Weekly Confederate

We give prominence to-day, as above all other things, to General Orders, Nos. 2 and 3 from the General-in-chief of the armies of the Confederate States.

General Lee exhorts his gallant and brave comrades, who with him, have borne so long, so patiently and unrepiningly, the hardships and vicissitudes of war, still to stand by their colors, and yet further to respond to the calls of honor and duty. He plainly tells them of the choice which lies before them—war or abject submission? He does not tell them of any hopes of reconstruction, that the people can select to go back with their rights into the union, if they choose; but he tells them that only the choice of abject humiliating, destructive submission is left to them, unless they fight for independence. He then appeals to them by their lineage—by their descent from a free ancestry—to maintain the inheritance of liberty, which descended to them from their fathers. General Lee addresses his soldiers in the language of stern, recognizable truth, without equivocation or palliation, "that they cannot barter manhood for peace, nor the right of self government for life or property."

This language of Gen. Robert E. Lee addresses itself not only to his comrades in arms, but the whole people. And which will you believe, people of North Carolina? This veteran patriot chief, who left high position, wealth, and ease in the old government, and at your call, came to share with your children the struggle for independence—who has dwelt in tents since this war began, foregoing all comforts, except such as the soldier enjoys—who has exposed his person in battle, and who, for his great integrity and uprightness, holds the reverence of this nation, and the admiration of other peoples—whose name is read, with honor and respect, all over the world; or, believe the base and cowardly, or the timid and ignorant, who tell you that you can return to the Union, and be protected in your property? Gen. Lee, in telling his soldiers, tells you, that there is no alternative but submission or war.

After this exhortation, Gen. Lee addresses himself to the deserters and absentees without leave, "who have abandoned their comrades in the hour of peril." He warns them sternly, as they have not heretofore been warned, that "a last opportunity is opened to them to wipe out their disgrace, and escape the punishment of their crimes." By the authority of the President, he offers pardon to all who shall return, or report, according to the orders, within 20 days, except those who have deserted to the enemy, or those who have once been pardoned.

We would fain add our admonition to this earnest exhortation. Editing, as we do, a journal which may reach the eye of many who have friends, perhaps relatives—certainly acquaintances—who are included in one or the other of the classes above named, we call their attention to the foregoing order, and their influence to bring within the reach of this offer of pardon, those who have the offer held out to them.

We see, in this appeal of Gen. Lee, a determined resolve, that mercy shall now give place to justice. Ye wives, who have husbands absent from their posts; who have deserted because you have written to them to come home, take care! You are aiming the deadly bullet at the heart which is dearest to you. Ye fathers, mothers, sisters, kin, who connive at the desertion of your children and brethren, be warned, lest ye contribute to their destruction! Be assured that laws more stringent, and more inexorably executed will soon be put in force to bring in deserters.

Their names will be published in the journals, stuck up at your Court Houses, and if no worse fate befall them, they will hereafter bear forever the record of infamy. Whoever then, has a relation or friend, who, under any bad influence, or for any cause, has abandoned his post, we counsel you to use your best exertions to induce his return within the limit of the offer of pardon.

And to all citizens, we would say: It is the interest, as well as the duty of all, to urge deserters and absentees back to their duty. Only think. If those who are absent from our army were now with Beauregard, Sherman would be driven discomfited and beaten from South Carolina. If Gen. Lee had his absentees back, not all the hordes of Grant could save him from destruction. But for desertion, and improper absenteeism, the reverses which have befallen us would never have happened. Our victories would have been more decisive; and in all human probability, at this very day, our cause would have been gained.