Delaware state journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1870-1883, 1881-04-21
JEFFERSON DAVIS BOOK /!
EXTRA CTS FROM STRAY SHEETS OF
THE UNPUBLISHED YOLUME.
The Authors Prefaee-An Extreme
Statement OF States RfEhts-A
Question of Duty-Lee and Jack
son,

Statement OF States Rights-A
Question of Duty-Lee and Jack
son.
The Memphis 1ppeai prints few pages
of Jefferson Davis forthcoming book on
the Rise and Fall of the Confederate
Government. The following is part of
the preface to the book:
"A duty to my countrymen; to the memory
of those who died in defense Of cause con-
secrated by inheritance, as well AZ sustained
| by conviction and to those who perhaps less
fortunate, staked all and lost all, save life and
honor, lin its behalf, has impelled me to
attempt the vindioation of their cause and
| conduct. For this purpose l have decided to
| present an historical sketch of the events
which preceded and attended the struggle of
| the Southern States to maintain their exis-
tence and their rights as sovereign commu-
| nities-the creators, not the creatures, of the
| general government.
| He must have been careless reader of our
| political history who has not observed that,
whether under the style of"U united Coloniesor
UNITED States" which was adopted after the
Declaration of Independence, whether under
articles of confederation or the compact OF
union, there everywhere appears the distinct
assertion of state sovereignty, and nowhere
| the slightest suggestion of any purpose on
the part of the states to consolidate them
selves INTO one body. Will any candid, we'll
informed man assert that at any time between
lT76 and 1870 a proposition to surrender the
sovereignty of the states and merge them in
central government would have had the
least possible chance of adoption? Can any
historical fact be more demonstrable than
that the states did, both in the Confederation
and IN the Union, retain their sovereignty
and independence as distinct communities,
voluntarily consenting to Confederation but
never becoming the fractional of
nation !! That such opinions should find ad-
herents IN our day may be attributable to the
natural law of aggregation surely not to a
conscientious regard for the terms of the
compact for union by the states.
In all free governments the constitution or
organic law is supreme over the government
and in our Federal union this was most dis
tnctly marked by limitations and prohibitions
against all which was beyond the expressed
grants of power to the general government.
In the foreground, therefore, l take the posi-
tion that those who resisted violations of the
compact were the true friends, and those who
maintained the usurpation of undelegated
powers were the real enemies Of the constitu-
tional union.
To the parents the widows and the orphans
of the Confederate dead offer the consola~
ton that those for whom they mourn died
for the riSht-a willing sacrifice on the altar
of their country, where their memories en-
shrined in the hearts of their people, will go
down in tradition to posterity, immortalized
by Yalor IN defense of the home and martyr
dom for liberty. JEFFERSON DAVIS.
October 3Oth, 1880.
A QUESTION OF HONOR.
The extreme doctrine of States rights
is, of course, urged throughout the book,
and Mr.. Davis conception of the duty of
United States officers to the General Gov
ernment in the light of this extreme
th anrXr iS cbntu,, in, fol
On the third day after my Inauguration at
Montgomery an officer of extensive informa-
tion and high capacity was sent to the North
to make purchases of arms, ammunition and
machinery; and soon afterward another
officer was sent to Europe to buy in the mar
ket as far as possible, and, furthermore, to
make contracts for arms and munitions to be
manufactured. Captain (afterward Admiral)
Semmes, the officer who WAS sent to the
North. would have been quite successful but
for the Intervention of the civil authorities,
preventing the delivery of the various articles
contracted for. The officer who was sent to
Europe, Major Huse, found few serviceable
arms upon the market. He, however, sue
ceeded in making contracts for the manufac-
ture of large quantities, being in advance of
the agents sent from the Northern govern
ment for the same purpose. For further and
more detailed information reference is made
TO the monograph of the chief of ordnance.
Captain Semmes had also been directed to
seek for vessels which would serve for naval
purposes, and, after his return, reported that
he could not find any vessels which in his
Judgment were or could be made available
for our uses. The Southern officers Of the
navy who were in command of United States
vessels abroad, under an idea more creditable
to their sentiment than to their knowledge OF
the nature of our constitutional Union,
brought the vessels they commanded into the
ports of the North. and. having delivered
them To fhe nutbOrifias of tha JIpi tod Gtotn
Government, generally rendered their resigna-
tons and repaired to the states from which
they had been commissioned in the navy, to
serve where they held their allegiance to be
due. The theory that they owed allegiance
to their respective states was founded on the
fact that the Federal Government was of the
states the sequence was that the navy be-
longed to the states, not to their agent the
Federal Government and when they ceased
to be united, the naval vessels and armament
should have been divided among the owners
While we honor the sentiment which caused
them to surrender their heartbound associa-
tlon5 and the profession to which they were
bred, on which they relied for subsistence, to
go, with nothing save their swords and faith
full hearts, to fight, to bleed and to die If
righteous cause, we can but remember how
much was lost by their view of what their
honor and duty demanded.
LEE AND JACKSON
The following concerning Generals Lee
and Jackson has a special interest
The third, General Robert E. Lee, had been
commissioned by the State of Virginia as
major general and commander of her army.
When that army was transferred, after the
accession of Virginia to the Confederate
States, he was nominated to be brigadier
general in the Confederate army but was left,
for obvious reasons, in command of the
forces in Virginia. After the seat of govern
ment was removed from Montgomery to
Richmond the course of events on the
southern Atlantic coast induced me to direct
General Lee to repair thither. Before leaving
he said that while he was serving in Virginia
he had never thought it needful to inquire
about his rank, but now, when about to go
into other States and meet officers with whom
he had not been previously connected he
would like to be informed upon that point.
Under recent laws authorizing appointments
to higher grades than that of his first COM
mission he had been appointed q full general;
but so wholly had his heart and mind been
consecrated to the public service that he had
not remembered, if he ever knew, of his
advancement.
In November 1861, reports became current
that the enemy were concentrating troops
west of the valley of the Shenandoah with
view to descent upon it. That v:gilent
enterprising and patriotic soldier, General T.
j. Jackson, whose steadiness under fire at
the battle of Manassas had procured for him
the sobriquet of ''Stonewall," was then on
duty as district commander Of the Shenan-
doah Valley.
He was West yirginian and, though he
had not acquired the fame which subsequently
shed lustre upon his name he possessed
well deserved confidence among the people
of that region. Ever watchfui and daring in
the discharge of any duty, he was intensely
anxious to guard his beloved mountains of
Virginia. This, stimulating his devotion to
the general welfare of the Confederacy in
duced him to desire to march against the
enemy. who had captured Romney. On the
goth of November, 1861, he wrote to the War
Department, proposing an expedition to
Romney, in Western Virginia. 1t was de-
cided to adopt his proposition, indorsed by
the commander of the department. and, fur
ther to insure success, though not rocom-
mended in the Endorsement, his old brigade,
then in the Army OF the Potomac was selected
as part of the command with which he Was
to make the campaign.
Practical Jokes.