The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1905-06-03
jefferson Davis, Born June 3, 1908

u -
No honest and true man born in the
United States was ever more cruelty mis-
represented and .wronged than Jefrer-,
son Davis the President Of the Southern
Confcderacy. But the day Of his vindi-
cation will come, II it has not already
come, for errors and malice must pass
away, but truth and justice will finally
assert themselves.
In 1851 Jefferson Davis said:
..He must have been q careless reader
of our political history who has not
observed that, whether under the style
of he United Colonies or United States,
which was adopted after the Declara-
ton of Independence, whether under the
Articles OF Confederation orr the COM
pact of Union, there everywhere appears
the distinct assertion Of State soFer-
eighty and nowhere the slightest sug-
gestion Of any purpose on the part OIL
the States to consolidate themselves into
one body Will any candid, wcll-lnform-
ed man assert that, at any time between
l776 and 1890, a proposition to surrender
the sovereignty of States and merge
them into a central government would
have Ind the least possible chance OF
adoption? Can any historical fact be
moro denonstrable than that the States
did, both in the Confederation and IN
the Union, retain their sovereignty ana
Independence as distinct communities,
voluntarily consentlng to federation, but
never becoming the fractional parts OF
a nation? That such opinion should find
adhercnts in our day may he httrib'
uted to the natural law of aggregation;
surely not the conscientious regard FOR
Al re ha for Union DY
the States
1t was for entertaining such n view
anu for tho part which he subsequently
took in maintaining that view, that
| jefferson Davis was denounced as a
traitor and conspirator. But did he
| preach strange doctrine? Did he fal-
| sify the facts? Did lie utter tho scnti-
ments of treason, when he thus spokei
| II so, then Charles Francis Adams. who
fought in the Union army. Is also guilty
| of reasonable uttcrances. In his nd.
dress made just three years ago at the
Chicago University, Mr.. Adams said
''Tho truth seems 10 be that the mass
| of those composing the convention 81
1887 bulded a great deal more than they
| kHcW - ne NclcSdtcS IIlel W
| trade differences, they ended by per
! fectlng a scheme of political union tina
! had broad consequences, of which The,
| little dreamed. If they had dreamed
Of them, the fabric would never have
been completed. That Madison Mar
shall and Jay We're equally blind L
consequences, does not follow, Tho!
| probably designed nation. II they did
however. they did not take the publl
l'into their confidence; and no lmpartla
student OF our constitutional history cal
doubt for II moment that each State rati
fed the form of government submitted u
the Arm belief that at any time II coul
Withdraw therefrom,"
Stlll later, in an address delivered a
I Charleston, South Carolina, Mr.. Adam
said:
when the Federal Constitution wa
framed and adopted what was the la,
of trcason--to what or 10 whom in tn
case Of the final issue did the ayerag
/, citizen owe allegiance? Was 1t to tn
Union or to his State? AS "A practice
question, seeing things as they then were
o sweeping aside all incontroyertible lega
[ arguments and metaphysical dlsaulslion
II do not think The answer admits q
doubt. Il in 1851 or, indeed. al any tim
anterior 10 1925, the immediate reply Q
j, nine men Out of every ten In the North
U Grn States and rinety-nine out OF ever
a hundred In tho Southern states woul