Birmingham age-herald., 1895-01-09
DIR. cURRY,s NEW BOOK.

10 the Age aeralu! fsNfsa
 That distinguished son of Alabama, Dr.
 J. L. M. Curry, has placed the south under
 renewed obligations by his last and best contribution to literature. The full title of the work is "rhe Southern States of the American Union Considered in Their Rela-
 ton to the Constitution of the United
 States and to the Resulting Union.'
 It is not a history of the south, nor Is 1t
 a history of secession. It is rather an his-
 torical account of the formation of our Da-
 tional government and the growth Of our
 American system. It shows beyond cavil
 that the union was voluntary association
 of the states, in which they reserved to
 themselves many ot their sovereign rights.
 That secession did not originate h the
 south is clearly shown. Its predicate was
 laid rather in the establishment and devel-
 opment of the federal government.
 la chapter 10 Dr. Curry shows that the
 first hints at nullitcation, disunion, sepa-
 ration, secession, came from northern
 lips. At one time an eastern confederacy
 was suggested; at another it was to be a
 northern confederacy. In all those early
 days the south was the bulwark, the con-
 servator of the union. On page l2l Dr.
 Curry uses this strong language: "One of
 the most singular illustrations ever pre-
 sented of the power of literature to conceal
 and pervert truth, to modify and falsify
 history, to transfer odium from the guilty to the innocent, is found in the fact that
 the reproach of disunion has been shifted from the shoulders ot the north to those of the south.' In support of this statement Dr. Curry quotes freely from the speeches of leading northern and eastern statesmen /, and from resolutions adopted by conven- tions in the same section. give but one. In 1911, on bill for the admission oi Louisiana, Josiah Quincy of Massach usetts said on the floor of congress: ''I am com ion that if this bill passes the bonds of tue union are virtually dissolved; that the states which compose 1t are free from their moral obligations, and that as 1t will be the right of all, so it will be the duty of some to prepare definitely for separation ,
 must. ," (Did William L. Yaucey say anything so treasonable?) ? This work should have wide circula- tion. It should be read in all parts of our great country. It should be read abroad, and doubtless 1t will be. But in the south youth should learn that secession was not treason, and that their fathers who partici- pated therein were not traitors. The late war was the continuation of conflicting ideas concerning the relative rights of the federal government and tho states. Prior | to 1861 the states had decidedly the best pi the argument. But when the question was referred to the arbitrament of the sword the decision was against them. That de- cision was final. X lnese iacts are aii cieariy anu succinctS set forth by pr. Curry. Nor is there o1f word but is fraught with loyalty to tHt national government of today. ,D Of all men Dr. Curry could best write such book. He was a member of ths Confederate congress and a Confederate soldier. He is recognized throughout the north as a devoted adherent to the union as it now is. - Our people know Dr. Curry as the gen eral agent of the Peabody education fund JAMES K. POWERS. z Florence, Ala.