Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1873-09-02

TIE name of Jefferson Davis belongs not
to the present, but to history. BE was
President of the Confederate States in the
storm of secession; Mfilard Fillmore was
President of the UniLed States also in q
storm when secession was postponed: both
are now entitled in their old days to the
calm OF private life. Yet many Northern
pubiicists persist in crediting Mr.. Davis
with such towering genius as retains its full
meridian power and influence in the gloom
of irretrieva1le defeat. And the same par
ties persist in crediting the Sou bern peo-
Pile with heroic, selfsacri6cing devotion to
the fallen chieftain, such US unvarnished
history. no where records, although ro-
mancers have often pictured it as the
noblest trait of the noblest natures.
This double compliment is rather
awkward to both recipients. Either
Mr.. Davis must forego the American right
of frse-speech; o: the people OF the South,
each and all, must make fresh act Of faith
in the American Union every time his
words can be tortured into regrets for the
past. In other countries, under despotic
governments, such msn have found it best
to put in the form of posthumous memoirs,
whatever facts or lessons learned from
defeat they deemed valuable to their coun-
trymen. It is not complimentary to our
boasted age, and it Is certainly not "liberal,'
that any private citizen placed by memorable
fate beyond the possibility of public aspira-
tions-isolated from politics by the deep
reverence OF the South for its many dead
should be booted into silence until the
grave closes over his poor remains. Yet
there are many who think that Mr.. Davis
sho1ld yield to the uneven temper of the
times.
A few days since an editor of the Mem
phis appeal took occasion to interview Mr..
Davis on his recent speech at the White
Sulphur, Virginia. The Appeal aptly re-
marks that the fact of the South having
honored him does not license nenies to
hold us responsible for his utterances, as If
we put him forward on every chance occa-
sion as our spokesman, and adds; "Let it
therefore be understood, oncs for all, that
what Mr.. Davis says Mr.. Davis is alone
responsible for; and that whetthe Southern
people do 10 their workshops, on their farms,
in their counting rooms and at the ballot
box, is the only criterion by which they can
be fairly judged" But to the interview.
Mr.. Davis states that his remarks at the
White Sulphur we're imprompiu-unpre-
meditated-a mere reply to an address of
welcome by the President of historical So
ciety. But, waving the circumstances, he
asks what there is to criticise in the remark
that the South was cheated, not conquered:
"Now, is this true or not ? Did the Cor
cress of the United States, by solemn reso-
Iutions MOI assure the people of the South
that there was no purpose 10 interfere with
the institutions of the States, that the OBJ
iecS was 10 preserve the Union, and the
purposes for which twas ordained and es-
tablished ? Did not the executive Mr..
Li1coln) by proclamation give like assur-
ance to the people of the Southern States ?
Did not United States Generals command
ing departments encourage the same belief
among the people? And did not this lead
to the impression on the part of very many
that the war vas w9ged for an abstraction,
or at most for the preservation Of property
in slaves ? And was rot The Gods queDce
frequent desertion in the winter of l664-5,
and were not people reluctant to furnish
commissary supplies for the support of the
(Confederate) armies?
he proceeds TO explain that in surrender
ing, the people of the South expected to re-
sumo their places in the Union, free to form
their own local governments as of old, and
had 20 occasion to anticipate the recon-
struction system. He thinks if they had
foreseen this
"They would have prolonged the war by
Withdrawing more into the interior so as to
compel the enemy to lengLhen his lines of
communication; and it was the opinion of
soldier, now no more, and on whose judg-
meut tbs greatest reliance was placed, that
in the mountains of Virginia a defensive
war could have been continued for twenty
years"
Being asked what scause" he alluded to
in the expression, "The cause is not lost;
principles are eternal" he said:
"The cause for which the war was
waged by the South was the rights which
were asserted to be inslienable in the &C.
claration of independence. That cause has
sometimes been mistaken for lis minor in |
cidents. i'll were to express i in a single |
clause l would say It was community indie |
pendence.' AS far back as the time of |
Xenophon tyranny was defined to be tn |
lawful empire over men against their will. |
The founders of the American States de- |
ella red that all rightful governments rested |
on the consent of the governed. In view CT |
the usurpations Of the last ten years and the |
present prostration of sovereign States, is it |
crime to look hopefully to the restoration
of their powers?"
AS TO the Confederate "cause," he reverts |
to his efforts to avert Secession in 1s60-61,
remarking:
"There are so many evidences on record |
of my devotion TO the Union as our fathers |
made it, that have no occasion to say now
how strong that feeling was then in my
breast. But he would be very dull indeed, |
who, in view Of the present condition of |
the South, would advise, or desire it to at
tempt to enforce its rights by an appeal to
arms. In one of the speeches Tor which
have been well abused, the principal point
was, that when the evils inflicted upon the
South by a usurping government were
brought home to the people of the North,
so as to make the case their own, we might
expect them TO cooperate with us for the
restoration of the principles Of '76 and
'S7"
He goes on to explain that these principles
of '76 and 'S7" are what be hopes Southern
mothers will instill into the minds of the |
rising generation, aud redeem the cause of
community independence" North as well
as South, East as well as West.