New-York tribune., 1871-07-27


| President showed our hero in confidence part
| of a private letter of Mr.. Daviss, with strict
Injunction that IL should not be published.
| Permission to make copy of it was dis
| tinctly refused. Thercupon Jenkins wrote out
| from memory as much of it as he could
remember, and telegraphed it to his news
paper. The mental process by which he con
yinced himself that this was a proper thing to
do il very curious and characteristic. "The
"code of newspaper morality" he says, re
" ouires simply that no given pledge of secrecy
"shal be broken. SO long as no explicit
"promise of silence is exacted, anything that
the public cares to hear about, however OBJ
"tained, is regarded az lawful spoil" SO
having asked permission to violate confidence,
and met with q prompt refusal, it was per-
fectly regular and indeed shrewd stroke of
business for Jenkins to violate confidence
| without permission, since he had not bound
himself not TO. OF course it is the natural
right of every BlatherSkic reporter to be
blackgrlard except when ho is under dis
tnct promise to be decent; but we need
hardly say that his Interpretation of the code
of newspaper morality is not accepted by the
profession 1T large.
Having committed this astonishing outrage
upon Mr.. Davis, it was the most natural thing
in the world for Jenkins to present himself to
tho victim and inquire how he liked it. He
was not left i'll doubt upon that point. Jen-
kins noticed, AZ soon as he entered the room,
that the ex-Presidcnt looked unhappy; " his
" face seemed to be drawn together and set in q
" mold tliat expresses rather resOute endur-
ance than cOntcntment"-a expression, we
may remark, almost always observed upon the
faces Of persons who are so unfortunate as to
hold interviews with Mr.. Jenkins Tho Rebel
leader instantly began to inquire about the
publication of the letter. " | saw says Jen-
kins, "that he was tempOrizng" (which we
do not exactly understand, for palmer speak
ing We never heard than the conversation set
down in this extraordinary chronicle. Before
fully freeing his mind, Mr. Davis went into
the next room apparently to get pistol, and
the reporter adds tho wholly superiiuous re-
mark that this wes can unnecessary precau-
ton" 81 do not pretend to be fight
"ing man." he Observes "and unless pushed
:" to the wall and actually attacked,
"nevcr should fire upon a fellOw-b being"
which is a degree of forbearance almost
heroic, especially in one who does not carry
arms In fact, Jenkins confesses that even
"then he would rather run away. Mr. Davis
at any rate was "much boldeI" when he came
back and "wOuld listen to nothing" "H He
talked alOng for a minute or 80, and finally
"wOund up by roaring out in steDtorian tones,
I" You are liar and a puppy, SirP | rose at
"Once and said, After that, Mr.. Davis. had
"'better 20 :" an opinion in which it Is need
less to say the ex-Presdent heartily ooncurred.
And so Jenkins went
If rival Journalist had told this story of
the reporters shame we should have called it
cruel. But what are we to say of creature
who revels in his own dshonor, and welcomes
disgrace as the material for a sensational let
tori See, he cxclaims where O gentleman spat
in my face This bruise is where | was
kicked by an ex-President. / got that wound
on tho rump for printing private letters. This
welt on the back is the mark of hOrsewhip
and that smutch on the check is the stain of
mud, which man threw at me for betraying
the confidence of social intercourse. i have
been insulted by sOme of the most distin-
guished men in the country, and had the honor
of being turned out of a great many aristo-
cratic doors, and called a puppy in many
celebrated parlor. Buy my confession gentle
men-thc richest thing out, and only four
cents Is it an evidence of the decay of
American sense of decency and honor that
such dirt-eaters find spectators for their ex-
hibiti0n, or does it only prove that the vltiated
taste of the lswer classes which used to feast
exclusively upon still ruder performances-now
demands change Of fare, and requires that
its pet blackguard shall occasionally be "a
"literary man" bcsides7