The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1866-09-14
. They Don't Forge. Hin,

They Don't Forget Him.
In the Memphis Appeal appears the
following touching memorial to Pre-
sident johnson, in behalf Of ssPrison-
er Davis. It was written by Miss
Josephine Eaton, of Murfreesboro-
to whom it does infinite honor-is
signed by thousands of the good and
fair women OF Tennessee, and has
been forwarded to Washington:
10 Has Esece'2ency President JOHNSON:
We. ladies Of your adopted State,
come to you to- add our names to the
long list of Southern women who
have auppabated you for mercy to-
ward j JeAersen Davis.
Crushed and broken by tho trials
and SORROWS Of the four terrible
years through which We have passed,
we come entreating you to take from
our lips the last and bitterest drop in
the cup of our humiliation and an
guisil. We come to you with feel
ing of confidence and assurance that
no others can have; for we remember
taat you are our own Tennesseean,
ann that through long years we have
looked to you, to guide the bark of
our loved native State safely shroueh
the dangers that environed her. We
nee and feel the sublimity Of your
position, standing rs you fearlessly do
between tho liberties of the people
and that destructive fanaticism
which would lny waste the fairest
portion of Gods heritage We up
preciate your noble efforts to restore
Constitutional liberty, and make this
Government such that the people of
all sections can sincerely love it and
earnestly desire its perpetuation.
When you have accomplished this
mora than Herculean labor, you will
have earned for your name an envi-
able place in the pages Of history,
and, Tennessee will be as proud of
her Andrew johnson as Virginia is Of
her George Washington. To us, it
seems that the release of Jefferson
Davis would be m important step in
this direction.
We beg you to forget his faults,
however great they may appear to
you, and remember him only rs q
gray-haired, sorrowing and heart
broken man. We beg you, as you
desire peace and concord between the
sections, to f'let the prisoner go free. !"
In prison Jefferson Davis is still the
representative Of our dead cause,
suffering for our sins. and standing
in our stead before the tribunal OF
the world; and our hearts cling to
him in his sorrow, and we share his
sufferings as we shared the acts for
which he was punished. Release
him, and he sinks from the great
representative of loved cause to q
single citizen Of the United States
Since it hath pleased high Heaven
that the cause of which he was the
chosen leader should perish, we bow
in humble submission to the Divine
Will, and would fain bury our dead
out Of our sight. And now, we pray
you to help us forget; to teach ussfo
love again the whole country, thatw
may no longer be strangers and
aliens in the land of our birth. But
while Jefferson Davis looks out from
his dungeon bars with sad eyes over
the land for which he has suffered so
much, he stands between our hearts
and the Union. keeping ever alive the
remembrance of the pangs we have
endured.
We do not attempt to justify his
course to you, as that would i'll be-
seem us, nor do we even plead his
conviction that duty pointed to the
path he trod, nor refer to those great
qualities which have rendered his
name consricuous for all fut,1re time:
but we implore you, by the memory
OF our su8erings and tears, by our
desolated homes and ruined hearth
stones, to grant the liberty of this
man to the women OF Tennessee:
Then will no spectre Of pale, sad
prisoner, rise before us when we bow
to supplicate Heavens blessings upon
you; and no shadow will dim the
brightness of your fame as you stand
forth, jacksonville, saying to the
enemies of our loved South, "Thus
far shall ye go, and no farther"