Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1873-09-04
FooTE ON DAVIS.
A PEN PORTRAIT Of HIS AFRO
CITIES.

False ~ Friends and Recrcnnt to
Principle.
HJS TEEMING URANIUM.
"REMINISCENCES OF TIHE FAST.
Ry Ex-senator Fo0te OF Mtsstssippi.
WRITTEN ExYGEssLr FOR TIE DAILY MoRN1NG
cHEoNIcLT.l
Before proceeding with my accus-
toned task l must correct a 1opsus
pe,tar in my last number which de-
scribed Mr.. Corwin as the appointee
Of General Taylor instead of Presi-
dent Fillmore, with whom, in fact, he
came into Office.
feel called upon TO recite one or
two miscellaneous facts not heretofore
recorded. These PARTICULARS would
have been passed by but for certain
recent indiscreet movements of Mr..
Davis. which have been already al
luded 10.
1t is not only surprising, but is even
not little ridiculous that this person.
age should now attempt to revive the
feelings of rancor arising from the
late war in the manners which has
been heretofore noticed, when it is a
well-known and undeniable fact that
the Confederate Congress was COM
pelled, several weeks before Mr.. Da-
Wis precipitate and inglorious flight
from Richmond, to strip him of all his
control Of the military forces then
warning for Southern independence.
and to deposit the exclusive control Of
its armies in the hands Of that able,
patriotic, and high-sonled commander,
General Robert f. Lee. Mr.. Davis
silly and clustering attempt to nullify,
by his usurping manifesto from Dam
vile, few days after the surrender of
General Lee, that needed and judi
ci0nsly concluded arrangement though
quite III character, was perhaps the
most disgusting specimen of official
rhodomontade to which even the
American Don Quixote and HE meek
aud cbedient squire, Sancho Panzo
BENJAMIN, had ever given vent. There
| is really nothing more grarely anus
I ing in any of the scenes of adventure
which marked the romantic career of
tho knight Of the ruefnl counte-
nance" than this same Parthian miss
i've, dispatched by the ex-President
and his scampering Secretary of State,
when preparing to resume that ON
inous fight beyond the great ~'Father
of Waters especially considering
the fact that by the fat of once
ovcr-ohservant Congress he had been
fixed in a state of most disgraceful
political coventry" at least so far as
! all future military moments were con-
ccrned. Mr.. Davis certainly acted far
more in conformity with his then po-
litical3y eindsculdted condition when,
| few days thereafter, he 30 adroitly
donned the travelling garments of some
one Of the gentlcr sex, and attempted
to make his escape from tho military
pursuers, then close mp his heels, with
bonnet on head and huge calico wrap
per investing his slender and wire
drawn memhrail appendages, almost
reminding one of Falstaff's grotesque
stimulation of the now world-renown.
ed nurse of Brentford. This puny
effort at the Montgomery White Sui.
phar Springs to set afeat the absurd
idea that General Lee and Joe John.
son were Cheated" into dishonora.
Bile surrender by the two over-cun.
ming Union commanders with whom
they had to deal, is obviously designed
not only to bring discrcdit upon these
two valiant and efficient Confederate
officers, but to suggest the idea in ad'
| dition that, had he not been SO injudi.
ciousIy deprived of his executive
chieftain-ship, the Confederate State,
would long since have attained the OBJ.
jects for which they hsd for four dis.
astrous and blood-marked years SO
theoretically commended. In thi:
tpoipt of view Mr.. Davis maniaca
outpouring at the Montgomery White
Il Sulphur Springs the other day may b.
| we'll regarded as sort of long-with
held protest against the Congressiona
act which stripped him Of his militar,
+ insignia aud turned him ont plume
less npon the world, somewhat afte
prived Of. the peacock's feathers IL
which lac hsa so ostentatiously array
ed himself.
There are many things which wer'
, done and said by Mr.. Davis in Rich
mond during his memorable caree
there which have, for certain reasons
not been heretofore ventilated, but o
which his present efforts to disturb
the public quiet and drag the Soutl
into u renewed experience of evil
from which she is now just beginnin,
to recover seems to me to demand i
| frank and full exposure, in order t
!. the counteraction Of his yet cherishe,
ambitious designs, and of opening
even the eyes of all those Of the fem
mime gender in the South who chance
as he boasts, to remain yet ..unrecon
| structed.' Seven years ago, in q hast
ily-written but strictly impartial worl
upon the events of the late civil war
] thus forbearingly spoke Of Mr.. Ds
Wis, aud of others particularly con
Dected with him, while he was playing
the part Of self-constituted Dictator il
Richmond.
RI aIli reference to the proceedings @
the Confederate Government, after m
, unhappy and tempestuous connection
with it was formed, should hav
I very much TO say under different cir
cumstances from those which now OK
ist, all of which may be said hereafte
$ If it shall become apparent that tn
public mind has attained conditio
in which it will be able to profit b
the painful revelations which it wi
be in my power to make. But Presi
dent Davis and his Cabinet are at thi
moment either in exile or in imprison
!. ment; his multitudinous official servi
tors have retired to private life or al
lgloomy wanderers in foreign landl
e Those who, in despite of what fe,
independent and high spirited me
could do to prevent the passage of Gel
tain balefUl measures, succeeded j
enacting laws for the suspension q
J. the great writ of liberty for the cor
fiscatiou of the estates of all who coul
, not conscientiously range themselve
,. in opposition to the flag Of their fail
{; ers for the forciblc CONSUMPTION Z
!. all male citizens capable Of bearin
arms, whether in friendly or hostil
> relations to tho confederate cause: fl
! tho torcible impressment OF priva,
property, wheresoeyer situated. at tn