.  It may be added here, that such, we believe, was the opinion of a large number of Southern officers at that time.  Accustomed to look to the flag as that which they were called upon to defend against all comers, they were loath to admit the force of the reasoning which justified secession, and called upon them to abandon it.  Their final action seems to have been taken from the same considerations which controlled the course of Lee.  Their States called them, and they obeyed.

In resigning his commission and going over to the South, Lee sacrificed his private fortunes, in addition to all his hopes of future promotion in the United States Army.  His beautiful home, Arlington, situated upon the heights opposite Washington, must be abandoned forever, and fall into the hands of the enemy.  This old mansion was a model of peaceful loveliness and attraction.  “All around here,” says a writer, describing the place, “Arlington Heights presents a lovely picture of rural beauty.  The ‘General Lee house,’ as some term it, stands on a grassy lot, surrounded with a grove of stately trees and underwood, except in front, where is a verdant sloping ground for a few rods, when it