The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1881-04-27
Jefferson Davis Book.
From the Louisville Couricr-Journal.1

rate Government" has not yet been |
published, but We have been shown n |
Of it, from which it is posi-
bic to Judge at least Of its appearance
1t will be issued in two octave volumes
the type is Of an excellent size, the i'm
preston beautiful, and the paper fae.
Altogether, the work promises to be
much handsomcr and better than the
average subscription books. 1t will be
with numerous steel engra-
wings. Those which we have seen are
capital, being portraits Of the Presidents
staff, Of the members Of the Confederate
Cabinets, Of Mr. Davis himself, Of Cal,
houn, Stephens, and Gems. Hampton,
A. ). and j, f. Johnston, Beaurcgard,
jackson, Lee, Hardec, Longstreet and
Bragg. The following is Mr.. Davis in
PRODUCTION to the work.
" y duty to my countrymcn; to the
memory Of those who died in defense Of
II cause consccratcd by inheritance, Il,
well as sustained by conviction; and to
those who, perhaps less fortunate,
stakcd all, and lost all, save life and
HONOR in its behalf, has impclcd me to
attempt the vindication of their cause
and conduct, For this purpose have
decided to present an historical sketch
Of the events which preceded and at
tended the struggle Of the Southern
States to maintain their existence and
their rights as sovereign communities
the creators, not the creatures, Of the
General Government.
"Thc social problem Of maintaining
the just relation between constitution,
government and people has been found
50 difficult that human history is Il rec
ord Of unsuccessful efforts to establish
it. \ government, to afford the need
full protection and exercise the proper
care for the welfare Of people, must
have homogencity in its constituents.
1t is this necessity which has divided the
human race into separate nations, and
finally has defeated the grandcst efforts
which conqucrors have made to give un-
limited extent to their domains. When
our fathers dissolved their connection
with Great Britain, by declaring them
selves free and independent States, they
constituted thirteen separate communi-
ties and were careful to assert and pre-
serve, each for itself, its sovereignty
and jurisdiction.
CAT Il time when minds Of men are
straying far from the lessons our fathers
taught, it seems proper and we'll to re-
cur to the original principles on which
the system Of government they devised
was founded, The eternal truths which
they announced, the rights which they
declared mathematics are the founda-
ton stones on which rests the yindica-
ton Of the Confederate cause.
lie must have been careless read
cr Of our political history who has not
observed that, whether under the style
Of United Colonies or United States,
which was adopted after the declaration
Of Independence, whether under the ar
ticics Of the Confederation or the com
pact Of Union, there everywhere appears
the distinct assertion Of State sovereign
ty, and nowhere the slightest suggestion
OF amy purpose on the part Of the States
to consolidate themselves into one body.
VIII any candid, wcll-intormed man as
scrt that at any time between l716 and
1850, Il proposition to surrender the
sovereignty of the States and merge
them in Il central government would
have had the least possible chance Of.
Can any historical fact be
more dcmonstrabc than that the States
did, both in the Confederation and the .
Union, retain their sovereignty and in
as distinct communities,
voluntary conscnting to federation, but
never becoming the fractional part Of II
nation? That such opinions should
find adhcrents in our day, may be at
tributable to the natural law Of aggrc-
cation surely not II conscientious re-
gard for the terms Of the compact for
union by the States.
In all free governments the constitu-
lion or organic law is supreme over the
government, and in our Federal Union
his was most distinctly marked by lin
tation5 and prohibitions against all
which was beyond the expressed grants
# power to the General Government.
In the foreground, therefore, | take the
position that those who resisted viola
ions Of the compact were the true
friends, and those who maintained the
lsurpation Of undclcgated powers were
he real enemies Of the constitutional
Inion.
To the parents, the widows and
he orphans of the Confederate dead,
offer the consolation that those for
whom they mourn died for the right
Il willing sacrifice on the altar of their !
ountry, where their memories, en- {
hrincd in the hearts of their people, ,
ill 90 down in tradition to posterity,
by "alor in defence Of
ONE, and martyrdom for liberty"
In one Of the hotels at Nice is beau !
full American, who lately went to an
at home in full dress-low,ncckcd
,tin, diamonds, etc. On arriving and /
,oking around the room she perceived
D. other guests to be in demi-toiIettc. +
Well, she said, IF I'd known that it
as only sit around I'd not have put I
" clothes on. london Punch. {
" Whenever Henry comes to see
e," said New Orleans girl speaking S
her lover, "it seems to the that hi. >