Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1878-02-05


fidential Secretary from April, 1861. un-
til you went out of office, and the in
mate of your house. and it was most inn
probable, and almost impossible, for any
one to have written the papers bearing
your signature without my knowledge.
Most II not all of these papers were writ
ten In my presence, and when copies
were necessary, they were copied by me,
from your own manuscript, and never
saw line of Col. Terrill's, with whom,
and whose handwriting, I was fully
acquainted-except occasionally letter.
which, with all other letters, all passed
through my hands before they reached
yours; in which there was nothing be
You'd an ordinary letter of the day.
To the best of my knowledge and be-
lief the papers bearing your name, dur
ing your administration were entirely
of your own production, and especially
that the claim set up for Col. Terrill is
wholly unsustained by the facts.
Very truly yrs,
s. BASSETT FRENCH.
Hon. John Letcher,
Lexington, Va.
VIRGINIA MILITARY INSTITUTE, |
January 2S, 1875 !
A<SsSccIeOfO4
My Dear Governor,-I have read the
article published in the STAUNTON
SPECTATOR of the 22nd inst, taken
| from the Editorial corr. of the Wheeling
| Register, on the late Col. w. H. Terrill,
and l note particularly the following
passage: -
During the war Col Terrill was the
power behind the throne in Virginia.
He was the warm personal friend of
Gov. Letcher, and spent good portion
of his time at the Executive Mansion,
when Letcher was so honorably filling
the position of War Governor. Some
of the most finished papers of American
history were those emanating FROM the
| Executive office while Gov. Letcher
controlled the destinies of the old Com
mon wealth. Col. Terrill was their aus
thor, as he prepared all the state papers
of that administration. But so unam
bilious was he that it was matter of no
consequence to him whether he got
credit for it or not. If he cou d serve a
friend, or have an hours social enjoy
ment witha jolly crowd, he was happy"
I am sure that Col. Terrill would be
the last man upon earth who would as
sert such claim as the above. | knew
him well, and knew him to be your
warm personal friend, but it will be
news, indeed to thase who Recognize,
in all your public documents, the clear
marks of their real author. to hear that
such claim Is asserted for Col. Terrill
of being the "outhor" of "all the state
papers, of your administration.
l was member OF your Council for
two months after the passage Of the Of
dinance Of SECESSION, ana during the
o,,t ~ ;, T ~
guest at the Executive Mansion. Thus
brought into the closest official and per-
sonal relations towards you, | feel war
ranted in saying that the papers emana-
ting from the Executive during those
uGat eventful months were the produe-
lions or the SANG mlnd rnat 30 Worthily
directed the administration of the State
at that time.
Irecall the circumstances under which
6As OF the most effective messages ever
prepared by any Executive WAS written.
You called me into your Office on Satur-
day evening to read me message which
, you had Just finished, and which you de
signed to send in to the Convention on
the ne~t morning tSpAlay). ] had been
absent on q short visit to my home, and
had only returned that evening. You
introduced the reading of the message
by referring to the attacks which had
been made against your administration
! from the public press and elsewhere,
and that 1t was right and proper to vim
dictate yourself.
The message was clear and to the
point: and as a defence it was complete.
expire seq to you my warm approval
of the meassage, but took the liberty OF
suggesting whether it did not appear toe
: defensive in its tone, and on this account
was calculated to weaken its force with
your friends and give occasion to Others
f to excuse their complaints. This view
was strengthened by calling your atten-
ton to the ordinance of Secession, which
/, imposed upon the Executive of the State
the dafy At eeei1aG "that the State suffered
, no detrtment; ~ and that the best vindi-
cation of your administration would be
, full report of what had been done by
+ the Executive since the passage OF that
, ordinance.
>. You promptly acquiesced in this view
and putting the message which you had
written in your drawer, you sent by ont
of your aides an order to the various de
r partments of The State, including the
! Adjutant General, Chief of Ordnance
|, Commissary General, and Quartermas
ter General, as we'll as the Auditor, re
quiring them to furnish you forthwith
SUCH reports as would exhibit what haC
been done for tho defense of the State
SINCE the passage of the ordinance o
Secession.
I retired early that night, and left yor
in your Office. The next morning (Sun
: day., when 1 came down to break fast,
: found you, to my surprise, in your Office
: sitting at..your table writing. 1 said
! ''GoyerpOr, you are down earlier thar
usual this morning. What is stirring p
.. You replied; - have not been to bee
! yet. have been up all night &c
writing my message, and if you will ST
down I will read it to your
Never can forget the impression lief
on my mind by that message, written
as l have stated. between IL O'CLOCK
Saturday night and o'clock Sunday
morning.
This message was sent at once to thu
Convention, which was in session or
that Sunday.
About O'clock the door bell rang.
t went to the door, and found there Hon
Ballard Preston and &. E. Scott, mem
e bers of tue Con ventioh, vino wanted t.
= see che Governor. ] told them he wa
/ asleep, having been up all night prepar
e ing message for the Convention. They
came in and said they had called to ex
t press their great qualification at ths
r message which had been read in Con
+ vention that morning; that it had car
ried the Convention, as it were, by storm
, and bad given assurance to every mem
Der Of tie Convention that the Stat
had. as its Cbief EXECUTIVE, man wh'
: could be relied upon, in the hour of thu
i States peril, to see that she SA0titd sisf
I fer no detTiment.
That Message. written as 1 have sta
, ted the product Of your own brain ane
t Of your own good sense. turned TIL
e public sentiment overwhelmingly t.
] your support. Men of all paEties rallied
4 AROUND your standard, and it may b'
t fairly intsrrred that the Executive who
t could prepare such State paper in tn.
t Spring of 1861, heeuea &c outside aid t.
> write any of the public pspess of hi
administration.
Fl ] remain, very respectfully,
II FRANCIS H. SMITH.