President Tyler has placed in my hands a memorial to
President Davis, signed by himself and many of the members of the Convention,
asking appropriate civil employment for me in the new government. I shall be
content to obtain the necessary position to make a full and authentic Diary of the
transactions of the government. I could not hope for any commission as a civil
officer, since the leaders who have secured possession of the government know
very well that, as editor, I never advocated the pretensions of any of them for
the Presidency of the United States. Some of them I fear are unfit for the
positions they occupy. But the cause in which we are embarked will require, to
be successful, the efforts of every man. Those capable of performing military
duty, must perform it; and those physically incapable of wielding the bayonet
and the sword, must wield the pen. It is no time to stand on ceremony or
antecedents. The post of duty is the post of honor. In the mighty winnowing we
must go through, the wheat will be separated from the chaff. And many a true
man who this day stands forth as a private, will end as a general. And the
efficient subordinate in the departments may be likewise exalted if he deserves
it, provided the people have rule in the new confederacy.. If we are to have a monarchy
for the sake of economy and stability, I shall submit to it in preference to
the domination of the Northern radicals.
SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's
Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 31-2
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