Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1873-09-04

4
sanding. Far be il from me to wish
evil to the late President of the Con-
tederate States. He has been unfor-
tunate, and condole with him; ne |
has committed great and grievous err
rors, and l make all just allowance for
them; he is unhappy, and sympa-
thize with him. he is in prison. and
pray night and day for his enlarge
ment. Though he permitted his heart |
less Secretary of War last winter to
deprive me of my own personal liber.
ty and to retain me in lurance vile un-
til I was discharged on habcas corpus,
acne on account of my struggling for
pacification when I found both Con-
gress and himself bent on the further
prosecution OF war which they had
themselves already rendered hopeless
yet so far from feeling resentment or
unkindness on this account, can say
with truth that. having myself thrice
suffered the loss of personal liberty
thin the last twelve months, / can,
in reference to Mr.. Davis iorlorn and
suffering condition, painfully and sor-
rowfully exclaim with slight change
of the immortal verbiage of VirgiD
in the language Of Queen Dido to
1Enea;.
I" NoG ignarus mali. mlseris succnrere disco
should have been glad had Mr..
Davis left those who sincerely con-
demned his conduct in Richmond an
opportunity Of being silent over many
of his shortcomings and shameless
violations of principle. But as he has
chosen again to bring himself forward
as a fomenter of mischief, and as all
his silly and slavish adulators seem
not yet to have become ashamed of
their former close affiliations with
him, shall now drag into distinct no.
tice several dishonoring particulars
which it would be but foolish liber-
atty to allow longer to remain in con-
ceslment.
"Only day or two before / left
Richmond. in the autumn of 1864, Mr..
Fowle, considerable merchant there,
visited me for the purpose of calling
my attention to a matter which he con-
ceived to be of great importance. He
assured me that for some months past
it had been the practice of the Naval
Department to send ont of the ports
of the Confederate States large orders
| to commercial cities abroad for the
best wines, brandies, silks, and other
things needful for the supply Of per-
sons of luxurious taste that these
| commodities were purchased with the
money of the public treasury, along
| with supplies for the Confederate SOL
diery, and that whenever a fresh sup
| ply OF the articles came in there was a
| formal assemblage in the Naval De-
partment of the female heads of cer-
tain official families, including that of
Mr.. Davis himself, among whom, and
their special friends and favorites, all
these nice things were apportioned,
and at the very low price that had been
paid for them abroad.
Mr.. Fowler assured me that this evil
practice was greatly iniuring the mer-
chants of Richmond, and besought me
to bring it at once to the notice of the
Confederate Congress. a day or two
subsequent, Col. Orr, a Congressional
Representative from Mississippi %
brother of the late Minister to Russia,
and gentleman of as much honor
land intelligence as was then in Rich
mond,) came to my seat in the House
of Representatives and besought me to
introduce a resolution of inquiry on
this subject. He assured me that he
had himself looked carefully into
the matter, and found the facts above
stated to be true to the letter. con-
scented to introduce resolution Of in.
quiry in regard to this affair, pr0vid.
ed that Col. Orr would put his state.
ment in writing, which he did.
CHANGED not to remain long enough
thereafter in Richmond to prosecute
this investigation to a close, but l new
er have doubted that the information
| given me by Mr.. Fowler and Col. Orr
was in all respects true. IL SO, wha
are men to think Of Mr.. Davis boast
cd dieintercstedness and integrity. anG
Of those of his Cabinet counselors?
About twelve mouths before tn,
fall of Richmond, Congress passed |
bill raising each of the adiutants in at
; tendance upon Major Generals in serv
to the dignity Of major. The sub
ject had been much considered an,
most deliberately acted upon. So 500
as Congress adjourned, Mr.. Davis
initiating the well known example o
James IL of England, suspended tn
} operations of the law, thus commit
ting precisely such an act of tyranni
: usurpation as cost the King of En-
gland referred to the loss of hi
T throne. There has never been tim
, when such proceeding as this wOul,
| not have caused the immediate i'm
peachmen, of a President of the Unit
= / al hoe lo .nf n
MIR. Davis in regard to this matte
, still more disgusting was the fact ths
Sunday after Sunday, son of our au
! gust Confederate Imperator, not owe
: fourteen years of age, appeared i
, Mr.. Davis pew at church, by the pa
ternal side, dressed up in Confedei
: ate majors uniform, without his eve
having seen a single days militar
, service in his life.
: There has been much rather sill
talk al one time in this country on tn
subject of nepotis0a. l assert that tn
grossest and most shameless acts Z
nepotism that the world has ever see
+ were constantly occurring during th
7 short and stormy reign OF Jefferson tn
First in Richmond. j do not thin
9 that there was . single male relativ,
: either of Mr.. Davis or his wife, to b
: found in any part of the Confederat
States, that was not given official ad
Q yancemcnt OF some kind or other, an
4 in some instances under circumstance
7 of the grossegt indelicacy and injus
1 ice. But this theme is really too maui
: eating to be dwelt upon.
5 1t was formally proposed during th
: first year of the war that the Cotto
Il OF the confederate States in privat
. ownership should be bought by th
J. Governments Every bale of it we
v then purchasable at ten or twelv
n cents per pound, payable in Confedel
: ate paper. This proposition was scot
o ingly rejected by Mr.. Davis and tn,
f profound fiscal economist, Meminge
: his Secretary Of the Treasury, ON th
d ridiculous and untenable ground tn.
8 this sort of traffic would transforl
: the awful government at Richmon
f into wretched brokers' Office. a
the end of two years these gentleme
e came to their senses on this all-impo
I tant subject, and commenced buyin
G cotton all over the land, for which the
G had to pay at least o dollar a pound