The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1881-03-04
JEFF DAVIS COMING BOOK.

wa Mike and -Huintaia The Whole
Subject Discussed.
Jefferson Daviss history of "The Rise
and Fall OF the Confederate Government"
is soon to be issued bv a New York house
lhe Following summary of its contouts is
given out F.: Davis's introduction is u short
one. covering not quite two pages. He
dcd'cates the work to the widows and or
phaus OF the Confederate dead. He con-
ceivcs 1t to be his duty to his countrymcn
TO prepare this history Of the rise and fail
ufe oi their cause. He finds in the struct.
ure OF the thirteen States and their relations
TO each other primary principles and vested
rights on which he rests his vindication of
the Confederacy. He evinces the doctrine
OF States, sovereignty AUD q compact by
which States voluntarily gave their consent
20 recreation, with no design expressed or
implied ever to become fractional parts of n
nation, and he believes that those who re-.
sisted the violation Of this original compact
were IN fact the true friends of constitution.
al union.
The author, in discussing tho principles
aud events in their natural and logical or
der, first gives his attention to African ser.
vltude, and tho long and bitter sectional
strife to which it gave rise. He then takes
up the questions of States rights, giving
constitutional and historical arguments on
which he rests the principle of State sover.
eighty, and quoting copiously from all ou.
thorltles on the subject. These questions
and full statement of the Immediate causes
VI s''e ,.ss eeanp2 one. half ofsthe first vol
umS; Hte remainder TfsEnsewurts;,, ,,,;vor
to the ndrrativc Of the struaele. inciud G dins;
the fullest statement yet writtcn from h
southern standpoint of fierce dissentons in
Cohted crate councils aud Of his defenso for
inc pr'iongatlon Of the war for MANY months
alter many of the ablest men of the Sou,b
were fully convinced that their struggle was
a hopeless one. In the opening work he
treats OF tho early Legislation on the subject
OF slavery. He acquits the South of all
responsibility for the existence in its midst
or the peculiar institution, and calls attcn.
t,on to the fact that Virginia was the FIRST
state TO prohibit tho importation into its
territory OF the blacks brought to this couu.
Try aud reduced to slavery. and that Geor
S'a was the first Stat, to incorporate into
Its constitution the prohibition OF the Afri.
can slave trade. All through the work he
treats OF slavery, not as the cause Of the
war, but only as an incident of the secession
movement. Paramount to the question he
declares was the equality in territories. and
e1dar rlsHrs m tetrrrSrgs anu nuw=mndr
States in the Union. He traces the con.
fict which intensified the insult ard burst
into open war. While upon this subject he
speaks in condemnatory terms of the Mis-.
souri, compromise, which he regards MS the
urrendcr of rights which belonged to the
South and which it sho I'D have maintained,
but after it was adopted he believed il should
have been adhered to, and he arraigns tho
North and federal governments for tho fail
urc OF the compromise which was practical.
ly repealed by the bills of organization of
the territories of Kansas and Nebraska in
1859. Mr.. Davis takes occasion to declare
in many places throughout his work, his
devotion to the constitutional Union. lie
instances speeches which he made in 1851,
during his candidacy for Governor of Mis-
sissppi, in opposition to Henry S. Foote.
These speeches contained repeated declura.
tons of his adherence and devotion to the
Union. and he affirms that his public deeds
were at all times actuatcd by this spirit be.
fore the general government began its vio
lent cncroachncnts on tho rights Of the
States. 1t was during the Pierce admins.
tratlon that the struggle in Kansas between
the free soil and tho slavery parties cul
in bitterness. This struggle, Mr..
Davis finds, was the beginning of the i'm
mediate cause of the war. He dcvotes con.
siderable space to description of what he
calls the usurpations Of the federal author
tiles. Congress, it will be remembered, re.
fused to recognize the delegate chosen from
Kansas, on the ground that his election by
The pro slavery party had been procured
by fraud. He regards the repeal of the
NJ Mlssouri compromise as rc.opening the qucs.
lion OF slavery in the territories, and as
preciptating conflict between the oppos.
ing parties, which was encouraged by the
'bolitonist Of the North, heard which finally
compelled the South, in sclfdefense, to take
decided stand. He holds the violent abol.
itionists largely responsible for fnal breach
of the peace bringing his history down 10
the election Of Lincoln, he finds the federal
government in the hands Of party under
which the Southern States could not live.
Lincoln was elected upon platform Of ro-
sistance to slavery extension, q party antag-
onistic to tho South, and believing in the
of power iu tho federal gov
ernment, controlled by the executive depar-
tment. Having devoted half of the first
volume to an exposition of tho causes which
lod the South to desire a separation from
the federal government, Mr.. Davis proceeds
in several chapters to defend the right of
secession. In justification of this right he
quotes largely from Webster, Calhoun,
Douglass, Greeley, Seward, Benton and
Clay. In maintaining that the compact be-
tween the States was of the nature of a
CON nfadarafion he drawa larnol., a.. Al . L.