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As intimated in the last annual report of the Executive Committee, we have decided that it will be best for the Southern Historical Society to do in the future its own publishing, and we send out our first number with the firm conviction that those who are interested in vindicating the truth of Confederate History will sustain the enterprise and make it a complete success.

It seemed appropriate that our first number should contain some discussion of the causes which led to the war, the motives which prompted the Southern States to attempt the establishment of a Confederacy of their own, and the spirit in which they entered upon and prosecuted the great contest for constitutional freedom. Accordingly, we present the able paper of the distinguished statesman (Hon. R. M. T. Hunter), who graced the United States Senate in its palmier days―the famous "Botetourt resolutions" of the distinguished jurist (Judge Allen), which produced a profound impression at the time they were first published, and deserve to be put in more permanent form―the Inaugural Address of President Davis, the classic English of which is only equaled by its sentiments of lofty patriotism and the address of the Confederate Congress, which is understood to have eminatedemanated [sic] from the able, facile pen of Hon. J. L. M. Curry, of Alabama, was signed by all of the members of Congress, and deserves to have a place in every vindication of the South.

It may be well to give in this number a sketch of the origin, history, and objects of our Society, for the information of those unacquainted with them, and the following is therefore submitted: