Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1869-05-26

cost nearly half that. The only answer
which l can give is that he does not
live on meat, butter, coffee, tea, fowls,
etc His dinner is soup of potato and
other vegetables, into which he dips
his black bread, and favors it with
rancid cheese of goats milk. | have |
seen them sitting at noon time in rows
upon the stone seats By the roadside,
eating this soup from stone pots brought |
by their wives or children.
LIFE OF JEFF DAvIs-We have |
received from the National Publish |
ing Company, several advance pages |
of the Life of Jefferson Davis, with
a Secret History of the Southern
Confederacy, gathered behind the
scenes in Richmond" by E. a. Pol
lard. From what is before us we
conclude the book will be one that
will interest all classes, and that our
readers may see something of the
style of the writer we publish below
a short extract from the work Mr.
Pollard intimate acquaintance with
Davis enables him to give many
facts not before known to the pub
he.
In speaking of the secret history
of the war the writer observes:
"One of the most extraordinary coun>
ellis in the history of the country was de-
termined upon; revolutionary body sat
in the shadow of the Capitol at Washing
ton; in few weeks this strange author
ity had sent over the country the order
which led to the seizure of all the forts
in the South except two
1.-The council summoned on this occa-
sion OF once assumed the powers Of
revolutionary junta. 1t was composed of
the Senators from seven South ern States:
Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi,
Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas 1t
met III one of the rooms of the Capitol,
on the night of the 9th January, 1861.
The representation was full, two Sena-
tors from each of the States named be-
ing present but a body of fourteen
Southern men, and those, too, properly
acting in a very limited representative ca
paclty, was certainly a small and extaor-
binary one to determine for the country
the concern of peace or war, and to as
sumo the destinies of the South 1t was
decided to Recommend immediate Sc
cession of their respective States, and the
holding Of a Convention at Monteomrv.
Alabama, on the 18th day of February.
so much of the proceedings of this coun
Gil were published, and were perhaps
legitimate. But it was not then pub
lished, and it is only fully known at
| this day, that this council assumed to
themselves the. political power of the
South, and to control all political and
military operations. They seized the
telegraph, they controlled the press,
they possessed themselves of all the ave-
| nues of information to the South, they
dictated the plan of seizing the forts,
| arsenals and custom-houses, and they
| did the whole work of revolution at
Washington, while public attention was
drawn to the mere incidental movements
| that seconded the designs of these few
men and concealed the true seat of OBJ
eratious. 1t was even doubted whether
| such council had ever been held in
Washington, and whether it was not a
hotlo9 OF the newspapers sps Bpt i38 81 qRg
extent of their operations. 1t was a
strange assumption of authority that, in
| the midst of the peaceful and ordinary
transactions of public life, a body so
| small and so foreign to the purpose in
| hand, of a representative character at
| once so limited and so peculiar COM
posed OF men who wsre every day in
| their accustomed seats in the Senate,
| who were to some extent privy-couns
| lors to the Executive, and thus acting
| under obligations of peculiar confidence.
| should have succeeded in erecting rev-
dictionary tribunal in private commit
tee room, and been able to dictate from
| there, without detection or INTERRUPTION,
| the plan of a great rebellion.
In the confusion and multitude Of
| scenes which preface wars and other
great events in history the mind natural
| y inquiries for some particular body OF
| men, some well-defined scene where the
| operation commences, and from which
may be traced dramatically the success
| sion of events. Such beginnings are
1 often found in narrow circumstances
| In the present isntance the scenes of
great war properly open in the snail
room in Washington City, where fourteen
| men pledged themselves to overthrow
the existing government They assumed
the direction of every affair of the South,
| and from the beginning it was evident
| that the people were to have no calm and
deliberate voice III the matter. An erec.
| utiUe committee was appointed to car
/ ~ out the objects of the meeting" 1t
consisted of three persons, and one of
| them was Jefferson Davis That the
| council was not merely =" advisory" that
it represented the vigor and determine
ton of a revolutionary purpose is proved
from the fact that its programme was
carried out with an exactness, minute
correspondence to every proposition that
could only have proceeded from the force
of command Every thing was done that
the council ordered They did control
all political and military operations;
they did have forts and arsenaIs seized,
as one by one, the dispatches from
Washington Indicated; they did affect a
| Convention at Montgomery arbitrarily
| appointed and in DO instance did the
| movements IN the South towards Seces.
sion vary from the programme decided
| at Washington on the 9th Of January"