The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1896-03-01
WAS NOT A CIVIL WAR.
xCTs or DISJNfON FIRST BIZ
yORTHERN STATES.
The Constitution and Compromises Broken
by Them slave Trade Conducted ny q
<orthcrners-Theirw War wasfor
Its Abolishmcnt.


10 Inc Euliof OF HN
sir.-It is indeed a good omen 'ha' "e
opening OF the Confederate Memorial iiai.
should be distinguished by the ill.,
and truthful utteranee OF Sehe,". 1so,,,5
T. johnson, that southern mt" 9 n.a
ever declare not only that the So"'n
Thought" II WAS right IN io''- w. "''
that the South was right. .,..1...u 60
In your eloquent editorial reference 10
General JohnSons address you speah vi
the civil war ] am constraihto 10 81"
tor a protcst against the term civil war
A. &-or anniv H. When the history OF
the times reading up to the event mol
Gated is written. posterity will come 10
know Of the war between the northern
and southern Confcderacies IN us true
character. and II will not then be under
stood as a civil war. There was III
sssl a northern Confederacy OF States.
but there was then. nor had been ior
nearly or quite a decade no constitutional
union OF American tOmmOnweaiths
E-ouft.cn OF the northern States had en-
noted what they phrased liberty laws
These liberty laws" were by open IN
tent and in practice nullihcation OF
the compromise Of 1880. as 10 mat one
of it's five provisos. which required "'e
execution OF the Federal Constitution Ia
respect to the rendition Of fugitive slaves
'The Constitution expressly required Inc
rendition OF fugitive slaves TO their mas
tiers. At the time 0lNO the organic Ia"
OF union was written. the South was Duy-
ing from New England and New YORK
slave ships large numbers of slaves, ana
without some such security II would nave
been a good thing for these enierprising
Yankees to entice the negroes, once SOLD,
off 10 some convenient place. thence TO
he brought back and rcsOld. Besides, az
the time the Constitution was written II
was believed slaves would escape from
the border States into the Northwestern
territory already consecrated 10 freedom
and easy of access. The fugitive slave
proviso put in the Constitution was in
cidental TO the protection of the slave
trade from Africa. NORTHERN AND
ENGLISH ENTERPRISE EXCLUSIVE
IY. This fugitive slave proviso was as
ISOLATED also with the guarantee in the
Constitution that Congress should not In
terfere with the importation or mgra-
ton OF persons prior to the year 1905.
importation manifestlyi referred TO
slaves bought or captured and invoiun-
tarily brought 10 these shores, while mi
grafton" referred TO the ordinary immi-
grants so that while the South was spe-
cialy interested in the one guarantee,
the North was equally involved in the
other. When. therefore. the northern
States made an issue with the "compro-
mise" of 1850 nuilihed it by liberty
laws" imprisoned their own citizens who
dared to obey a United States marshal
by aiding him TO arrest a fugitive slave,
each and all of those fourteen States
thus acting dissolved the Union. They
were ont Of the Union when they mutt
lated the organic law, and this act of
mutilaton was comprehended not only in
defnance OF the compromise act of
1850 but in intensified defiance of the
bred Scott decree of the Supreme Court.
rendered in 1876.
We had just as well get these facts of
history in order Of their happening. We
are accustomed to admit that the Union
was dissolved by the secession OF the
southern States. i'm 1Ss0-'6l. We overlook
the fact that fourteen northern States
had nullifcd the law and the Constitu-
ton years before any southern State had
seeded. and that these multiplying States
formed a Confederacy or conducted. the
affairs of a Confederacy, outside or the
fundamental condition of the constitu-
tional Union so long as the southern
Confederacy lived. and even for years
after its fall The phrase civil war
does not. / humbly conceive. apply 10 the
nullifving State OF New York in con-
fict with the seeded State, Virginia.
Illinois certainly had no right 10 the
phrase civil war" while invading Ala
bama as justification of the invader.
one word more in support Of General
see plainly enough that the abrupt and
forcible emancipation of the negroes was
the real anlmus of the northern Leaders
I'm the prosecution of the war. The CRIT
tenden amendment was rudeiy ana saw
agely rejected by Wade, Sumner ana that
class before a gun had been fired, ana
Chase candidly declared the North would
make no terms with slave States that
remained slave States. A few years ago
General Howard of the United States
army, wrote an article for the Princeton
Review, admitting that the only way the
army of invasion was held together about
Centreyille after the battle OF Manassas
i'm 1861. was by the assurance given 10
the soldiers by officers in high rank that
the war was for the purpose of abolish
ing slavery. General Hunter, in South
Carolina and General Fremont, in the
West issued military orders virtually 10
this effect in the winter of 1S6l-j2. Lin
coin found II necessary to issue his eman-
cipation proclamation in the fall OF 1862,
year after the .ar fairly commenced,
l.. take effect January l. 1863 In the
Hampton Roads conference of 1865 Lin
coin declared that proclamation must
stand at all costs.
Divested of all disguise, the war con-
Quoted by Abraham Lincoln was a de-
signed continuation of the John Brown
raid. Lincoln had the same general OBJ
1ect In view thdt brown mad. Lincoln
officers perpetrated the very outrages
that Browns instructions to his compan-
ions contemplated. Both Browns ard
lncoln's officers failed 10 incite the ne
Eroes TO Instruction, hit there was no
lack Of endeavor on the part of either.
Grants order TO destroy the Valley of
Virginia was the sequel 10 Browns pur-
pose TO destroy it. Sherman's burning of
Atlanta and Columbia reflected the torch
Brown brought for the same work.
! am aware that the States of the
North who enacted liberty laws" de-
ciared The Federal Government had no
right TO capture any man on their soil
not accused of disobeying a Federal law
that the State only had the right TO re-
turn fugitive slave. Mr.. Barnwell
Rhett. United States senator from
South Carolina. speaking from his place
took this very ground upon the compro-
mise OF 1850. He expressed the opinion
that the northern States had obligated
themselves to restore fugitive slaves by
ratifying the Constitution, and Congress-
had no authority In the premises Mr.
Rhett thought the liberty laws" were
announcement made that the northern
States had nullihed the Constitution. and
boosted OF the act
JOHN WITHERSPOON DUBOSE.
Birmingham, Ala. Feb. q. 1896.
Norfolk and Western REORGANIZATION
NEW YORK, Feb. % The reSrgani-
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