The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1867-12-27
Iha wa.I rloriaa ooultnarsial.

FROM the West Florida Commercial. Asaas.1I
PEN ana IDk sketches OF the Living
and tho DeaI--Exodus from Rich
mond-The Capture OF Mr. Davis
Dalhgren's Raid upon Richmond
General II. T.. Lee.
By lHoN.is. Re MALLORY: III
Tho circumstances of the capture Of Mr..
Davis, as given officially by General VIII
son, were in harmony with that system of
by which the popular
mind was perverted as to all he said and
did and designed. His alleged attempt to
escape, disguised in female npparel-a
naked fiction-served we'll enough for the
moment to crafty and amuse the popular
mind. Barnurn, the Snowman, true to his
proclivity for practical falsehood, pre-.
sented to the eyes Of Broadway graphic
life-size representation of Mr.. Davis thus
habited resisting arrest by Federal SOL
diers; and many thousands of children,
whose wondering eyes beheld it, will grow
to maturity and pass into the grave re-
tanning the ideas thus created as the truth
of history. Fortunately, however, history
rarely leaves her verifcation wholly to the
testimony of envy, hatred, malice, or
falsehood, but contriyes, in her own time
and method, ways and means to bring
truth to her exposition. ..-ls.e.y,-
1t has been seen that before the Presi-
dents proclamation connecting him with
the assassination, with every desired OPP
portunity, and with every means of escape
from the country at his command, Mr..
Davis refrained from leaving it; and it is
very doubtful whether, in face of the
charge of completely with this great crime,
any power on earth could have induced
him to leave.
The sentiment to which the noble Cle-
ment Clay, of Alabama, gave utterance
upon learning that he was charged as par
Eceps criminis in the assassination doubt
less actuated Mr.. Davis. Clay was able
to escape from the country, and was pre-
pared to do so; but when his heroic and
loveable wife made known to him this
charge, with Indignation and scorn at Its
base falsehood breathing in every tone, he
rose quietly and said: Well, my dear
wife, that puts an end to all my plans OF
leaving the country. must meet this
caIumny at once, and will 60 to Atlanta
and surrender myself and demand its in
vestigation."
Had Mr.. Davis left the country, false
hood and malignity would have multiplied
asserted proofs of this black charge against
him; and the shortcomings, errors ana
crimes perhaps, Of others, would nave
been conveniently attributed to the faults
of his head or heart. But bis long captl-
vity, his cruel treatment, the patient, pas
sive heroism with which, when poWerless
otherwise, and strong only in honor and
integrity, he met his fate, have combined
not only to seal the lips of those of his
Confederate associates who had wrongs,
real or fancied, to resent, but to concen-
trate upon him the heartfelt sympathy of
the southern people, and no little interest
and sympathy wherever heroic endurance
of misfortune gains consideration among
men. r
His escape from the country and Sc
cure refuge in q foreign land, sustained
by the respect and affection of the south
ern people, were within his own control !;
and he might have reasonably looked for
ward to return to his native State, as a
result of change in her political status,
at no distant day. But he refrained from
embracing the opportunities Of escape
which were his by fortune or by Federal
permission.
The suggestions Of friends as to his per-
sonal safety were heard with all due con-
sideration, and he manifested none Of the
airs of would-be political martyr; and
yet it was evident that captivity and death
had lost with him their terrors in COM
parison with the crushing calamity Of the
defeat of cause for whose triumph he
had been ever ready to lay down his life.
The general language and bearing OF the
people of the country through which he
passed, their ardent loyalty to the South,
their profound sorrow at the failure Of her
cause. and their warm expressions Of re-
gard for himself, all confirmatory of the
conviction that, Notwithstanding the odds
against her, thorough and hearty union
of the people and leaders would have Sc
cured her triumph, affected him deeply.
Throughout his journey he greatly en-
ioyed the exercise Of riding and the open
air, and decidedly preferred the bivouac
to the bedroom; and at such times, re-
clining against tree or stretched upon
blanket with his head pillowed upon his
saddle, and under the inspiration of good
cigar, he talked very pleasantly Of stirring
scenes Of other days, and forgot for time
the engrossing anXieties of the situation.
When the passion and prejudice engen-
dered by our civil war shall have passed
away, and discriminating justice shall
guide the public Judgment, the noble
men-noble in their unselfish devotion to
I'LL ~ ha of hnir in,
the sublimity of their faith, in their pa
tient endurance Of priyation and suffering,
and in their zeal and courage-will re-
ceive that consideration which mankind
ever bestows upon the true, the brave, and
the unfortunate.
Every great struggle has exhibited an
embodiment of it's principles Of thought
and action in its representative men and
posterity will recognize Jefferson Davis
and Robert E. Lee as the types and expo
nents of the exalted souls who gave dig
nifty and renown to the struggle for south
ern independence, and who, failing only in
the questionable merit Of success, find no
marble tomb or storied monument to tell
their deeds to men.
Unlike in their intellectual and moral
structure, they yet stand forth as the two
bright particular stars of that four years
night; both shining by their own peculiar
and unrefected light, and differing only
as one star differs from another star IN
glory.
Similar but not same, each Intellectually
and morally strong, yet each with wants
which the other could supply; equal in
faith, hope, and courage, and mutual in
confidence and respect, their combined