The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1867-05-15

the N0rbQ WOulu certainly ndNo 0oci
, worried into giving up the contest
Then in q few years the South woult
have gone back to the Union withou
a doubt, for the dream of separate
. nationality would soon have been dis
pelled. The great error of the North
he thought. was in adopting the polio!
of coercion. If South Carolina hat
been permitted to 60, and few othel
States. secession would soon have beer
at an end. The South was getting
very sick of it, when the call for 75, ,0Ot
troops came out. A tariff of twenty
per cent. on everything produced in th'
country had been levied by the Mont
gomery Congress, and 1T had caused
rise in prices and great discomfort
One thing after another had occurred
to persuade the people that secession
was foolish undertaking, but wheI
troops were called for to invade the
South. the tide Immediately turned the
other way, and the separationists tri
umphed everywhere. He regarded jeff
Davis as man of kind heart, who
meant we'll in what he did, bu,
was not fitted for the head of nation
in time like that of tho late war
He would listen to no advice, and
heed no warning. Because he wanted
to succeed, he thought therefore he must
and he had no idea of giving up the
contest until Lee telegraphed him tina,
his lines were broken, and that he mus,
evacuate Richmond. The capture Of
jeff. Davis, Mr. Stephens thought q
great .faur pas for the North; better Q
good deal have let him go wherever he
wanted to go. l asked where Davis
was going when he was captured. Mr.
Stephens said he didn't know-he doubt.
ed if Davis knew himself. He seemed
to him to be running about like gad'
fly in stable, after the boys had taken
his eyes out-bobbing up and down,
running against everything and hitting
everything, utterly unconscious oi
what he was doing OF where he was 60.
ing. He believed the Government
would release Davis without any trial
The Supreme Court decision in the in.
junction cases would have an important
bearing on that trial. If the injunc-
tiOn was not granted, he could not see
how Davis could be tried for treason
for the refusal would convey with it the
assertion that the Southern States were
not States of the Union and therefore
their citizens could not have been
guilty of treason in rebelling. This
seemed to him to be the light in which
Charles O'Conuor, who was counsel in
both cases, viewed it.
remained at Mr.. Stephens residence
that evening and during the following
day until train time. He expressed
great wonder when told him Of my in.
tended departure, and begged me "stay
ween and see the country or, in any
event, to "come back this way" and
call to see him again. i spent Friday
evening in conversation with him, and
found him the most delightful and in.
exhaustible talker / had ever listened
to-. Many of the events connected with
the war, with which | was already ia.
miliar, he related to me with such an
interesting and attractive manner that
forgot that / had ever known any.
thing of them, and listened to them as
to something entirely new and start.
ling. He spoke of the Hampton Roads
. conference as having been consented
to by jeff. Davis only to thwart another
proposition looking to peace and re-
union. The Confederate Congress was
about to pass joint resolution in favor
of cessation of hostlities, for the
purpose of calling national conven-
ton to settle all existing differences.
Davis wanted to defeat this, by making
the Southern people believe that the
North would accept no terms but an
unconditional surrender, and this he
thought the Hampton Roads conference
would accomplish. Mr.. Stephens, on
his return from Hampton Roads, felt
convinced that the Southern cause was
lost, and told jeff. Davis so, but Davis
wouldn't believe it. He soon after
started for his home in Charlottesville,
where he remained until arrested by
Wilson's cavalry, and taken to Fort
Warren. He is now engaged in collect
ing and arranging the materials for q
book to be styled "The War. Its Causes,
Conduct and Results" 1t will be in
two Volumes, the first to appear about
the close of the present year. He
told me he would say very little about
battles or battle-tields, for he has an
utter loathing for them. He holds that
war degrades any people that engages
in it, and retards, instead of advances
civilization. His book will be on the
war in it's relation to civil liberty and
republican government i'll this country
and throughout the world.
Respecting the present political con-
test in the South, he desires no public
expression of his views. AS one who is
disfranchised and paroled prisoner,
he feels it prudent for him to keep
quiet and take no part in public affairs.
shall therefore say nothing in this let
ter touching his position on the ques-
ton of reconstruction under the Mill
tary law. He converses freely on the
subject and has no hesitation in giving
his opinion when asked in his own
house. He does SO, however, with an
injunction that no public use shall be
made of what he says on the subject,
and he has a right to demand this much.
No man in the country loves the Amer
lean Union more than he does, and more
sincerely desires its preservation; no
one is more ardently devoted to consti-
tutional liberty than he; no one is less
monarchist or an aristocrat, or more
of a republican. He takes little inter-
est in parties, except as they tend to
promote the cause to which he is so
warmly attached, and views all ques-
tions as q philosopher rather than as a
politician.
1 regretted very much as the hour of
two arrived yesterday afternoon, that /
must leave this good and wise old gen.
tleman and his hOspitable roof, under
which had been so well entertained
for twenty.four hours. As oade him
goodbye he shook me cordially by the
hand and told me he wished men trav-
cling through here from the North
would stop and see him often" He is
fond of company, and doubt if any
one can be bis guest an hour without
being charmed by his good nature, his
simplicity of manners, his genial hos
pitality, his vast fund of information,
aud his bright intellect which illumines
every subject you can suggest to him.
MACK.