The Fairfield herald. [volume] (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1849-1876, 1866-10-03
THE
Interview with the President.
10 the Editor of the Petersburg Index

TO return to my theme, and to begin
at tho beginning, MIR. Davis was dressed
N plain, neat, somewhat worn suit oi
black, which hung rather ioosiy upon
his person. His dress, frock coat espe.
cially, seemed too large for him AS
he leaned upon my arm I could meas-
ure by my own muscular sense, with
toleratJle accuracy, the great decline in
his physique. All his senses seemed to
me to be pretcrnaturally acute, especial.
ly his hearing. lie has lost the use 81
one eye; the other is quite acute. His
whole being-tody, soul, and spirit
seemed to me to DC like an ideal sensi-
tive plant. Not only outward things
affect him deeply, but the very aroma
of thought, as yet uuspoken, perhaps
scarcely we'll formed, is felt W him in
some apparently mysterious manner.
His linen was white as the driven
snow, his neck clotl, neatly adjusted, his
hands .fauluessly neat, and his upper
beard closely shaved; but with all tins
nratncss there. was an air Of aublued
dignity, OF sanity, serene humility that
affected you too deep for tears. There
was still n lcaven of the old imperial
hess in his voice, chance of a tone
that indicated occasional high temper
nal, perhaps, angry word
10 suggestion that perhaps the i'll
will manifested towards him by some
public men might be caused by an un.
forgiv'ng spirit on their part, in view OF
some offence gwen by him: That
is quite probable. Though generally
,houg htlul and cautious even tender
TO the laiings Of othcrs-yet when they
crossed my path in the shape OF pre-.
tencc, falsehood, craft, or cant-then
these faults arouse bitter anger for the
moment, sometimes utter alienation.
This was all wrong. Ohl how public
iite blunts our perceptions as TO the
higher Observation-Disclosures, forbear
ance- patting the best construction on
things; words and persons they are
capable Of have erred in this par.
ticular but | had often great provoca
tlon-ncvcr, however, have l uttered
an angry, undertaking or denunciatory
sentiment without believing that had
good cause for so doing; and in most
cases my country has already, or will
hereafter, find that | was right. 1 now
feel and acknowledge that was some.
times wrong as to the tone or coloring
Of a phrase while under the excitement
OF debate as for instance: when Mr..
johnson, after the Mexican war, made
some remarks derogatory Of the West
Point officers, / thought it strange that
any man OF sense should think that the
training Of officers for duty by thor.
ough military education would rather
disqnalily them for that duty, or, what
was The same thing, that untrrined Off
GERS did better than the West Pointers.
In the course OF reply made use of
this remark: 'Who would select tail.
or to shoe horse, or a blacksmith to-
make coaL7' This gave personal
offence to Mr., johnson, who regarded
it as n sheer personality. Nothing in
Che world was further from my thoughts" !"
TO the query whether he had any
thing to complain Of in his present treat
}nent, he replied that lie had not. The
present commandant of the fort was a
soldier and.a gentleman, who, while
d1ligent and faithful in the discharge of
his duty to tho Government, was also
&orbearIng aud considerate as to all the
mmuti1 of his prison life; and allowed
him all the indulgence he required,
which was simply not to be insulted in
the intolerable ways and manners he
had been by the creature who used
every means to torment him before The
;, arrival of General Burton. One of us
told him that all the officers of rank in
the old army with whom we had in
any waN come in contact had expressed
she opinion that he ought to have been
released a year ago; that some of them
thought that he, as commander.ip.c p.chiet
Of the Confcderacy, was virtually includ
ed in the parole Of these armies on their
surrender, and ought to have been ad
mtted to parole at once but for the
assassination charge. which no one that
Know him believed. Mr.. Davis said
"That gratiies us much. T was brought
into frequent contact both in the Mexi
can war and rs Secretary OF war under
President Pierce with many officers, and
did then, and do now, entertain a
high sense of the chivalrc honor ol
many ofthem."
"The Government may have been de
ceived by the testimony, which has
since turned out TO be sheer perjury
tending to implicate me in the assassina
ZION Of President Lincoln; or it may
have been subject to one Of those mania'
which occasionally, like plaques, seize
governments and communities; or wha
is most likely, few unprnciplcd men
seeing an opportunity in the excited
condition Of the nation for obtaining
wealth and position through the instru
mentality civilians slborned for tn,
purpose, really did impose upon th'
Government, and led Them TO- belisv,