The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1870-10-11
A virginian's "Farwell Shot at Jeffer-
SON Davis.

SnaQOW OF tne ocaUOlu.
A Virginia ms ssFarwell Shot at Jefier-
son Davis.
Mr.. Edward A. Pollard publishes a
card in the Baltimore American, which,
he says, is his farewell" shot at the ex-
Confederate Chief. He says that it had
been hoped that Jefferson Davis would
rest quietly in the grave dug by his own
hands, but his undying vanity has com
pclled him to come before the public
again He speaks of Mr.. Davis as the
"assassin Of country" and "the greatest
murderer Of his times !" also an "unclean
ghost" an "evil and damned spirit" &c.
&c. Mr.. Pollard writes to make a per-
sonal explanation in regard to the accusa-
ton in Southern papers that he has "villi-
fed" JEFF. Davis as historian. He
admits that he despises Mr.. Davis, but
mot in personal sense" He has turned
an unrelenting pen upon him, he says, as
the real assassin of the Confederate cause
"literally, practically more hateful than
the Yankee enemy, inasmuch as he, and
not the arms of the North, was our real
destroyer"
Mr.. Pollard adds that when he under
took to write history Of the late war
one thing was certain, that the exposure
of Jefferson Davis was the one only ex.
planation to save the future sentence Of
history which impended over the people
of the South, of disgrace for the loss Of
cause which the best intelligence Of the
world had decided they were bound to
win. He had chosen to vindicate the
people Of the South, though at the expense
Of the head of their Government. He
yet adheres to such choice and takes all
the reproach that may attach to it, rather
than be numbered among the blind and
excessive tools who, in adoring Mr. Davis
are consigning their whole country and
people to the inevitable and endless re.
proaches of history. Let it be remem.
bered, despite excuses now made BY
Southern men as to the numerical and
material superiority of the North, that
these very same men were those who
professed to have considered the inequal-
ty of the contest at its beginning, the very
same men who then declared that the
South had advantages on her side that
would completely and certainly outweigh
the superiority referred to. The in
telligence of the world made the same es.
innate. The South had advantages which
we're then calculated to make her success
a foregone conclusion.
Those who profess such tenderness, he
says, in guarding from the least reproach
the sensibilities of Mr.. Davis, forget how
shameless is the attitude of this man to-
day, what de6ane his self.deceit and self.
assertion have constantly offered to public
opinion, and what invitations his own
habit of accusing his contemporaries offers
to criticism upon himself If Mr.. Davis
had at any time confessed that he was
wrong, if he had ever taken the least of
blame upon himself instead of so iudustri-
; ously casting it upon his associates; if he
had ever breathed the least word of re.
gret, or compunction, or even show u
decent melancholy at any time in survey
ing the ruins of the war, even so slight
concession might have touched us in his
behalf.
) 1t is seldom, too, that men who have
lost great causes in history have been
satisfied to live in the scenes Of their for
mer greatness, and amid the ruins they
have precipitated upon their country.
; The dignity of exile has generally re-
: mained for those who have wrecked the
/, , hopes of their country. and even where
the law has suffered them to live on the
theatre of their former career the in
E /. stincts of decency have led them to
! withdraw to foreign lands, rather than to
!, remain in brazen insensibility to public
: Indignation, or in concentrated blindness
! to the littleness into which they have
fallen. Jefferson Davis,once President
!. Of the Southern Confederacy the autocra,
J, ; Of eight millions Of people, is satisfied tc
!. exhibit himself in the latter days as the
!. manager Of q life insurance company il
y Memphis, Tenn. Public opinion in the
/, = South is no longer sentimental, and il
= appreciates Jefferson Daviss true charac
: ter, and the part he took in the destruc
: tion Of the Southern Confederacy.
!, MacMahon's solace is reading his obit