The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1867-07-26

view the foliies and errors Of his brother. STE
pHENs is perhaps the only man who could, If he
would, write the secret, internal history of the
Confederacy, and as he is not so minded, great
deal of it will die with him.. The work on which
he is now engaged cannot fail to possess very
high value; it need not, however, be looked for
soon, as it is yet in no considerable degree Of for
wardness.
81 may generalize the conclusion of q long,
wide-spreading talk regarding the conduct Of the
South in this way The South was guilty OF two
great mistakes-the first was secession itself, and
the second the object for which the war was made,
to wit: Independence Add to these third, name
y, the errors in the civil and military manage
ment of the war when it was once begun"
Mr. STEPHENS believed in the right of secession,
but regarded secession as q prodigious political
blunder. He was, as is well known, opposed to
the secession of Georgia to the very last and did
all that lay in his power to prevent it. But the
very elements we're against him and on the side Of
secession, as will be seen by tho following para
graph of Mr.. SwrNroN's letter:
s8Ir. STEPHENS had wanted convention Of the
people 10 bo held about tho 18th of December.
Ho know that Georgia would not secede, and no
was also sure that South Carolina, which had not
yet seeded would not hot though she was 60 out
alono. But he could not effect this purpose. The
election for delegates was ordered for the LIST Of
January, which was after South Carolina had
taken tho leap. well, he went on to say, 'on the
1st Of January, there was rain-storm moro vio-
lent than tho Oldest inhabitant renlembered-not
since the flood in the Yazoo had there been sucha
storm. The result was that the country people
could not get out to vote, and this gave prepon-
derating influence in the election of delegates to
the towns and villages, wherc you know, political
epidemics are always stronger than elsewhere.
We lost at least twenty Union members by this.
Even Rome, up in the Cherokee country, where
the Union sentiment was vastly in the ascendant,
sent secession delegate. Invent over myself to the
Courthouse yonder to vote, and the room was
filed with dripping people, with wet saddles in
their hands, who had come through the flood and
miro with immense difficulty. I made them
little speech there, and said then that I feared
the rain would lose US tho election And so indeed
it did,"
Next we have s'glmses of the earlier war days.
when We learn that Mr.. STEPHENS choice for Pres-
dent of the now Confederacy was Mr.. Too,rBs.
whom he regarded as the most powerful intellect
of the South; that DAVIS "was not at oil what peo-
pie suppose-not Of oil a;fre-eater; and though he
was Of course State Rights man, he could hardly
be called secessionist." he also said that DAVIS
was very averso to having Fort Sumter fired on,
and only yielded after it was known that a feet
r,;f1 angor md of Tho bor.
Dor. "That we regarded, after the promises made,
as tho beginning of hostities, and held therefore,
that it was not we that commenced tho war;"
It was universally thought that tie war would
be brief holiday affair. Most Of the prominent
politicians, when we got through the work Of tho
Convention, hastened to enter the army, fearing
that il they did not get in quick they would lose
the opportunity of making some capital for the
futurel'' .,
'sMr. DAVIS" he went on to say, observed tome
soon after we got established at Montgomery, that
1T would now be o question Of brains who should
win,' and the remark was so just that thought
there must Re great deal where that came from.
full lack Of craftsmanship, and even Of nero ordi-
nary good sense"
1 asked him to give me some illustrations Of
this.
''W0l, SllQ ne, 'UQerC ID CQe SuDJeCG VI uuHIC0
the sinews of war. Never was people in posi-
ton to start with 80 magnificent basis OF credit
as we. They said cotton was king. Nonsense
It was indeed o commercial king, but no political
king. always regarded the prevalent notionthat
England would intervene in our behalf on account
Of cotton as the most chimerical of fancies; and
told Them at the time lhat the only effect Of lock-
ing up our cotton would be to stimulate its pro-
duction elsewhere. Now Observe" he con-
tisges, what foundation We had for
Of the Bird I proposed to take al the cotton
soy four million bales-at ten cents. paying for it
with eight per cent. gold interest bearing bonds
By shipping it to Liverpool (Which we might read
lly have done, for there was no blockade 70 speak
of during the first year), and holding it there till
it rose to fifty cents, we would have had $780,
100000. Well I early called Mr.. Davis attention
to it, but he told me he knew nothing Of finance,
and said Ego to NJ Memminger." Memminger and
talked it over ono day, and we were tc have an
other meeting two days afterwards; hut, in the
meantime, he came out in the newspapers with an
article showing the unconstitutionality Of the pro-
posed measure, and never went to him on the
subject afterwari. But had lie acted as have in
dicated, we might readily have bought feet, in
Europe, and might even have hired mercenaries to
fight our battles. proposed to have fifteen IRON
cads constructed in Europe, and to have three out
by the following March, We might in this way
have kept ut least ono or two ports open, and if
live A man will hive if no can breathe through o
quill even; but when, one after another, we lost all
our ports, oven to Wilmington, the gamo was up"
Mr.. STEPHENS never believed in the wisdom or
feasibility of Southern independence. "The very
physical features of the Fcontinent," he says,
''necessitate political unity, and even had the
South won its independence, it would not have
kept it for ten years." His view was that the Con-
federato government should have to conduct it's
policy as to foster, and aid and support that senti
ment, instead Of aonating and repelling it. "But
tho gods designing to destroy US, first struck our
rulers with madness"
He next speaks Of the several successive efforts
for the establishment Of peace, all Of which as is
well known, failed. Mr.. STEPHENS, however, held
all communications upon this part Of the secret his
tory of the war as well as what occurred during the
Fortress Monroe Conference as confidential. But
Mr.. SwINToN gives the following bit Of history re-
garding the BLAIR mission, which he had from a
distinguished Confederate officer in Virginia. 1t
appears that ono Of the propositions BLA1n carried
to Richmond was that the Union army should
make o landing on the coast Of Texas in position
mcnacing to the French in Mexico, that the Con-
federate army should offer show Of following it
up, but that the two should unite in common cause
in vindication Of the Monroe doctrine. The war
meanwhile would be an adjourned question, and