General Lee resigned his commission in the army of the Union and assumed command of Confederate troops, long before Virginia had voted upon the ordinance of secession.

He gave the influence of his eminent name to the schemes of those who, by every agency, _fas aut nefas_, were determined to hurl Virginia into secession.

The very fact that General Lee had assumed command of the troops in Virginia was a powerful incentive with many to vote against the Union.

Jefferson Davis had anticipated and measured the full force of the effect which would be produced upon Virginians by General Lee's identification with the Confederate cause.

Whether or not there be ground for making General Lee the subject of exceptional censure, there is surely none for excusing him as one who reluctantly obeyed the voice of his State.