The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-03-10

form your cabinet. There is only one point--these fellows from Virginia and the border States want you to promise to strike the first blow"
 It seems unnecessary to adduce any thing further to show the fictitious character of the scene here presented but as 1t introduces some new actor } upon the state, in the persons of cer- tain members of the Louisiana and Florida delegations, I will give some extracts from a letter written July 2S, 1879, by the Hon. Duncan r. Kenner of Louisiana, replying to request for a statement of his recollections with regard to the election to the presidency of the Confederate States at Montgom- cry. In the letter mentioned Mir. Ken ner said:
 My recolIections of what transpired at the time are very vivid and positive. Who should be President was the absorbing question of the day. It en- ga ged the attention of all present, and elicited many letters from our respee- tive constituencies. The general incli- nation was strongly in favor of MT. Davis. In fact, no other name was so prominently or so generally mentioned The name of Mir. Rhett of South Caro- lima was probably more frequently mentioned than that of any other per- son, next to Mir. Davis. The dele- 6dNGS Ol lHc uillcItHl SCdIeS IfltL III Sc~ cret session to select their candidate and spokes men. l" We, the Louis- lana delegates, without hesitation, and unanimously, after very short ses- sion, decided in favor of MT. Davis. No other name was mentioned; the claims of no one else were considered, or even alluded to. There was not the slightest opposition to Mir. Davis on the part of any of our delegation; cer- fQinlv pua axnpaczaH. aI au ed enthusiastic in his favor, and, I have no reason to doubt, felt so."
 The words here quoted from Mir. Kenners letter may be found on pages 23S and 239 of volume 1 of MT. Daviss book to wnich reference has been made.
 With regard to MT. Owens the Flor ida delegate named in The Sun as one of those who followed Messrs Toombs and Keitt, into MT Stephens's room, will simply say that, in the letter from Judge Campbell from which l have quoted, he is referred to in the fol- lowing words:
 T knew Anderson and owens of that (the Florida) delegation quite well. Both had gone to Florida from Mis- sissipi, and both knew and admired Mir. Davis, and. I doubt not, preferred him to all other men for President"
 So, while we have nothing direct from the Florida delegates themselves, what Judge Campbell says shows how un- likely 1t was that MT. Owens. especial Iy. preferred any one for the presiden- cy before Mir. Davis.
 It must be admitted that as a dra- matic composition The Sun article IS very fine. The hand that fashioned 1t is that of a master workman in the .lit- erary art, knowing well how to apply the delft devices and skillful touches calculated to heighten the vraisemblance of the scene he was drawing; neverthe- less, though interesting as a piece of literary workmanship, 1t is fancy, not fact, and must be placed in the long and ever-lengthening catalogue of flc- tion about the Southern Confectionery and the war between it and the United States alongside of that other story that President Lincoln, at the sIampton Roads Conference, told MT. Stephens that he might i'll out a blank sheet of paper with his own terms of peace, with the single exception of the one condition of Union" to be written at the top by Mir. Lincoln.
 But there will always be multitudes to believe and repeat these fictions be- cause of their dramatic and sensational features, and because it is only the few who take pains to inform themselves by reading reliable history. The many will remain and seem to prefer to re- main in ignorance, rather than make even moderate exertion to inform them- selves from authentic sources. Conse- ouently they are continually making ab- surd displays of their ignorance, and I have frequently had occasion to observe that the man who is the most densely and abysmally ignorant about subject is the most overweening in his cock sureness about it.
 The following may be accepted as correct statement of what Is shown to be the facts by the preponderance Of obtainable evidence that is worthy or consideration:
 There was no candidate" as that term is commonly understood, for the office either of president or vice-presi- dent of the Confederate States, and to none of those whose names were mem fioned in connection with either omce couid the term be applied with less ac- curacv than to Messrs. DaVls ana stephens. ,o,o,,a+o +o +ba gress at Montgomery When that bodY elected him to the presidency, bA was in Mississippi organizing the arp,v of that state, to the command of which he had been appointed, with the rank of major general. He thought himself better adapted to command in inc field and had declared his prefer ence of a military positions and was' in his own words, surprised anu us appointed" by his election to the presi- dencv. He tells US in his book that he did not believe himself as well suit ed to the office az some others. The Congress placed higher estimate up- on him than he did upon himself Ac- cording to MT. stephens, the position which Mr. Davis desired above all others was the chief command of the army of the Confederate states. But he had won fame as a soldier in the army of the United States, had been one of the most capable secretaries of their War Department and one of the most distinguished of their senators; and he was chosen President of the Confederate states because he was thought to combine civil and military ability to a greater degree than any other Southern leader, and because. to quote Mir. Stephens again (and let this