Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1878-05-28
EX-SENATOR 0
Biographical "Reminiscences from
the Veteran Statesman.

claim the right OF noticing, verl
briefly, in your influential aud wide cir
culating journal an article which ap
peared ia your number Of the 10Th inst.
in which | find myself very discourte
ouSly and %unjustly alluded to. l do moi
propose to waste words about a matter
Of almost egregious triviality, and an
content with correcting a few out of the
very numerous errors into which the
article in question has fallen in refer
euce to my character, my attributes and
my public career.
First-I was only seventy.four years
old last February (God help my many
infirmitiesD and it Is therefore not true.
as this writer asserts, that | shall be
seventy eight years old next September.
Second-lt is not true that | eser
fought a duel, as the writer asserts, with
the celebrated $. S. Prentiss, near the
city Of Natcbtz. Ny two most unwise
aud re%prehensible duels with Mr.. Prem.
tiss were fought on the Louisiana shore,
ncar Vicksburg, aud | aver it TO be the
grossest Injustice to this high bred and
chivalric man to impute to him the scott
ing and BLACKBOARD ridicule which this
writer describes him as having 80 need
lessly and %indecorously INDUCED on that
occasion. | am proud TO subjoin that
between Mr.. Prentiss and myself the
closest intimacy and the most loving
friendship had upbrokenly subsisted for
many years previous to his lamented aud
untimely decease.
Third-This writer accuses me Of hav-
ing been a bitter and incorporating
enemy Of jefferson Davis" aud adds
that. =" IS a member of the Confederate
congress during the war" | was "a
strenuous opposer OF every measure ad
vocsted, directly or indirectly, by the
President Of the Southern States, or by
any of his friends 1t is rue that | did
not approve of many Of the measures
%propounded ay the persons alluded to, as,
for instance, the CONSUMPTION law, the
confiscstion law. the forcible imprison.
ment law, the law %snspending habeas
corpus, the proclamation setting the
price of ten thousand dollars upon the
head of General Butler, the proposition
to raise the black flag, the bill proposing
to pay Mr.. Davis official salary in gold
at a time when the Confederate soldiery
were in rags aud not able to obtain even
the paper of the Confederate government
10 requittsl OF their services, when that
paper was not worth ten cents on the
dollar. / did also urge the making Of
peace, If the same could be obtained on
honorable terms, in November, 1864. 1t
is also true that | found fault with Mr..
Davis uuwise removal Of Joe Johnston
from the command cf the Confederate
army, when be was so valiantly and sue.
cessfuAy confronting Sherman 10 the
neighborhood of Atlanta, and thus rem.
dering the success of the Confederate
cause az absolute impossibiliiy | would
like to know where the man is 10 be
found, with an average intellect, who
condemns any one OF these acts of mine
at the present moment
Fonrth-This same writer describes
NE IS having been born in Virginia, and
having there graduated. SO far from
this being true, | never took a degree Of
any kind at any college or university
whatever; what little knowledge either
Of science or of scholarship | have mas
tered having been the result of s%elt.cul.
ture under exceedingly u~nfavorable cir.
cumstances.
Fifth-This reckless scrib5ler a
also, that they used to say at Vlcks.
burg, where he (I) lived just before the
war. that be (I) could not stand ten feet
from the Prentiss House and hit it more
than once in twenty times" | confess.
and | am not ashamed to confess. that !
was eve possessed of pluch skill as a
marksman; yet the statement which
am now noticing must be grossly false
in every particular, since | did not live,
as stated, IN Vicksbnrg just before the
war, but in Jackson; and since every
intelligent citizen of Vicksburg must
have known that 10 1888, in a duel with
Colonel 0smun Claiborne, thr.e of my
shots took effect, and the fifth disabled
my antagonist and ended the contest.
SIxth-This writer says further that |
have been %wrangling all my life, aud that
AN reported to be now as choleric ss
ever. To that l have only to say that
my nature is not at all phlegmatic; that
my life, upon the whole, has been more
or less tempestuous. / had hoped that
in my latter years | was about as serene
and complaisant as ordinary citizens,
| am not ashamed to acknowl
edge tlet my enemies make the most of
III that the maxim upon which | have
acted through my whole career has BEEN:
Never to offer a gratuitous insult to any
man, however humble, and never pa.
to submit 10 a s~erie2s personal
indiguity.
Seventh-This writer has told of me a
truth when be states that | ran, in
1850, against Jefferson Davis upon the
Union question, but errs monstrously
when he asserts that my alleged personal
to Mr.. Davis grew out of the
gubernatorisl contest. On the
contrary, relations Of personal hostility
had existed between US for several years
before that memorable contest.
Eighth - The scurvy insinuation
thrown u by this writer that my enmity
to Davis grew out of my owe aspirations
10 be chosen chief magistrate of the
Southern Confederacy is scarcely worthy
Of notice. Ia no election Of such a
fu~nctionary was | ever a participant. l
never was able to see the necessity OF our
any such fHaetionary at all. |
thought then, and | yet think, that the
creation Of the office of Confederate
President was the most unstalesmaulike
blunder OF the age, and that without
such an officer aud bis tribe Of selfish
and incompetent satellites, Southern in
dependence was at least a possibility.
Let the public judge whether | am
really so choleric and Ill natured as
this most silly scribbler charges, when |
able to add with the most absolute
siuc Gritty that ever his insulting rudeness
has not made me in the least degree an.
cry; that | am able to make the most
aud liberal allowance for his
hlnndarinO i0nnranna and skok l..-Iu