Tri-weekly union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-186?, 1866-09-29
JEFFERSON DAVIS.
INTERESTING INTERVIEW WITH
THE PRISONER AT FORTREss
MONROE.
From the Petersburg Express. Sept. 81

From the Petersburg Express, Sept. D
To THE EDITOR OF THE INDEX Please
let me say through your paper that have
just returned from Washington without any
bishop, priest or deacon accompanying me /;
that wrote letter to our martyr, JEFFER-
SON DAVIS some weeks ago, to which got
no response until the return of Mrs DAVIS
he not being allowed to write; that in COM
plianee with the spirit Of that response, I
hastened to Fortress Monroe, on the 18th
inst, just as l have done many a time for
our poor soldiers or poor negroes under SEN
tence that proceeded to Washington, after
seeing the terrible condition Of Mr.. DAVIS,
and have come back this morning, foot-sore
and weary, and not without hopes for the
final safety Of him whom l conseientiously
believe to be about the ablest and best man
in America. Prudence, whom l seldom
listen to, and whom | naturally hate as the
devil does holy water, makesme silent for the
present about my Washington visit. / will
tell You all about it hereafter Mr.. DAVIS
is greatly debilitated, and declining very
fast. During breakfast he gave us some
rich, sparkling gems of political wisdom
| from BURKE, with his own comments on
their folly, as rich as BURKE's original
thoughts. l only remember one other such
day spent in my life. 1t was at LaGrange,
in 1923, when LAFAYETTE and Cardinal
MEzzoFONTE were debating on high matters
of literature and art, and L was mere silent
absorbent of the golden treasure of liquid
thought.
I arrived at the Fortress about an hour
before Mr.. DAVIS left his prison. This
| little time / spent in reading some of the
| numerous papers that were brought in that
morning. Presently Mrs. DAVIS joined me,
and we had a very agreeable discussion, in
which she maintained that the American /
| people, North and South, were as noble
| people as any on the earth, and / main
tanned, chiefly for arguments sake, that the
aristocracy of all lands, the real aristocracy
were markedly superior to the masses of the
people. ! maintained that the catacombs of
Rome and Paris showed gradual approx
nation to a certain type of character which
was not even yet attained except in the
aristocracy of worth. She insisted that the
! heads of PHIDIAs and PRAXITELEs were not
equaled in modern times with Christianity
and all the appliances of culture. She cited
the remarks of many distinguished foreign
ers, who called her attention to the fact that
the American people could more easily
! adapt themselves 10, and more thoroughly
embody the true principle of p0liteness,
than any other democratic people in the
world. Just then / made wicked query
that killed a good deal of this theory.
Mrs. DAVIS, how do the many strangers
that come here behave toward Mr.. DAVIS?
'Ah,' said she, almost all the Northern
women that come peer through the blinds |
in the most indelicate manner, so that we !
are often obliged to retire to the inner case
mate to avoid their rude glanees.' Mrs. |
could possibly be guilty of such grossness. |
So you have demolished your own theory |
We then talked for awhile about educa- |
ton, where and by whom best ministered |
and acquired, in which l felt proud that my
own maturely formed opinions were adopted |
by this highly gifted and imperial-minded |
woman.
At this time we saw a slender, shadoWy, |
tottering form approach the door. Some |
thing in my heart told me it was Mr.. DAVIS. |
Strange, mystic human heart, with its diYina-
tion and prophecies Bible of the true !
Infallible GoD-word to every human soul !
that has ever been magnetized with love! |
| had known this man at time when his |
word swayed an empire composed of as
noble men and asglorious GoD-gifted women |
as has ever appeared in the tide of time. / |
have obtained at his hands the sparingof the |
lives of forty-seyen Confederate rebel soldiers |
during the war. got off fourteen Federal |
soldiers condemned to death. / got his writ |
ten permit-no order-to allow me to visit |
all the Federal prisons and alleviate in all |
lawful ways, their sufferings. have prayed |
at this good mans bedside for a blessing of |
GoD upon his commensurate to the mercy |
he might extend to others, and that he might |
hope for himself, should the changes of time |
a 10 him n onnDliont for fbia hnnpH- |
cence.
And now he is before me prisoner
good GoDl How:changedl The last time
/ saw him his brow seemed decked, not |
only with crown Of intelligent glory, but |
with a sort of primus interpaTes-halo of all |
the kingly chivalries of the past ages. Now |
he was bent, broken, reeling But oh that
voice, its timbre cadence, tone | am glad |
to see you, Mr.. KELLEY; your hair is
whittier than it was that beautiful 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 ripening for the skies.
Mr.. DAVIS, has il never occurred to you
that, not victorious, but defeated causes,
when founded on truth and honor, are |
finally victorious in the fow Of ages? Who |
was the greatest man, TIBERIUs, at Capr@, |
sunk in the infamies of sensualism, or the |
Nazarine, crowned with thorns and utter
ing those words of power amid the agonies
of the cross-Father, forgive themy they |
know not what they do% True, said Mr.. /
DAVIS, no true cause ever dies. Whatever
was true in our theory of State rights will |
live, and be yet adopted entirely by our /
Northern brethren. The American people |
are eminently thoughtful and practical, /
assimilating to themselves truth from every
point. Witness their wonderful improve
ments in the practical arts. You know
how the Normans conquered the Saxons at
Hastings-how they oppressed and wronged
them; yet in the course of three centuries
the ideas of the conquered subdued their
conquerers and led the United Kingdom to
the conquest of that very France whence
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 coup
let of Lady GUIoN's translated by COwPER?
1.-THE path Of sorrow. and that path alone,
Leads to the place where sorrow is unknown
eyes, remember it WELL 1t is the COM
pend of Christianity. The world has never
vet fully appreciated that aspect, the occe
homo of CHRIST. l have read more in the
old books, probably, than you have, Mr..
DAVIS; let me recite to you an instance in
the life Of JULIAN. He had oppressed and
thwarted Cyril, Of Jerusalem, in various
ways; at last, on going to the Parthian war,
he met the good Bishop in great distress, on
account Of the miseries of his flock. He
then said to him, Cyril, where is your car
penter Con, now p The Bishop answered,
Perhaps, making a coffin for the Roman
Emperor / have never heard that before,
but il is full of significance and terrible
rebuke TO uDholy pride and selEconfdence.'
After prayers, we proceeded to breakfast,
which had three covers, one each for Mr.. and
Mrs. DAVIS, and one for me. The breakfast
consisted Of some nice rolls and toast, good
tea, butter and few oysters. Mr.. DAVIS
eat very sparingly.
I omitted to mentien in 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 bis
knee, and, as thought by the motion Of his
beautifully ohiseled lips, prayed secretly
for.
A A. h,s.Lfasf Rishon GREFG Of Missis- /