The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1879-07-24

IL was q bombshell in the ranks. The
asked me if Mr.. Davis had sent me {,
them. l then told them exactly wha
had happened, but they declined TO Civ,
up their places. then resigned ane
went to tho field"
What i'll your opinion was the caus,
ofthe failure of tho Confederacy?"
"If had TO name one thing that wa,
most fatal I should cay the conscript
act. That demoralized the troops ant
the country. There was no necessit,
for it, and it sprang from Mr.. Davis de-
sire to have the appointment of officers
He was crazy over his West Point mar.
tinets, and when he could not appoint
the officers of the volunteers, he went to
Congress and demanded the conscript
law and got it. said ct the time: The
cause is lost, ana this should be its cpl
taph: Killed by West Point In zen.
eral terms the absolute inefficiercy at
Richmond was the cause Of our failure.
Davis is remarkable character. He is
o good writer, and that is all. He was a
slow man, and always acted rashly at
last. His delay was not caused by de-
Liberation, but was a combination Of va
riety and refusal to think. He Is @
very small military man. I told him
that ninety per cent. of war was business
that we must organize victory rather
than trust TO fighting entirely. I urged
him to send TO England to buy all the
arms there. He ordered 5000 rifles.
Joe Brown, of Georgia, had more arms
for. long time than the Confederacy
had. Under pretcnse of giving this
Unionists time to leave the South,
kept our ports opea for sixty days. No
new government ever started with such
unlimited credit as we had. We had
any amount of cotton offered us. Iurged
Nr. Davis to send this to England as
fast as it could be carried, and buy ships
and arms with it. We could have bor.
rrowed any amount we wanted. The first
loan made was $4,000, when it should
have been $5,000,0oO. But it seemed to
be impossible to get the Government to
look ut the matter in q serious light.
Had the frs: sixty days of the Confeder.
ate Government been properly improved
we could have 80 organized that defeat
would have been impossible. At one
time 1t was announced that there was an
error OF 5000, 100000 in the amount of
Dllls out and the amount OH the books of
the Government. There was never o
moment during the war when Davis nc.
oPPiCSAotGa Iac oiLuullOu, w nv,
after the march of the Confederates from
Rappahannock to Sharpsburg and back
again, when they had swept everything
before them, numbers not availipg any.
thing against them, Davis thought the
war was over, and actually began to
quarrel about who had whipped It. He
was as jealous rs Barbary hen, and once
started to nave me arrested for ridiculing
him. ] am thoroughly satisfied that the
establishment Of Government under
Mr. Davis was an impossibility. Indeed
the fight was hazardous from beginning
to end, without method or statesmanship.
and sustained only by miraculous valor
as long as it was. The Constitution was
good one, but there praise OF the Con.
iederate Government and its work must
end"
"Have you ever taken the oath of al
legiance to the United States Govern
mcnt"
mo, sir. The last oath took was to
the Confederate States, anu shall never
take another. do not like the General
Government, and would not consent to
serve i any capacity. It is ternpoTa-
ry concern ct best. The Constitution
has no power within itself. It depends
solely on the good faith # the people, and
that guarantee alone can not continue to
bind together great country of. diverse
interests. have never really believed
since 1850 that the Union was q perpe-
tuity. The terrible experience of the late
war will probably deter any faction
from making row for the next few
years. Had it not been for this the
West might have precipitated q collision
during the election muddle of 1876. I
have no faith in the Puritan New Eng.
landers, the fellows that Macaulay said
were opposed to bear-baiting not because
it hurt the bear, but it pleased the peo-
pie. AS to the talk about the Northern
people forgiving me, / have nothing to
say. AS have not forgiven them, and
don't expect to, I am Indifferent 90 to the
state of their feelings."