Daily Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1865-1869, 1865-10-11
WHIG.
WEDNESDAY MORNING. OCT. IL, 1865.
VISIT TO FORT WARREN.


II. sTEPHENs-A DAY WITH JUDGE REAGAN,
or TEXAS.
To the Editor Of the Herald:
BosToN, Oct. 6, ls65.-Haying received
letter at Washington from Judge John Il.
Reagan, late rebel Postmaster General IN
der President Davis, in which he expressed
desire to see me, obtained pass from
the Secretary of War and extended my visit
from New York to this city.
Yesterday morning l went down in the
government boat to Fort Warren, where l
spent the day with Judge Reagan and late
Vice President Alexander II. Stephens.--
AS this latter gentleman and myself grew
up in the same neighborhood in Georgia, and
as Judge Reagan and myself had served in
the same canvass against the ReOpen-the-
African slave trade. secession issue, could
not have remembered subsequent political
differences against them if would.
Twas politely received by the officer in
command of the powerful fortress, which /
will not pause TO describe, and conducted
Immediately to the room Of Judge Reagan,
without other question than to know if |
would return in the early boat or spend the
day. Having answered that would not re-
turn until evening, the officer left me in un-
disturbed intercourse with the unfortunate
prisoners the whole day. l found Judge
Reagan in excellent health-I may say 70.
bust, His face is little bleached by close
confinement before his enlargement but his
frame seems to have expanded and his whole
physique to have gained new strength. He
was cheerful, and took a more philoSOphic
view of his situation than could one man in
| thousand under like circumstances. l
question whether so many months OF his time
were ever so studiously and prodtably en-
ployed as those during his solitary confns-
ment. He has read great deal,
| which he seems to have matured we'll
has written out his early memoirs,
| which, as a man who had to buffet against
misfortune and the want f early opportun.
| ties, cannot fail to be interesting; has writ.
| ten some essays upon government and an
address to the people Of Texas, which he
forwarded through the authorities to Gov
ernor Hamilton. As 1t may have reached
| the public prints, or may yet do so, will
not do Judge Reagan the injustice OF trying
| to repeat the contents from memory. can
not be mistaken, however, when ] say that
Judge Reagan takes more comprehensive
| view than thousands who have retained their
| liberty. He not only cheertully taccepts
/ the situation," but he recognizes and ac-
cepts all the logical conclusions deducible
| from that situation. He maintains that the
| contest of opinion had assumed that form
| when the arbitrament OF war could not be
avoided that the South claimed the right to
| secede that he was not one OF those who
thought it peaceful remedy, but expected a
| terrible war, and adhered to his section, in-
| tending to abide the consequences. He makes
no technical, constitutional or legal quibbes,
| but says, "We staked al and lost ALL" The
| Government offers to restore TO the great
masses their rights, minus their slaves
| While he thinks this a hardship 10 the loyal
| Union men, no one else has the right TO CON-
| plain. He advises all TO regain citizenship
and restoration of their rights under the
| Constitution, in good faith, as soon as they
can. and he advises that, in future they ac-
| cept the logic Of events, aud do at once what
| he thinks it inevitable will have to be done
ere loDg-that is, to change the organic Law
| to suit the altered situation to adopt free
State Constitution, and to ratify the Eman-
| cipation Amendment of the Constitution OF
the United States, and to leave no room for
| further agitation. While he would disfran-
chiSe no one now entitled TO vote, he would
in future extend the privilege to every in
| telligent man Of every color who could read
and write. He would also extend 10 the
/
does not think il possible that these measures
can lie long avoided, and he would have them
adopted at once. He proposed other minor
amendments of not so great Importance
| This latter view | understand to be purely
for quiet and repose.
| While Judge Reagan claims to have always
been a conservative man, and hopes ere long
| to be pardoned, or at least released frobl
p -ison, he does not propose TO enter into po-
| ltical life, but to exert himself for support
| for dependent family, He has found pub.
| lie life the road neither to wealth nor happi-
| less. Indeed, he thinks that those who
| were &C i've in the secession movement ought
| to yield publ affairs to the better Judgment
of those who opposed ii. He says the doc
trines of secession, and all political claims
| founded upon them, have been conquered
and must be surrendered.
My conversation with the Judge was long,
| frank and free. / stated to MIN frankly that
| could not have embarked in the work OF
resistance, because i would have had con-
sciousness that l was violating the "su-
preme law of the land" In our running
conversations the Judge gave me many an
| inside view Of the workings of the rebellion,
| a1out which / will not say more than that
the mental hallucination was as great in high
quarters as low.
| 1 found Mr.. Stephens the same feeble,
| emaciated frame which he always was. His
figure is bent and his face wrinkled; but his
| eye is keen and his intellect unimpaired.-
He suffered much before his enlargement,
and while he recognizes that he is imprisoned
as the second chief Of the rebellion, he feels
keenly that men, as influential as himself,
| who had given their whole lives to the work
of destroying the Union, have been over
| looked, while he, who only yielded after the
work was accomplished, was held prisoner.
| ! reminded him that the judgment Of Socie-
W was always severer upon the seduced than
the seducer. Mr.. Stephens conversed plea
| sanity about the men, things and antece.
dents of our youthful boyhOod. He looks
with disirust upon the exceeding activity OF
the secessonists in the work Of restoration.
| He remembers them as the men of 1850.
A Union man his whole life, he now finds
himself distanced by those who bore down
the Union element. Nr. Stevens has the
constant companionship of his brother, Judge
Linton Stevens.
do not know the disposition Of the 60
vernment towards these distinguished pri-
soners, and | could, therefore, only give
them the consolation of my OWE hopes, that
if the States acted in good faith there could
be no disposition to detaln them beyond the
period OF restoration, if so long. However
much We may deplore the fact that so many
of these lovers of the Union yielded to the
storm and lent to the destructives the weight
of their names and services, yet no one can
regard them as the more guilty agents.
They are entitled to clemency, and will
doubtless receive ell that they merit. par
took of their simple dinner, which was not
extravagapt, although they are not wanting
for means.
In the afternoon We walked upon the para
pet and reviewed the mighty modern i'm