Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 1.djvu/347

Rh doubt. New England had contained many of that class, and fully as many could be found in the South. But disunion as the remedy for agitation was not then declared by any influential body of Southern people, and certainly it does not appear in any sense concealed or patent in this action of the United States Senate. Mr. Davis, the mover of the resolutions, was a Union man. The Northern people did not then and have not since understood Mr. Davis position, because their judgment has not been fully allowed that fair play which will eventually set him in clear light before young men, as Mr. Lincoln has long since been made known to the South. Mr. Stephens, whose just judgment no man can question and whose political relations to Mr. Davis were not of such an intimate and cordial character as to place him under suspicion of speaking from undue partiality, says of Mr. Davis, as he viewed him at the date of this action of the Senate and since: "I always regarded him as a strong Union man in sentiment so long as the Union was maintained on the principles upon which it was founded. He was without doubt a thorough State rights, State sovereignty man. He believed in the right of secession, but what I mean to say is, that in my opinion he was an ardent supporter of the Union on principles as he under stood them, upon which and for which the Union was formed. There were, as I have said, many public men among us who, after these resolutions passed the Senate, and after the Presidential canvass was opened upon them, and the various issues presented in the party platforms of the day, were openly for secession in case Mr. Lincoln should be elected upon the principles upon which he was nominated. But Mr. Davis, so far as I know or believe, did not belong even to this class. If he was in favor of secession upon the grounds of Mr. Lincoln’s election, I am not aware of it. He certainly made no speeches or wrote any letter for the public during that canvass that indicated such views or purposes.