of the
Courier to the Mercury, though spirited, was all in general terms. "To
shake confidence in Jefferson Davis," said the Courier, "is... to
bring 'hideous ruin and combustion' down upon our dearest hopes and
interests." It made "Mr. Davis and his defensive policy" objects of all
admiration; called Davis "our Moses." It was deeply indignant because it
had been "reliably informed that men of high official position among
us" were "calling for a General Convention of the Confederate States
to depose him and set up a military Dictator in his place." The Mercury
retorted that, as to the plot against "our Moses," there was no evidence
of its existence except the Courier's assertion. Nevertheless, it
considered Davis "an incubus to the cause." The controversy between the
Mercury and the Courier at Charleston was paralleled at Richmond by the
constant bickering between the government organ, the Enquirer, and
the Examiner, which shares with the Mercury the first place among the
newspapers hostile to Davis. *

* The Confederate Government did not misapprehend the
attitude of the intellectual opposition. Its foreign organ,
The Index, published in London, characterized the leading
Southern papers for the enlightenment of the British public.
While the Enquirer and the Courier were singled out as the
great champions of the Confederate Government, the Examiner
and the Mercury were portrayed as its arch enemies. The
Examiner was called the "Ishmael of the Southern press." The
Mercury was described as "almost rabid on the subject of
state rights."

Associated with the Examiner was a vigorous writer having considerable
power of the old-fashioned, furious sort, ever ready to foam at the
mouth. If he had had more restraint and less credulity, Edward A.
Pollard might have become a master of the art of vituperation. Lacking
these qualities, he never rose far above mediocrity. But his fury was
so determined and his prejudice so invincible that his writings have
something of the power of conviction which fanaticism wields. In
midsummer, 1862, Pollard published a book entitled The First Year of
the War, which was commended by his allies in Charleston as showing
no "tendency toward unfairness of statement" and as expressing views
"mainly in accordance with popular opinion."

This book, while affecting to be an historical review, was skillfully
designed to discredit the Confederate Adm