The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1879-07-08
rOoMRs ON JEFr DAVIS.
TIE EstabIIshment OF n Government
Under the Latter Impo,sIbIe.

!
Under the Latter Impossible.
An Atlanta letter in the Philadelphia
Time'. giving an account Of an interview
with General Robert ToUmbs, contains the
following:
"What In your opinion, was tho cause
OF the failure Of the Conlcdency?"
III had to name one thing that was
most fatal | should say the Conscript Act.
That demorallzed the troops and the
country. There was no necessity for II,
aud itsprung from Mr.. Davis desire IL
have the appointment OF officers. Ho
was crazy over his West Point martinets
and when he could not appoint the OIL.
GERS OF the volunteers, no went to Con.
gress and demanded the Conscript law and
got 1t. ! said ut tho time: "rhe cause il
lost, and this should bC It's epitaph: Kill.
ed by West Point In gcneral terms
the absolute ineiliCiency ut Richmond
was the cause OF our failure, Davis
is a remarkable character. He il
a.good writer and that Is all. lie was n
slow man and always acted rashly at last.
His delay was not caused by deliberation,
but was combination OF variety and
refusal 10 think. He is very small mill.
tary. man. His idea Of war was based nm.
on The experience In The BrecSSnr,J%ae "
campaign | told him that ninety per
cent Of war was business-that we must
organize victory rather than trust to
lighting, entirely. ] urged him to send to
England to buy all the arms there. lie
ordered 5000 rifles. Joe Brown, OF
Georgia, had more arms for long
time than the ConfederaCy had. Tn.
der pretence ol giving the Uniouists
time to leave the South, kept our
ports open for sixty days. No new gov
eminent ever started with such unlimited
credit as We had. We had any amout OF
cotton offered us. urged Atr. Davis to
send this to England us fast as 1t could be
carried, and buy ships and arms wiLhit.
We could have borrowed any amount we
wanted. The first loan made was $4,000
when II should have been S5,OOO,OOO. But
1t seemed to be impossible 10 get the GOV.
ernment to look at the matter In n serious
light. | advanced some SIS, 600 myself for
office rent, etc. Semmes was there, begging
for cotton and pledging himself to bring
back ships and arms for every bale he took
de finally got, think, three hundred
bales. The financial record OF the Con.
ledcracy was failure that would have
been ludicrous had il not been so serious.
With unlimited credit, backed by a rich
and patriotic people and controlling the
leading staple OF the world, our bills were
soon SO low down that 1t was said the
government ran the presses all day, and
the niggers ran them at night Had the
first sixty days Of the Confederate govern.
ment been properly improved we could
have so organized that defeat would
have been impossible. At one time it
was announced that there was IN error
OF $500, 100000 in the amount Of bills out
and the amount on the books OF the Gov.
ernment. There never was q moment
during the war when Davis actually up.
preciated the situation. Why, after the
march Of the Confederates from Kappa.
hammock TO Sharpsburg and back again,
when they had swept everything before
them, numbers availing nothing against
them, Davis thought the war was over,
and actually began to quarrel about
who had whipped it. He was as
Jealous as Barbary hen, and once started
TO have me arrested for ridiculing him. /
am thoroughly satisfied that the establish
ment OF q government under Mr.. Davis
was an impossibility. Indeed the fight
was haphazard from beginning to end,
without method or craftsmanship, and
sustained only by miraculous valor rs long
as 1t was. The Constitution was a good
one, but there praise OF tho Confederate
Government and It's works must end"