Background
He was born on February 5, 1821, near New Haven, Connecticut, United States of New England parentage. Through his mother, nee Lewis, he was connected with the Louisiana family which furnished Gov. Francis T. Nicholls to the latter state.
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book
The Republic of Republics: Or, American Federal Liberty
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Bernard Janin Sage
Edit ProfileEducation
Despite an early ambition to become a sailor, Bernard accepted a school training and studied law.
Career
In early manhood he entered the law office of Thomas H. Lewis in New Orleans, and in time became the owner of a sugar plantation.
He was a master in the Confederate navy, with special duties of an executive or secret nature, and was sent abroad by President Davis on special missions.
The results of the study were published in book form under the pseudonym "P. C. Centz, Barrister, " the name being an adaptation, with initials, of "Plain Common Sense. " The first edition appeared in London in 1865 under the title Davis and Lee, and the book was subsequently issued in America with the title changed to The Republic of Republics (4th ed. , 1881). Upon its first appearance, it was referred to in the Southern press as a brilliant work by a British lawyer. It presented the argument that Davis and Lee, who were taught the doctrine of state rights at West Point, could not be considered traitors for being loyal to their respective states in the war.
For a few years after the war Sage was a resident of Washington, D. C. , but he spent the last thirteen years of his life in New Orleans. In 1890 he contributed the chapter on Louisiana to Why the Solid South, edited by Hilary A. Herbert. As the result of financial reverses he lost his plantation and became dependent, in his last days, upon the kindness of friends. He died of apoplexy in New Orleans.
Achievements
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After the fall of the Confederacy, he made a documentary and interpretative study in Europe of the treaty of 1783 recognizing the independence of the United States. This study in his book The Republic of Republics, he used in his capacity of counsel for the defense in the projected trial of Jefferson Davis. Besides, he contributed the chapter on Louisiana to Why the Solid S.
Works
book
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The Republic of Republics: Or, American Federal Liberty
( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultura...)
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The Republic of Republics: Or, American Federal Liberty
Politics
Sage was a Whig in ante-bellum politics and in 1860 supported the Bell-Everett ticket, but after the outbreak of the Civil War he served the Confederacy.
Views
Sage maintained that primary allegiance was to the state, that the Union and the Constitution were formed of and by the states, and that secession, as well as the subsequent conquest of the South by the North, was a legitimate act or step under international law involving no violation of national law. Thus Davis could be defended, against any charge of treason, on the grounds of history and international law without an implication of protest as to the outcome of the war.
Personality
He loved music, was somewhat pedantic, and was given to puns. He received praise for financial encouragement to young men seeking an education.
Connections
His marriage was said to have been prevented by the death of his fiancee and he remained a bachelor.
