Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-05-24


standpoint. Before the war the Repu oil
+ cans admitted that they were prevented
/ from carrying out their views by tAe con-
/ stitutiOn and laws of the land. aud de-
nounced these barriers in the most I'M
measured and unpatrotic terms. While
it was denied during the war that the
Southern States had a right to secede,
that right was practically admitted by
the government after the war by the de-
claring of these States out of the Union,
and imposing special terms for their re-
admission. That right was also tacitly
acknowledged by the able law officers of
the government when the prosecution of
ex-President Davis under the charge of
treason was abandoned, for i: was well
known that it was impossible to sustain
a conviction before the Supreme Court of
the United states.
The Boston Budget, a stalwart Repub-
lican paper in discussing Mr., Davis re-
| cent speeches says: "The right about
which Jefferson Davis has been prating
is simply what was announced in the re-
solution Of 1889, drawn by Thomas JEFF
ferson and affirmed by the party which he
founded for half century. The secession
OF South Carolina, followed by that Of
other States, was the exercise of a right
which was as well established in this ma
ton as any political right can be which
is lot declared in the constitution
This is as manly an admission as the late
Alexander II. Stephens himself could
have desired, and the Budget is equally
frank when it says: "But the Southern
statesmen could not understand that as
soon as they acted upon that right they
ceased TO be under the protection of the
national constitution, and were thence
forth foreign States, liable to war and con-
quest, the same as Mexico and Cuba.
When the Southern States had seeded.
according to their theory right, they were
no more under the protection of our con-
stitution than Mexico. They were ex-
posed to our ambition for territorial ag-
grandlzement, and to our military power,
the same as Mexico"
This, for cultured Boston editor, is a
rather rough and ready way OF stating
the case, but it comes very near covering
the questions involved in the origin and
conclusion of the war, although it mlsrep-
Tesents Mr.. Davis and other Southern
statesmen.
Now let us state the same doctrine from
Southern point of view. We believed
we had right to secede. The Southern
States withdrew from the Union-ln fact,
they seceded-and formed a de facto gov
eminent, the belligerent rights OF which
were fully recognized by the United
States. When the Confederate States
ceased to exist the United States refused
to recognize the State governments in
existence, and placed the South under
military rule until what was called recon-
struction was accomplished. The South
ern States were then admitted to the
| Union, with all the rights of new States,
and these rights they continue to enjoy.
What questions, then, did the war settle
| 1t resulted in the annulment of the right
of secession, and in the abolition of
slavery. The South fought for the right
! of secession. The North fought to pre-
serve the Union regardless of this techni-
cal question of right. Abolition was re-
sorted to as a war measurement being
really the object of the war-iust as the
| enfrauchisement of the freedmen was re-
sorted to as political necessity by the
Republicans after the war had ended.
| The South was defeated. 1t acquiesced
in the abolition Of slavery. 1t agreed to
eniranchise the negro and to repudiate
its war debts, and again entered the Union
! by States, and after twenty years is pros
porous and happy under the new order of
things. 1t is now earnestly in favor of
the perpetuity of the Union, of the freeing
of slaves of every race and color the
world over, and of giving full political
and civil rights to blacks as we'll as
whites.
While all this is true, the South is still
in favor of States rights-that is, it is in
favor of maintaining the rights of the
States under the constitution as 1t is. lust
as it fought to maintain the rights of the
States under the constitution as it was.
Soft was no reasonable speech when Mr..
Davis said that the Southern States stand
side by side with Massachusetts aud
Rhode Island in demanding the right OF
local self-government.
The Southern people while not false to
| bne In6mOTleS anu lIdulllOus OF Tue past,
are true to the present ana the genius OF
the future. We can honor our dead sol
diers as Mr.. Davis honored them at Mont
gomery, and declare that they fought in
a just cause-in general terms the cause
of constitutional government. We can
honor the soldiers who fought for the
Union believing that without it the con-
sttution was worthless.
What good purpose does 1t serve for the
Republican papers and politicians to call
the Southern people traitors, or Mr.. Davis
an arch traitori They know that they
utter charges which cannot be sus
tanned in law, and yet there are some
unmanly people in the South who would
admit the charges. Let the Southern
people stand up as the War Governor OF
Georgia did in the United states Senate a
few years ago, when he said OF secession,
81 believed we were right, and / yet be-
lieye we icere right"
If the pledges Of the new South TO the
new Union are to be respected, it is bet.
ter that we shall have manly ayowal and
frank ACKNOWLEDGEMENT than craven apol.
ogies which nobody will respect; and we
can boldly declare that we believe in the
right of the Statqe TO local gplf-V0yern.