The southerner., 1866-07-14

of his Administration, we sag these things
only in the interest Of humanity"
The above is an extract from lead
er entitled The Prison Life of JEFF Davis,
which appeared in the New York
Watchman of June the 30th.
The indignities and refoed cruelties
meeted out to the distinguished prison
er of State, arc terrible reminders of
the fallen greatness, not only of Mr.
Davis, but of the whole Southern peo-
pie; and the political offence, for which
he is subjected to such punishment and
degr dation, is not greater in it's enor-
mites than that committed by thous-
ands who learned by intuition, just as
the Confederacy tottered to its final fall,
that they were no admirer of his, and
certainly no supporters of his admins
tration. Indeed the few true anti-war
men of the South who remained silent
and steadfsst in their opinion during
the entire war, were lost sight of by
the stir and demonstration of neophytes
in the Union cause.
BY stress of thought, too many men,
in truth and fact, aiders and abetters of
the Administration at Richmond, for
getting what they have done in support
of the war, and thinking of those things
only which they have not done, are
ready by this kind of mental fiction to
transform themselves into fully pledged
Federalist, and utterly deny their par
ticipation in the horrid crime of trea-
son."
It is an undeniable fact that Mr.. Da-
Wis was war President, and elected by
the people as such, for two consecutive
terms. 1t is no less true that his ad-
ministration was a war administration,
and upheld and supported by the great
body of the people South. In fact
those who opposed it being so few in
number, were known in every commu.
nifty. Did DR.. Deems, the editor of the
Watchman, support it, or did he op-
pose it?
The Methodist entered the late contest
probably with more zeal than any
Church South. This was perhaps ow-
ing to division Of the Church North
and South. DR.. Deems was the pride
and ornament of this Church. Fascin
ating in manner, pleasant i'll speech,
and eloquent in ordinary, his active
mind was ever ready to grasp new
theme, and his friends were ever anx-
ious to award him praise. The snffer-
ings of the war, and the deficiencies of
the day in charitable undertakings, sug-
gested to his mind the erection of o
beneficiary institution for the benefit of
the children of deceased Confederate
Soldiers In all the various places
where the Reverend Doctor lectured,
and solicited aid in this behalf did any
one learn that he was no supporter of
the administration at Richmond We
are sure no one did, who heard him in
February 1868, in this town. There
were listeners on that occasion who re-
member the forcible expression, " We
must succeed in this war, for God has
decreed that the African shall be a
slave"
The GUNNER of 1868, found him a
visiting minister in the Army of North
ern Virginia. For weeks did he trudge
along the valley roads, with Rodes' Di-
vision, talking to and encouraging the
rough soldiers of that command. They
would visit him in bivouac, and throng
around to hear him preach, and SO great
was his popularity, that if any soldier
had asserted that Or. Deems was nc
supporter Of the war, he would have
been mobbed by his comrades.
We have heard him pray and preach
for toe success of the Confederate Ar
mics, and preach and pray for the down
fall and destruction of the Federal Ar
mics, and it is with no little wonder and
surprise that we hear him through the
editorial Of the Watchmaa, saying, that
he never was supporter of Mr.. DAVIS
administration, and that his feelings OF
.y,nn,th1 for him We're uttered only IN