The Buchanan County guardian. (Independence, Buchanan County, Iowa) 1858-1864, 1862-07-22
From the Dubuque Herald
A LETTER FROM HON. GEORGE w.
JONES.
DuBuoUE, Iowa, July Sth, 1862

'aheh, Witnout consulting me, 10 puOllSl
what they term "purloined letters' o
mine TO Jeff. Davis, you will, | trust, d,
me the favor to publish this explanation.
Allow me first to say that the lette
which purports to have been written by
myself 10 jeff. Davis is not a correct copy
OF what did write TO him, and that Ger
tain words and paragraphs or sentence!
are italicised or emphasized TO give force
or meaning totally different from tha
which they would have otherwise con
veyed. For example, l never said or in
tended to convey the idea that l would
fight with the South against the North
my meaning and words being that
would do so against the ABOLITION party
alone, for l was then, as | declared tc
Davis in another letter, which Mr.. Sew.
ard, also intercepted, opposed to Secess-
ion or any disruption Of the Union, for
as | said in the Intercepted letter, ere.
main in the Union and then and my
sons and the Democracy of the North
will fight with you TO sustain you in your
rights, under the Constitution, to hold
slaves and reclaim them under the Fugi-
tive Slave Law when found in the North. +"
| declared myself 10 Davis in favor oi
the Union," and said "that 1t would be
ungenerous and ungrateful in him and
his Southern friends to separate them
selves from the Democracy Of the North
who have been politically broken down
by the Abolitionists, who would-should
the separation take place, insult us at ev-
cry streets corner and trample us under
foot" But declared myself for peace
able adjustment Of our difficulties by
amendment Of the laws or the Constitu-
lion, by compromise or concession any
thing rather than civil war.
As Minister to Bogota charged upon
Tie Government there, and upon Gen.
Mosquera, orally and in writing, not to
resort to civil war-the greatest curse
which could befall any people-but to
settle their difficulties as the mother Re
public, (the U. S. hom which theirs
was modelled, had ever done, and would
continue to do, and in no event resort to
war-the element used, and perhaps pro-
perly, too, in monarchidi Governments.
My dispatches to Mr.. Seward, from Bo
gotta, containing copies of my correspon
dence with the two parties in New Gren-
ada, show that | pursued that course
there, ard that | was for Union, har-
mony, and concession" anything but
Secession or a dissolution Of the Union
| SO declared myself at diplomatic din
ners and in other public places, as have
now before me letters and newspaper ar
ticles, from Bogota, and | will furnish
them to you for publication if you will
consent 10 do so.
The second letter published, which
these papers would have the public TO
believe was addressed 10 Jefferson Davis,
was sent to Hon. Isaac l.. Morse, OF Lou.
isiana, once member OF Congress, and
afterwards the Commissioner to Bogota,
in reference to the Panama riot. The
reason why | said in that letter that my
sons had gone South was because Mr..
Dwight, an Abolition Custom House of
ficer in New York City, had written to
his friend General, now President, Mos
quera, informing him that | was eonsid
cred as Secessionist, because | had sent
my sons South. knew nothing Of their
going, ] said, as Gen. Mosquera well
knows, that was not then for Secession,
that | never would be, phat fno,o reiter
ate. But was not fol- war or coercion
TO prevent it, but for concessions, com
promises, and amendments of the laws or
of the Constitution, as my votes on all
occasions in the IT, S. Senate show. Be-
cause ! had the audacily TO write to jeff
erson Davis, who had been my college
mate at Pennsylvania University at Lex
ington, Kentucky, forty one years ago,
who served with me in the Black Hawk
war of 1882, and fought bravely for this
section of the Northwest. it is deemed
treason. lie was afterwards sent here
from Ft. Crawford, Prairie du Chen, in
the winter of 1898 by the then Col.
Zachary Taylor, with a body of U. S.
soldiers, with orders 10 drive oil the lead
miners, &c, from this place, and to des-
troy if need be, their huts, log and other
dwellings, which Davis refused TO do,
as he told me at the time, at my house at
Sinsinawa Mound, six miles east of this
place. and so reported 10 Col. Taylor, as
il was in opposition, he said, to the spir
1t OF our institutions and revolving 10 hui
manity. Davis policy prevailed and the
troops were Withdrawn and the pioneer
squalters permitted then and ever since
to remain here. Whilst | served in Con
gress with Davis, and while he was Sec
retary Of War. from 1888 TO 1859, he, on
all occasions, stood by me in my person
al, pecunlary. political and congressional
| matters. His letter 70 me Of the 20th Of
January, 1861, was in answer 10 one
from myself TO him asking him to pro-
cure the restoration Of my son, VIM A.
b. Jones, as n Second Lieutenant in the
U ). Cavalry, in which he gave his ear.
nest efforts, though our then and present
Senators ana Representatives ii Con-
gress, Messrs Harlan, Grimes, Curtis
aud Vandoyer, never did anything to my
knowledge to effect that object.
My great sin consisted in lrritjng 10
Jcf. Davis, aud because | was for peace
aJte adjustment rather than civil war and
brute force, and because | believed then.
as | shall DO whilst live, that the Abol
ilionis,s were determined either 70 force