The weekly Thibodaux sentinel and journal of the 8th Senatorial District. [volume] (Thibodaux, Lna. [i.e. La.]) 1875-1898, 1890-02-15
WAR SECRETARY DAVIS.
His Able ADMINISTRATION of the War De-
partment.

March /, lSti, President Franklin Pierce
named Col. jefferson Davis as secretary of
war Ihat Of P1efce was a strong cabinet
and secretary DGvi was certainly amonr the.
strongest men IN it. Men of all parties agree
that his administration of the war depart
men; was marked by ability and energy. and
many obi officers testify that OF all secre-
taries III t!te.f time Col. Davis was save for
his quarfe! WITH Gen. Scotn most popular
with TIE army. He reor1anzad almost ths.
entife service. drafted Il new code Of army
regulations, introduced the light Infantry
riii" >l->tem Of Tactics, tried the experiment
OF ca.:el> Tor transportation on the south
"entrt:i deserts, adt:ci four ra rin,enis to th,
rrg&.2t &i.l", aHd ts,frnrefi '.,. entire ~
III oE s2a cc..~t s!"fe l-n> i also hal the
boundaries hetwoca Me.,ico aYui th. CE::.,a
States fixed accurately, and secured the com
plete survey anu almost the adoption Of the
southern route for Pacific railroad H.
sent Capt. George B. Mcclellan and two
other officers to the Crimea to study the mill
Iary tactics of the armies there lin lS54-5,.
and was SO pleased with their report that he
retained warm personal feelings for them
even through the civil war.
With the events of President Pierce's adj
minlStratlon congress and the country NAV
be said to have entered in full course upon
the proceedings which led to the civil war.
1t Is not to be expected that any American
could at this time take dispassionate and
philosophical view of that part of history.
All that remains then is to recite the princi-
pal events and quote briefly the nlatured
judgment of friends and foes.
At his retirement from the cabinet in
March. 1851 the legislature of Mississippi had
elected Mr. Davis as United States senator
for tue term to close March a. 1863 He
plunged at once into the heated debates Of the
time, maintaining the rather extreme southern
view, and with an ability and courtesy which
elected warm praise even from his foes The
editor of Harper's Weekly las this sketch OF
him in 1863:
In the north Col. Davis is regarded
somewhat unjustly, perhaps-asa a type of the
southern fire eater Many persons who have
never seen him fancy him quarrelsome, petu-
liant, hot headed, turbulent. His appearance in
the senate does not justify these views. A prim,
smooth looking man. with n precise manner,
stiH sol'ilerly carriage, and cold expression;
his heat fuller, seemingly, Of statistics and
hard, dry principles than anything else: his
voice cool and firm without tremur or cX-
clteinent; he j. the last person Il spectator
would pick out as the fire eater In his own
country he is intensely beloved, chiefly from
his kind an1 gentle disposition He is man
OF whom Mississippi may well be proud"
tie also took an active part in opposing the
French spoliation bill and advocating the
southern route for the Pacific railroad He
led the so-called "Lecompton party" in con
gress III opposition to Senator Douglas, and
N debate with the latter propounded the once
celebrated queries and propositions which
drew from the Illinois senator his famous
theory as TO the right of u territorial legisla-
ture to adopt 'unfriendly legislation" against
slavery, and his article i'll Harper.s Magazine,
which set forth the creed of the douglas
Democrats. The breach was now complete
Meantime, III the summer Of 1853, he made
tour for health and pleasure through the
eastern states, delivering several addresses,
IN which the warmest attachment to the
union was avowed-always however, with a
proFiso, expressed or implied, that aggres-
slons upon the south would certainly be met
with resistance. Some of these addresses
have a strange sound now In letter ac-
knowledging an invitation to join in Boston
celebration of the birthday of Daniel Web
ster, in January 1850, he wrote:
Il send you my cordial greetings to the
friends OF the constitution, and ask to be en-
rolled among those whose mission is, by fra
ternity and good faith to every constitu-
tioual obligation, to insure that, from the
Aroostook to san Diego, from Key West to
Puget sound, the grand arch Of our political
temple shall stand unshaken"
DID WAR BEGIN IN 1859?
An event was at hand however, which was
TO precipitate the conflict namely, the en-
terprise of John Brown. A million southern
men and women, who had laughed at the idea
of danger from northern aggression" were
suddenly converted, saying, as one of them
expressed it, I'VE can no longer live in peace
with the north; our allies have become our
enemies, and we must seek release from the
connection while we can do so with safety.n
The feelings of jefferson Davis for the next
fifteen months may be gathered from the fol-
lowing letter, written at the close of the dis
cussion to his long time friend, ex-President
i'ierce
WASHINGTON. d. c., Jan 10 1851
MY DEAR FRIEND---l have often and sadly turned
my thoughts to you during the troublous times
through which we have been passing. and now
come TO the hard task of announcing to you thar
the hour is at hand which closes my connection
with the United States, for the independence and
union of which my father toied and in the service
of which have sought to emulate the example
he set for my guidance. Mississippi not as a
matter of choice but of necessity, has resolved to
enter the trial Of secession. Those who have
driven her to this alternative threaten to deprive
her Of the right to require that her government
shall rest on the consent of the governed. to sub
stitute foreign force for domestic support, to re-
duce state to the condition from which the col
ony rose. In the attempt to avoid the issue which
had been joined by the country, the present ad-
ministration has complicated and precipitated
the question. Even now. if the duty ITO preserve
the public property" was nationally regarded, the
probable collision at Charleston would be avoided
Security far better than any which the Federal