The Life of Jefferson Davis

by Frank H. Alfriend

CHAPTER XIV.

RESPECT OF MANKIND FOR THE SOUTH—THE MOST PROSPEROUS PERIOD OF THE WAR—HOW MR. DAVIS CONTRIBUTED TO THE DISTINCTION OF THE SOUTH—FACTION SILENCED—THE EUROPEAN ESTIMATE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS—HOW HE DIGNIFIED THE CAUSE OF THE SOUTH—HIS STATE PAPERS—HIS ADMINISTRATION OF CIVIL MATTERS—THE CONTRAST BETWEEN THE TWO PRESIDENTS—MR. DAVIS’ OBSERVANCE OF CONSTITUTIONAL RESTRAINTS—ARBITRARY ADMINISTRATION OF MR. LINCOLN—MR. DAVIS’ MODERATION—HE SEEKS TO CONDUCT THE WAR UPON CIVILIZED IDEAS—AN ENGLISH CHARACTERIZATION OF DAVIS—COLONEL FREEMANTLE’S INTERVIEW WITH HIM—MR. GLADSTONE’S OPINION—THE PURELY PERSONAL AND SENTIMENTAL ADMIRATION OF EUROPE FOR THE SOUTH—INCONSISTENT CONDUCT OF THE EUROPEAN GREAT POWERS—THE LONDON “TIMES” BEFORE M’CLELLAN’S DEFEAT—THE CONFEDERACY ENTITLED TO RECOGNITION BY EUROPE—ENGLAND’S SYMPATHY WITH THE NORTH—DIGNIFIED ATTITUDE OF PRESIDENT DAVIS UPON THE SUBJECT OF RECOGNITION—HIS EARLY PREDICTION UPON THE SUBJECT—FRANCE AND ENGLAND EXPOSED TO INJURIOUS SUSPICIONS—TERGIVERSATIONS OF THE PALMERSTON CABINET—THE BROAD FARCE OF “BRITISH NEUTRALITY”—ENGLAND DECLINES TO UNITE WITH FRANCE IN AN OFFER OF MEDIATION BETWEEN THE AMERICAN BELLIGERENTS—ENGLAND’S “POLICY”—SHE SOUGHT THE RUIN OF BOTH SECTIONS OF AMERICA—CULMINATION OF THE ANTISLAVERY POLICY OF THE NORTH—MR. LINCOLN’S CONVERSATION WITH A KENTUCKY MEMBER OF CONGRESS—THE WAR A “CRIME” BY MR. LINCOLN’S OWN SHOWING—VIOLATION OF PLEDGES AND ARBITRARY ACTS OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT—THE MASK REMOVED AFTER THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM—THE REAL PURPOSE OF EMANCIPATION—MR. DAVIS’ ALLUSION TO THE SUBJECT—INDIGNATION OF THE SOUTH AT THE MEASURE—MILITARY OPERATIONS IN TEXAS AND MISSISSIPPI—VICKSBURG—PORT HUDSON—LOSS OF ARKANSAS POST—FEDERAL FLEET REPULSED AT CHARLESTON—PREPARATIONS FOR THE CAMPAIGN—UNITY AND CONFIDENCE OF THE SOUTH—MR. DAVIS’ ADDRESS TO THE COUNTRY—IMPORTANT EXTRACTS—GENERAL LEE PREPARES FOR BATTLE—HIS CONFIDENCE—CONDITION OF HIS ARMY—BATTLE OF CHANCELLORSVILLE—JEFFERSON DAVIS’ TRIBUTE TO STONEWALL JACKSON.

There is much justice in the sentiment that declares that there can be magnificence even in failure. Men often turn to the contemplation of rôles enacted in history, ending in disaster and utter disappointment of the originating and vitalizing aspiration, with far more of interest than has been felt in following records marked by the palpable tokens of complete success.

It may well be doubted, whether the Confederate States of America, even had victory crowned their prolonged struggle of superhuman valor and unstinted sacrifice, could have commanded more of the esteem of mankind, than will be awarded them in the years to come. Retrospect of the most prosperous period of the fortunes of the Confederacy—the interval between the battle of Fredericksburg, December, 1862, and the ensuing midsummer—reveals a period in which there was wanting no element of glory, of pride, or of hope. Many a people, now proudly boasting an honored recognition at the council-board of nations, might envy the fame of the meteor power which flashed across the firmament, with a glorious radiance that made more mournful its final extinguishment.

A notable feature of the distinction which the South, at that time especially, commanded in the eyes of the world, was the enthusiastic and universal tribute of mankind to the leader, whose genius, purity, dignity, and eloquence so adorned the cause of his country. The North sought to console its wounded national pride by accounting for the crushing and humiliating defeats of the recent campaign, by contrasts between the able leadership of its antagonist, and its own imbecile administration. At the South faction was silenced, in the presence of the wondrous results achieved in spite of its own outcries and prophecies of failure. Demagogues, in such a season of good fortune, ceased their charges of narrowness, of rash zealotry, of favoritism, of incompetency, seemingly conscious, for once, of the praise which they bestowed upon the Executive, whom they accused of usurping all the authority of the Government, in ascribing such results to his unaided capacity.

From Europe, in the beginning, so prejudiced against the South and its cause, so misinformed of Southern motives, and unacquainted with Southern history, came the tribute of disinterested eulogy, the more to be valued, because reluctantly accorded, to the Confederacy and its ruler. To Europe the South was now known not only through a series of unparalleled victories; as a people who had successfully asserted their independence for nearly two years, against such odds as had never been seen before; as a land of valiant soldiers, of great generals, and of large material resources. If possible, above these, the statesmen and politicians of Europe admired the administrative capacity, which, they declared, had given a superior model and a new dignity to the science of statesmanship. To the educated circles of Europe the new power was introduced by State papers, which were declared to be models, not less of skilled political narration and exposition, than of literary purity and excellence. Accustomed to hear the South twitted as a people dwarfed and debased by the demoralization of African slavery, the educated classes of England acknowledged the surprise and delight they experienced from the powerful and splendid vindications of the cause of the Confederacy, in the messages of Mr. Davis. It has been truthfully remarked that there could be no better history of the war than that contained in his numerous state papers. They are the exhaustive summary, and unanswerable statement of the imperishable truths which justify the South, and overwhelm her enemies with the proof of their own acts of wrong and violence.

Under the new light given to mankind, as to the origin, nature, and purposes of the American Union, which Mr. Davis so lucidly explained, Europe soon recognized his position as something else than that of a ruler of an insurgent district. But not only as the chosen Executive of eleven separate communities, several of which European governments had previously recognized as sovereign; as one who had organized great armies, maintained them in the field, and selected leaders for their command already illustrious in the annals of war; not for these and other features of enduring fame, alone, was Jefferson Davis admired in Europe. The contrast between the civil administrations of the hostile sections was viewed as, perhaps, the chiefly remarkable phase of the struggle.

President Lincoln, beginning the war with usurpation, had committed, in its progress, every possible trespass upon the Federal Constitution, and was now under the influence of a faction whose every aim contemplated the overthrow of that instrument. President Davis, supported by a confiding people, and an overwhelming majority of every Southern community, ruled in strict conformity with the laws of the land and its Constitution. In the midst of a revolution, unexampled in magnitude, in fierceness, and vindictiveness on the part of the enemy, and of difficulties in his own administration, he furnished an example of courage, humanity, and magnanimity, together with the observance of order, civil freedom, and legal and constitutional restraints unexampled in history. In the Confederacy, the Roman maxim, Inter arma silent leges, universally recognized and practiced among nations, had an emphatic repudiation, so far as concerned the exercise of power by the executive department. Whatever may have been the exceptional cases of unauthorized oppression or violence, there was always redress in the judiciary department of the Government, which continued in pure and dignified existence until the end.

The President, obeying the dictates of exalted patriotism—acting always for the public good, if not always with unimpeachable wisdom, at least with incorruptible integrity—made no attempt at improper interference with Congress, nor sought to exercise undue influence over its deliberations. The press, usually the first bulwark of the public liberties to attract the exercise of despotism, so trammeled at the North, was free in the South every-where; in some instances, to the extent of licentiousness, and to the positive injury of the cause.