Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1862-09-06
JEFFERsON DAVIS AND HIS MESSAGE
ny HORACE GREELEY.

cnOlce OF JEFFERSON DAVIS tor President OF
the Conf dcracy of ofslaveholding traitors. A
man Of fortune, of liberal education and of
aristocraiic associations, Mr. Davis was
leader 10 that shameless Rcpudiaiion where.
by Mississippi, twenty years ago, defrauded
of several Millions, those who had trusted
her promises, and persisted 10 defiuuding
them after Court of Appeals, elected by
| u popular vote cf the repudiators them
selves, had decided that they ought to pay
As member of Congress, Mr.. Davis
then Colonel just returned from the Mexi.
can War-forcpd q personal quarrel most
want only upon Col BisSell (Snce Governor)
of Illinois, whom he challenged to
Gght duel, most ignominiously backing
ont when he found that Col BisselI would
not only fight. but prescribed conditions
" hich would almost necessarily render the
combat fatal. In 1850, Col. Davis resign
ed his seat in the Senate to canvass NIi,Sis
sippi as Stale Rights"-thut is, S, ces.
sion-candidate for Governor he being
deep in the confidence of those Southern
conspirators who sought 10 make the ad.
mission Of California as a Free State with
ample equivalents to Slavery pretext
for Governor by 1000 majority in some
10000 votes-Henry S. Footc being his
successful competitor and that paraly zed
for ten years the Disnnion conspiracy. 1t
was fit that the most conspicuous martyr
10 Secession iu 1850 should lie chosen to
lead the better concocted and more f rmid.
able effort of 1860
Yet Mr.. Davis's selection, though a nat
uraI, was hardly fortunate one. His re.
Communications were, a Military education
aud experience, very considerable though
not iranscendent abilities, fair private
character, and most unquestionable devo.
tion to the cause. His diSqnalifcations
were, most unsavory aud inconveuent
reputation among European capitalists and
bankers by reason ofthe Reputation afore-
said, an inordinate concrit, and q GOODNESS
and hauteur of bearing that repclS the idea
of popularity. Jefferson Davis literally
educated at The public expense, nearly ever
since in receipt of a comfortable income
from the Federal Treasury, aud enriched'by
The unpaid industry of scores of bcnighted,
,qualid slaves, and Abraham Lincoln, the
poor Widows son, kept from school to earn
by rugged labor The living of the family,
and qualifying himself for the positions sue
ccs,ively of laud.surveyor and lawyer by
solitary studies after The close OF his daily
toll are the fit representatives Of the re
Spcctve systems now grappled in fierce hos
Utility and struggling tor The victory which
must almost necessarily prove final
Mr.. Davis has now maintained his zzy
and perilouS emiuence for more than
ain he h,r 81, ID.
vsional President Feb. g. 1861, and re.
elected last November for full term Of six
years-in either instance, without formal
opposition. On the 18th inst, his Congress
reassembled at Richmond on his call, and
he addressed them in Message which is
in effect merely manifesto. 1t is remark.
able for two characteristics malignity
it betrsys, and the facts it studiously con.
ceas. Though claiming to be the head of
an independent nation. and addressing the
legislature Of that nation, in the very
crisis of a desperate struggle for existence
Mr.. Davis, though he propounds and dis
cusses the necessity for more troops, does
not tell his associates how many soldiers he
has already in the field nor, while he re-
cOmmends further issue Of Treasury Notes
does he state the amount already aAoat,
nor propose any plan for raising money by
taxation, nor for affOrding any sort of Sc.
curity to the holders of Confederate paper.
He says, indeed, that the Notes cannot de-
prcciate, because convertible into eight per
cent bonds, but, as the interest on those
bonds is payable in Treasury Notes exclu-
siVely, this proves but another of those new
old discoveries Of perpetual motion which
are sure TO prove illusions when subjected
to any rigorous scrutiny. The Confedera.
cy has no internal commerce, therefore no
revenue from imposis its citizens are for
hidden to sell the Cotton, Sugar, Tobacco,
etc, which constitute their only exchange
able wealth so that they cannot pay tax.
es, if taxes were levied as they have been
o a very limited extent In simple truth,
then, Mr. Davis, as dictator and dcspot of
the Shareholders Confederacy, with the in,
evitaOle assent of his mpotent legislature,
drogs into the field all the White Males be-
tween g and 35 years Of age of the states
which own his sway, and propose now to
extend the conscription to oil between 35
aud 45 or so, He has thus amassed some
Three to -Four Hundred Thousand Men,
which his further couseription may increase
to Half Mllion-a formidable force nu.
merically, but imperfectly armed and wrech.
edly provided with provisions, Medicines,
Clothing, Blankets, Tents, and all the
necessaries of Military life. His Medical
service is so srighlfully incapable and so
poorly supplied with Instruments and medi.
cines that il was currently reported in his
grand army, after the late battle before
Richmond, that no single amputation above
the knee had proved success aud SO he
staggers on from day to day, heaplng mp
mountains of debt that can never by posi-.
bility be paid, and killing off his pitible
dupes SO fast that it is deemed impossible TO
give them decent burial