The times., 1901-06-02
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How the confederncy Was Governed.

How the COnfederacy was UoNefheu'
"A CivlI History of the Government of
the Confederate States, with Some Fer
sonal "Reminiscences" is the title of a
book of modest size by J. l.. NJ. Curry,
IL d, which fills a place until now
practically unoccupied. Much has been
written about the Confederacy from
points OF view personal, partisan, dTa>
matte, and historical. but this book gives
precisely what 1t claims to give. the civil
history OF the four years Republic OF
the South. the a., isin ~ its plan ot gov
ernmcnt. the practical operation ot the
same. aua it's naal dissolution, Although
the author : naturally io thorough SYM
paShy With ste TEST Cause, hc docs act
sltoW thsS es,cstae ~ aec0g,N an over
prosesseas Pssev fa sss t',saS. F,T which the
rtessc Ass sesSas s., easssaeis3 h;rs nss-
segs ASNe sa rsFe7S Elssostos3 w0rk ne
Ga&cc sNSSes e S=,eog|sasys one.
ile <0assS Hrs,,s,s,es BIS S,scsecS wtth
b Shess eNssSaas56e oF sac osNSeS sa3 T5sse,
~ Seexsssse aaA sae yessai7S f,,s tsc action
- yse $,ssss. sse saen describes she t,s,~
Ts&tsos ~ sae XIV kcvcs@ssesg. tae s@elS-
uon ~ Z provisional SUBSTITUTION, yae
slecJsee oE ka7'esssest Nsce FvV> 6esJ au3
Cabinet, AKA sse sessaafgsS - legislation,
and gosS oa - SseN hS~ gse E>aasc,sSyatc
constitution ae& keVesaeteeS Offered fron
that adopted - tar thirteen States, and
to trace its oriyin sad she reasons for the
changes, Subsequent chapters arc devoted
TO the history of the various departments
Of the Government during the var, its af-
fairs abroad. the individuality of the
States, and the difficulties under which
She Government labOred. the conditions of
the war and finally. the legal justification
of the South in secession. 1t is the kind
of a book which. perhaps could not have
been written until now. and it is in the
main cool. dispassionate, and accurate.
Like some other writers on like subjects
the author perhaps attaches too much
Importance to fancied attempts on the
part OF the North to misrepresent the
Southern character and cause There have.
of course, been many historical inaccur-
acies In Northern works on the subject of
secession and of the war, but 1t would be
a great mistake TO suppose that many Of
them were intentional, and to say the
least. Southern books misrepresent the
Northerner quite as freely as the South
erner has ever been misrepresented in the
North. In fact. the ideas of most North
err people regarding Southern ante bellum
life are probably gotten from the works
of Page, Hopkinson Smith, Grace King.
Ruth McEnery Stuart, and other romance
writer's instead of from Uncle Toms
Cabin, which, however does not contra
dict these later stories in any essential
particular, and gives about as much of
the sunny side of Southern life as they
do. The North is not lying awake o.
nights to devise ways to insult the South.
by any means.
In discussing the right of the seeding
States to separate from the Union, the
author reiterates the statement which
has been often made of late that these
States fought not for the sake of slavery.
but for the recognition of the great
principle Of constitutional liberty" For
some reason or other there seems to be
q strong desire on his part and that of
other authors of like works to have it
understood that the South was not fight
ing on account of slavery, but for free
dom to do as 1t chose. He quotes in this
connection Stephens War Between the
States in which it is said:
'"rhe matter of slavery, so called
was of infinitely less Importance
tt The seeding States than the recog-
ritt7E of the great principle of consti-
IT, nal liberty. There was with US
40 sucE thing as slavery in the true
and proper sense of that word. No
people ever lived more devoted to the
principles of liberty, secured by free
democratic institutions, than were the
people OF the South None had ever
given stronger proofs Of this than
they had done. What was called
slavery among US was but a legal
subordinstion of the African to the
Caucasian race
Precisely; and when one class of men |
II. without respect to attainments or char |
acter. legally subordinated' to another |
class Of men, deprived of the power of |
testifying in court even in case of mortal |
injury. or of receiving reward for labor, |
the world has generally agreed to call it |
slavery. If there was ever more extraor- |
dinary balderdash than this on so grave a |
subject. written by man who had rea- |
son TO know better, il has thus far failed |
TO come 10 light. II may be, as Dr. Curry |
SAWS in this connection, that 1900 cannot /
appreciate the state of mind Of 1861, but |
at any rate he makes his case no stronger !
by introducing pseUdo-arguments Of the |
vintage Of 1861 to support his own. More |
over, the right Of the South to self-gov-
ernmeDt was not interfered with except |
In 50 far as slavery was concerned, end /
even then the North did not prohibit the
peculiar institution" in the States where
II existed; il simply refused TO consent to
the extension of a system which it disap-
proved outside Of those States. The same
thing would have happened, with similar
conditions, had the Northern States been
a separate country. In the existing state
Of feeling the South could no more have /
compelled the North to do it's sIave-catch-
ing than Russia, were she a neighbor of |
ours could compel us to catch and re- !
iIlrf uoiificaI tartaOncrS
having adopted the Declaration of Iude-
pendence. The South stood for the right |
10 govern itself in the matter of slavery, |
and to extend the peculiar institution
Into country held in common by the two
Bections. II complained continually of un-
lair treatment in this respect. The popu-
lar notion that slavery was the cause OF
the war may not be technically correct
but il Is practically so. If q man is en-
ged in business and reduces his work
men to the condition OF slaves. believing
hat he has a right 70 do so under the
law; and neighbor OF his. believing the
interferes with him and they
light the cause of the fight was not so
much the mans personal independence, Us
his idea that it gave him the right t.
treat his employees in certain way; and
The community would probably say. If /
his treatment were known as the an
prentice system. that the two men gerr, |
lighting over the apprentice system. not |
hat the defender thereof was defending
1s liberty. il is a case in which con-
Siderable sophistrY can be used, and a
great deal has been used in times past. So
ar as that was concerned. the North also
1eiieved that its independence had been
nterfered with. and would be endangered