Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1876-02-18
Jcn. Davis, Letter.


.InFFrRsoN DAVIS has at last been com
PEELED to break his silence under the terri
be charges OF Mr.. Blaine and the proof
of Mr. Garfield of responsibility for tho
Andersonylle atrocities, aud has written
n long letter to exculpato himself, which,
Il is safe to say, his friends by this time
arc wishing be never had written. His
whole letter is made up ofmiserable quib-
bic and defiance lie devotcs its contents
10 MIR. Blaine, who only made charges
He gives no attention to Mr. Garfield,
who prOred the charges by Confederate
testimony The burden of these charges
was tho fact that inhuman atrocities were
perpctratcd at AndersOnvillc under his
sanction, knowledge and approval, and
that he promoted the man tohO pcrpeTdtcd
them TO station where he could have in.
creased opportunities for cruelty. This
damDing charge he does not meet; there
is nothing in his letter disproving the An
dersonvillc cruclties. Every fact remains
uncontroverted. The letter is not cvcp
creditablc to his own intelligence, or to
his oslima'c OF the intelligence Of his own
people He begins with vehement dc.
nial OF the fact that there were any afro.
cities Before he is half through he is
seeking to break the force of the charge
with wretched quibble; and he closes
with the affirmation that he is not re.
sponsible for theml This is ingenious
even for jeff. Davis, but the sophstry
will not avail him. II is altogether too
transparent He himself in denying the
atrocities has admitted them, and the fact
of his personal responsibility for them he
has not met at all. Against his allirma.
tion stand the official Confederate records,
cited by MIR. Garfield, TO which he makes
no nllusion whatever. His own orders
and Endorsements and letters give the lie
direct 10 his letter.
The quirk with which Jefferson Davis
seeks TO shift the responsibility for these
atrocities is the same that Ben Hill used 4,
and which has been the convenient apol-
ogy of southern politicians and the south
Crn press for some time past, namely that
Grant and Lincoln were responsible in re
fusng to exchange prisoners. This quibblo
was met by MIR. Garfield, and completely
refuted with two great facts. First, the
Confederate authorities refused to rcCog.
nize the colorcd Union soldiers as soldiers
at all. They held and treated them as
SidUes and the officers of the colorcd
troops were regarded as iclons, to be pun
ishcd with death when taken. In the sec.
Ond place, when they made the PROPOSE
ton to exchange, they held between 20, 900
and $4,000 of our captive soldiers, who
had already been reduced to skeletons by
starvation and inhumap barbarity of treat
ment. They had brought them 10 such a
dreadful condition that they never could
rc-cntcr the service again. The most they
could do would be to crawl home, many
10 die, These wrecks of men they sought
IN exchange for an equal number of their
own prisoners, who were in good health,
who were robust and well fed, and who
wee able to return to the ranks again i'm
mediateiy and do rs much rebel service as
ever. Tley made this proposition at a
time when the Southern Contederacy was
totcring 10 its fall 1t was in the very
throes Of dissolution. BY this exchange
they would have been relieved of 80, 900
skeletons and human wrecks, and added
to their army $4,000 fresh, strong troops,
with which they might have repaired their
falling fortunes, and perhaps have event
uNlly triumphed At least they would
have been able to protract the war and
entail fresh mserieS and the loss
OF tens of thousands of lives upon the
country. And all this time they refused
to give up any colored soldiers as
prisoners of war. These were either
e maSsacred or reduced to slavery. jeff 8
wrcchcd quibblc will not hold Its alb.
surdity in Ben Hills case was too thor
OuChly ventilated and exposed by Mr..
Garfield to be of any service to Jefferson
Davis. lie stands now where he stood
before he wrote his letter-the author OF
the AndGrsonvllc atrocities, and proved
rs such by the official records of the Con.
telcrate Government, which he does not
pretend 10 deny and to not one of which
docs he make any allusiOn.
That Jefferson Davis knows he was the
author of these atrocities is manifest from
The whole tone of his letter, His hatred
of the North has not abated a whit in
malignity He scouts the amnesty which
the Confederate members OF the House
and the Northern doughlaccs seek to
thrust upon him. He follows Ia the
wake of 'loombs, and taunts the Northern
people in the following impuIent Ian.
guage; "The indictment was finally
quashcd on no application Of mine, nor
have | ever cyadcu or avoided trial upon
any charge the General Government might
choose TO bring against me, and have no
view OF the future which makes il desira-
BILE to me to be included in an amnesty
bill" Notwithstanding this insulting
declaration, there is no reason to hope
that his Confederate friends will not con-
tnue TO demand that he shall be am
nestled, and that the Northern dough
faces will not continue to get down on
theirknees and beg him TO pardon them
and come back TO the Senate, 1t is too
late now His own letter has settled the
case. Il will not help him in the North
with Union men. 1t is full of embarrass-
mcnt for Southern men, and places them
in position more awkward than ever. In
the hands OF Mr.. Blaine and Mr.. Garfield
II is more dangerous weapon even than
the Confederate records which they hurled
at him and the Northern dough-faces.-
Chicago Tribune.