New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1875-07-18
The Memory Of JeGerss. Davis.

The Memery Of Jelerseu Davis.
Ex-POstmaster General Cres we'll hal
taken the trouble to provo that Je6ersor
Davis has . bad memory for events and
| speeches which does not do him credit. In
1866 Mr.. Creswell delivered an Grafton on
Hon. H. Winter Davis, in which he stated
that in February, 1861, Jefferson Davis
made speech at Stevenson, Alabama, say
ing among other Gendish things:
Your border States will gladly come
into the Southern Confederacy within sixty
England will recognize Us, and glorious
future is before US. The grass will grow in
the Northern cities, where the pavem ents
have been worn off by the tread of com.
merce. We will carry war where it is easy
to advanoe-where food for the torch await
our armies in the densely populated cities;
and though they 1.-THE enemy] may come
and spoil our crops, we can raise them as
before; while they can not resr the cities
which took years of industry and millions
Of money to build.
These words are in Diapers "History of
the American Civil War;" they are in
Greeley's american Conflict" vouched for
by historian, who became Democratic
candid ate for President, and they are in the
American Cyclopedis," a. spoken by Mr..
Davis at Stevenson. More than this the
editor of the Omaha Bee declares he was
one of the committee who invited Davis to
speak at Stevenson, md Fecollects the cir
cumstances and words; he reported the
speech and telegraphed it to Nashville, and
thought he was doing good thing. Colonel
Traube, afterward in the Confederate ser
vice, who was then in the employ of the
telegraph company, remembers the dispatch,
telegraphed it through the Associated
Press, and the New York papers of that
time contained the speech; all histories, re-
ports and papers, and persons who heard
the speech agreeing that Mr.. Davis said:
We will carry the war where it is easy to
advance-where food for the sword and
populated Cities
In the face Of all this Mr.. Perry. of
Maryland, writes to Davis to inquire about
that humane speech, and Mr.. Davis, in Lis
letter of February s. 1875. from Memphis.
says:
I have no recollection of ever having
made speech at Stevenson, and have ex.
amined file of newspapers Of that day
containing such matter, but could not find
any reference to q speech made by me at
Stevenson. At the time mentioned I was
going from my home in Mississippi to Mont
gOmery, Alabama, in consequence of notice
received that I had been chosen by the
Congress to be the President Of the pro.
visiOnal government of the Confede rate
Stafoo munv roi1roo1 ototiouo IN no
route the people assembled to manifest
their good will, and often went out on
the platform Of the car to make due
acknowledgements. Stevenson was one of
those stations, and l may there, as at other
places, have returned thanks; but neither
there or elsewhere, neither then or at any
other time, could have used the language
attributed to me. or any language that
could be fairly construed to have such
meaning.
This ought to settle the question, so far as
history is concerned. for Mr.. Davis has no
recollection Of making . speech at Steven
son. There are other things which hap
pened about the time the Confederacy col
lapsed. which he does not recollect, and yet
they we're so novel as to naturally impress
themselves upon . mans miRd. Mr..
Creswell frankly admits that he did not
hear the speech at Stevenson, but he quotes
various histories and other reliable authori-
ties against the memory of Mr.. Davis.
After all, it makes no sort of difference
what the old gentleman did say. The most
important thing for the Confederate Demo-
Gratis to do now is to keep him from talking
at all. Put him on the charitable farm in
Texas, and let him be a. if he had never
been, or ever dreamed Of promising to burn
densely populated cities.