Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-02-28
THE LOST CAUSE.
1.-THE RISE AND FALL OF THE con-
FEDERATE GOVERNMENT"
JEFF. Davis History of the Rebellion-He
Defends Secession, and Goes
for His Old Enemies.
From the Chicago Times.l

u
late Confederacy, was engaged IN writing
a history of the Government OF which ne
was the head, and of the war 1t waged Tor
its own perpetuation and the lndepend-
ence of the people who created 1t. Late
reports have intimated that this work was
completed or approaching completion,
and that it would be given to the public
in a few weeks by one OF the principal
publishing houses In the city OF New York !;
Int for some reason the author and pub
fishers have maintained the most pro-
found secrecy as to the contents of the
book and its general tenor and scope.
Believing that the work of the ex-high
priest of the Lost Cause must be of consid-
cradle interest to the American people,
the Times has taken the trouble to OBJ
tain some information concerning it, and
to-day, in letter from a representative OF
this paper in New York, the mystery in
which the forthcoming publication has been
enveloped is removed, and brief but CON-
prehensive outline of its contents is given.
This, it may be added, is of unquestionable
authenticity, and, as the New York papers
have utterly failed thus far to give the
public any information on the subject, the
Times feels justified in referring to the
matter as piece of exclusive news, har-
vested for its readers in the field which the
local press has confessed itself unable to
cultivate to the point of productiveness.
81 shall put in the hands of the children
of our dead" Mr.. Davis is reported as say
ing when he first entered upon this work,
"a justification of the cause for which their
fathers died" And more recently he has
been quoted as saying my work is done,
and on that work | am willing that the
cause and the author shall be judged" 1t
is not probable, nevertheless, that the in
tellgent children of Southern men
WHOSE LIVES WERE SACRIFICED
In the rebellion will find in the pages of
the work now epitomized by the Times any
better reason than they had previously
known for that revolutionary attempt, or
that the cause of the Confederacy or its
President will be more favorably judged
than it has been by the world at large, be-
cause of anything in this book. Mr.. Davis
combats the idea that slavery was the
cause of the war, contending that the para
mount question was the equality of the
equality was destroyed by Federal
uSuT pdGlOu. Iue duOpOlOH VI Tile hlSSOtIl
compromise was the beginning of these
usurpations, he thinks, yet, rather incon-
sistently, he holds that after it was
adopted it should have been adhered to.
If there was any usurpation in the re-
peal of that agreement, many living men
can vouch that 1t was not the work of the
North. The repeal was demanded with
one accord by the Southern delegations in
Congress, and, in the weakest and most
unfortunate moment of his life, Mr..
Douglas submitted to their dictation and
consented to champion the demand. Like
the hungry dog in the fable, the South
grasped at huge shadow in that case, and
lost substantial advantages of respectable
proportions. At this point Mr.. Davis
seems to abandon the theory that slavery
was not the cause of the rebellion, for he
confesses that the repeal reopened the
question of slavery in the Territories, pre-
cipitating violent political strife, and
finally compelling the South, in "self-de.
Tense" to take decided stand.
THE TRUTH IS,
The South had no material interest except
slavery that was affected either by the
adoption or the repeal of the Missouri COM
promise, and that interest went no further
than the fact that in the slave holding Ter
ritories market might be found for the
surplus product, if there happened to be
any, of the slave. breeding border States.
For this paltry and abhorrent interest the
South plunged into the rebellion war. The
pretense that slavery in the Southern
States was menaced by the election of Lin
coln-an election effected by party under
which, Mr.. Davis says, the Southern
States could not live lis utterly folly.
Propositions to guarantee that the institu-
ton of slavery should remain forever in
destruotible in the Southern States were
made by the race convention assembled in
Washington in the early days of 1861, and
contemptuously rejected by the South.
The Southern slave-breeders supposed they
might some time accumulate larger stocks
than the deadly work of the cotton and
sugar regions could consume, and that
Territorial market for the surplus would
be convenient III addition to these, there
were many ambitious gentlemen at the
South who believed they were born to rule,
and, as the growth of population in the
North and West had made it i'm possible for
them to rule the whole country, they pro-
posed to establish an independent Govern
ment and rule the States which adhered to
it. Wild ambition, jealous hatred of the
North, and the mercenary
GREED OF THE SLAVE BREEDING CLASS
These combined made up the cause for
which the Southern soldiers died. The
book of Mr.. Davis cannot make it Just
or commendable one. A considerable part
IL l. l l. I i
of the Fright of secession Many men
believed in that right before the attempt
was actually made to exercise it, who very
promptly and theoretically denied it after
ward. At best the declaration of such a
right could never be more than an abstract
proposition-'' barren ideality without
the assent of the preponderating part of
the Union to its exercise. Even If the
Constitution - the treaty of union, as
Southern men considered it-had expressly
recognized the right of States to withdraw
at pleasure, the act of withdrawal would
have made them alien enemies to the re-
naming States, and these would necessa-
rily have had the right to whip the others
back, if they possessed that incontestable
evidence of right, the power. No argu-
ment in favor of the right OF secession as it
was supposed by some to exist twenty
years ago is worth a straw as justification
for war in which the odds were three to
one against the aggressors. The book OF
Mr.. Davis will undoubtedly command an
extensive sale and general attention. But
there is no probability that it will materi-
ally influence the judgment of the present
or future generations upon the merits Of
the rebellion or upon the causes which pro-
duced it. These causes have not been
secrets, hidden in the recesses of Mr.. D<-
Wis brain till now.
The Forthcoming Book.
Especial Correspondence
New YORK, February 10th. -" The Rise
,I Ell Of Tho Cc.,, 70 Gn,-n1-r,r,,n1,t y