THE REVIEWERS REVIEWED; A SUPPLEMENT TO THE "WAR BETWEEN WITH AN APPENDIX IN REVIEW OF “RECONSTRUCTION,” BY ALEXANDER HSTEPHENS. NEW YORK: D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, 549 & 551 BROADWAY. 1872. ENTERED, according to act of Congress, in the year 1872, by ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS, In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. ΤΟ ADAM L. ALEXANDER, The only survivor of my early benefactors, a gentleman distinguished for integrity, piety, urbanity, and high culture, in all that pertains to Art, Science, and Interature, this volume is most respectfully and gratefully inscribed, with a fervent wish that his days may yet be continued for many years to come, in the enjoyment of that "otium cum dignitate" which always imparts a hallowing charm to the crowning glory of a long, happy, prosperous, and well-spent life. LIBERTY HALL, CRAWFORDVILLE, GA., } January ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS. PREFACE. THE two volumes of the "Constitutional View of the Late War Between the States," etc., have been before the public nearly two years. The object of the writer of that work was, with perfect impartiality, and without any of the bias or prejudice which usually accompanies passion, from any cause whatever, to vindicate the truth of history, that posterity may have a clear perception and understanding of those principles of Local Self-Government, and of Federative Union, upon which the Free Institutions of the United States were founded and established by the Fathers; and upon the maintenance of which alone he believes these Institutions can be preserved and perpetuated. Since the publication of the work, he has closely watched the criticisms which have been made upon it from all quarters, to see to what extent any attempt would be made to assail the facts therein set forth, or the positions therein assumed. He did not expect that a work so directly at issue, in matters of public record, with the current histories of the day, would escape criticism and assault. In this he has not been disappointed. Attacks have been made from several high quarters. It is his object, in this volume, to give to the public of the present generation, and to leave for all coming generations, in an induring form, his answer to each one of these attacks which have come to his notice from a source deserving attention. |