The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1870-07-07

v1ND1cAr1ox OF THE TRUTH OF HISTORY.


OF THE TRUTH OF HISTORY.
Mr.. Stephens first volume, entitled
"The War between the States" is a con-
to history which has added more
lustre to his name than all else he has ac-
complished. As an inquiry into the ma
ture of the government of the United
States, or of the nature of the Union
which was established by its original fra
mers, it is invaluable. No amount of
special pleading can overturn the histori-
cal truths he has cited, and the deduc-
tons that logically follow them, and which
place the entire responsibility of the rup-
ture which occurred between the States
upon the party in the Northern States
which, having repeatedly violated funda-
mental conditions of the compact, finally
succeeded in obtaining power by a strict
ly sectional vote for the accomplishment
of all their schemes against the minority
section.
In the second volume, as we learn by
review of some advance sheets sketched
in the Augusta Constitutionalist, this in
vestigation is sill further prosecuted, and
the facts of history unfolded so as to con-
stitute a complete vindication of the
Southern States for the part they have
acted This contribution is all the more
valuable because it is from the pen of
statesman who was never classed as a
Southern extremist" but the reverse.
Judging from the glimpse the Consti-
nationalist has afforded the public of the
contents of the second volume, it would
have been well for the fame of Mr.. Ste
phens and his reliability as an impartial
historian if he had stopped here. He has
been less accurate in stating the details Of
the formation of the Confederate States
government, and in describing the con-
duct of the war, than in tracing the re-
sponsibiity of the conflict to its true
source He has committed several errors
of fact which are scarcely excusable in
one occupying his position and who has
undertaken to write for posterity. One
of these errors has rendered necessary the
publication of the following correspon-
dence. 1t is the statement that President
Davis "was responsible for the failure of
''the Confederate troops to advance after
''the victory of Manassas" The original
of this correspondence has been in the
possession of the writer since it occurred,
and would probably have remained among
the secret hidden things of the Confeder-
acy, if the story, often repeated by am
bilious penny-a-liners and venal scrib-
blers had not found an enduring place in
so imposing a work as the history of the
War by the Confederate States Vice Pres
ident.
Mr.. Davis himself is silent During
the War, when the object of the persecu-
ton of ignorance and malice combined,
he forebore to speak because the disclo-
sures which he would have been COMPEL
ed to make in his own defence would have
operated injuriously to the cause with
which the hopes Of his countrymen were
bound up. And since its disastrous ter
mination, not only has he been in no con-
dition to engage in controversy, but he
has been restrained to silence by other
motives which ought to have protected
him from misrepresentation if not crit
cism.
Upon the point raised by Mr. Stephens,
the following correspondence is conclu-
sive. On the testimony of Gen. j. E.
Johnston, it is established that if the vic
tory at Manassas was succeeded by fatal
blunder, as the historian intimates his be.
lief, it was not attributable to President
| Davis.
Unwilling to believe that Mr.. Stephens
would Intentionally mar his book by the
grave error which this correspondence
convicts him of having committed, we
trust that it has been brought to his no
tice in time to admit of its correction be.
fore his volume is issued from the press.
The historical value of the correspon-
dence is enhanced by its revelation of the
real causes that prevented an advance Of
the Confederates after their success al
Manassas