The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1866-09-26
Interview with MIR, Davis.

Mr.. John d. Koily furnishes the Peters
burg Inder with an interesting account OF
u recent visit to Fortress Monroe, and all
interview he had with Mr.. and Mrs. Davis.
We extract the following parayr aphs:
At this time, we saw a slender, shadow,
tottcrinS form approach the door, Some-
thing III my heart told me it was MIR.
Davis. Strange, mystic hum an heart, with
It's dlvinatinns and prophecies. Bible of
the true! 1nfalliblc GOd-word to everv
human soul that has ever been.magnctiZcd
with love. | had known this man at
time when his word swayed an empire.
composed of as noble men and as glorious
God gifted women ~ has ever appeared in
the tide OF time. | have obtained at his
hands the sparinS OF the lives of forty
seven Confederate soldiers during the war.
l got oft fourteen Federal soldiers con-
denncd to death. got his written per
mit--no order--to allow mo to visit all the
Federal prisons and alleviate, in all lawful
ways, their sufferinys. l have pravcu at
this good mans bedside for blessing of
GOD upon him commensurate to the mercy
he might extend to others, and that he
| might hope for himself, should the changes
OF time ever make him Il s,lppliant for
| this bCneticencc.
And now he is before me a prisoner
good God! how changed! Tho fast time
saw him, his brow seemed deckcd, not
only with crown Of intelligent glory, but
with a sort of ''prtnaus inter pa,'es'-halo
Of all the kingly chivalries of the past
ages. Now, he was bent, broken, rceling.
But, oh. that voice. it's timbre, cadence,
| tunc! 81 am glad to see you, Mr. Kelley;
your hair is winter than it was that beau
t:fui autumn morning that you prayed by
my bedside in Richmond. Your heart, too,
has been scared. Well, thank God, amidst
it all, and BY it all, We are ripcning for the
skies. ''Mr. Davis, has it never occurred
| to you that not victorious but defeated
causes, when founded on truth and honor,
are finally victorious i'll the flow of the
| ages? Who was the greatest man, Tibe-
rlas at Caprea. sunk in the infamies of
sensualism, or the NaZarine, crowned with
thorns and uttcrinG those words OF power
amid the agonies of the cross: Father,
forgive them; they know not what they
| do!'" True, said Mr. Davis, mo good
cause ever dies. Whatever was true in our
theory of State rights will live and be yot
! adopted entirely by our Northern brethren.
| The American people are eminently
! thoughtfu! and practical, assimilating to
| themselves truth from every point; wit
ness their wonderful improvements in the
practical arts. You know how the Nor
mans conquered the SaXons at Hastings
| how they oppressed and wrcngcd them;
yet, in the course of three centuries, the
| ideas of the conquered s-'hdued their con-
| querors and led the United Kingdom to
| the conquerors came. Centuries in the
| past were no more than decades in the
| present. have no fear as to the ultimate
triumph OF our principles, purified from
| whatever was wrong or selfish in them as
| you and have been purified by sorrow"
'Do you remember, Mr.. Davis, that rouplet
OF Lady Guion's, translated by Cowpcr:'
| ''The path Of SORROW, and that path alone,
Leads TO the place where sorrows are I'M
| known"
"ies, l remember it we'll. 1t is the COM
pend of Christianity. The world has
cccp homo Of Christ" Il have read more
in the old books, probably, than You have,
Mr.. Davis: let me recitc to You al instance
i'll the life of Julian: He had oppressed
and thwarted Cyril, oi Jerusalem, in Va
rions ways; at last. on going to the Par
great distress on account of the miscrics
| of his flock. He then said to him: sCvril.
where Is your carpenter God now The
Bishop answered: Perhaps, making a
coffin for the Roman Emperor" 81 have
never heard that before, but it is full OF
significance, and = terrible rebukc to un-
holy pride and sclf-contidencc.
Aftcr prayer we proceeded to breakfast,
which had three covers, one each for Mr..
and Mrs. Davis, and one for me. The
breakfs st consisted of some nice rolls and
toast, good tea, butter, and i few oysters
Mr.. Davis eat very sparingly.
omitted to mention III its proper place
that Mrs. Davis met him at the door put
her arms around his neck and kissed him.
After he was seated, she brought him their
little child, which he kissed, seated on his
knee, and, as thought. b. the motion of
his beautifully chisclled lips, prayed Sc
crctly for.
After breakfast, Bishop Green. of Mis-
sissippi, was introduced. The greeting
was cordial .and aifectionate Mr. Davis
alluded with great delicacy to some family
Affections OF the Bishop-to which the
latter responded with u quivcring lip and
tearfuFcye. Hereafter will give YOU q
pcn-and-ink picture of these two men as
they limncd themselves on the canvass of
memory. Here only propose to give a
part of the conversation that occupied
that whole morning. Our people all love
and revere our ,a.c excellent President.
TO meet their craving to know something
about him from tie heart or inner-life
side of him, will write some two or three
papers more on this subject. / ought not
t" close without saying that he evinccs the
most thorough spirit of forgiveness to-
wards his enemies. Like every sensible
man, he separates the wheat from the
chaf, and does not condemn the Northern
people in mass-neithcr Democrats Re-
pubicans or radicals are iiends or angels.
They and We are poor living mortals. fol-
lowing the best lights we have, and should
be charitable to one anothcr's faults.
RT ~ n O