Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1879-05-26
With jefferson Davis Brother, a Typical
Confederate Soldier, and a
K~entuckiaR.
Boston Herald Leltar.l

Boston Herald LelteF.l
Coming into New Orleans from
Beauyair, Miss, | sat with General
Joseph B. Davis. who was 4 gallant
officer in the Confederate service,
commanding a Mississippi brigade.
There was a moment at Gettys-
burg, at the close of the first days
fght. said General Davis, when,
had cur leaders seen their oppOrtuni-
ty. We might have pressed upon the
Federal lines and turned the fight
into our decisive victory. | think
the North would have yielded and
agreed toterms. But fortune decided
otherwise. | have done with fighting.
The non-cOmbatAnts seem to be max
ing all the noise.
General Davis spoke periodically Of
our common country, but remarked
that he feared Jas do many thoughtful
men here) that the country would
eventually come under a despOtic,
centralized government Under the
Jeferssnian cystem, he said, the
country cannot grow too big, but
under the HamiltOnian system it viii
have soon found its limit General
Davis na practicing lawyer at Pass
Christian, and editor Of the SeashOfe
Gazette, a well-written Democratic
paper. He isa nephew Of Jefferson
Davis, near whom he resides. He is
gentleman of fine culture and a tine
type Of Southern manhood.
Also on the same train was a typical
"reconstructed" Confederate soldier.
a gentleman residing at Biloxi. He
fought with Stonewall Jackson, whom
he considers the greatest soldier Of
the South. When they Grst began
TO talk about secession. said the ex-
Confed., did not favor the idea.
There we're two parties here 10 Missis
sippi, the secessiOnists and the CO.
operationists. The latter advocated
taking arms, but under the old flag,
and fighting Hereunder, if necessary
Thus it was claimed that we should
not have left the Union. But the
more / thought this matter over, the
more | had m~isgiyings as to the advis-
ability of such a course, for, you see.
to have left the Union while fighting
under the old flag would have made
us traitors, and ! could not be a
traitor. The seeessionists proposed a
new country, the South, and / Joined
them. | could fight under a new flag
and not be a traitor. So | went into
the war with StoneWall Jackson, but.
when we surrendered, | finished my
fighting. | don't want any more OF
it. | am the most loyal man You ever
saw. You couldn't induce me IA
ever again fight against the old flag
Secession may be right under a stric,
construction of the constitution. but
it amt expedient We have got ride
of slavery, and there won't be an
other civil wal unless the North anC
the West fall to fighting. When ]
saw the Northern people so kind anC
good last summer in helping our suf
tering people, | knew hal the grea
Heart Of The people was all right, an,
that the Radical Northern politician
had been incorporating them. Ye,
sir, the people are all right. ThOs
chaps in congress are making a hea
OF unnecessary trouble.
Riding down through Central Mis-
slssippi, | encountered, in a fellow
passenger in the sleeper, a Kentuekia
who turned out to be Il nephew {
John G. Breckenridge, and A grandso
OF that famous Senator Crittenden, {
Kentucky, who served in the Unite
States senate thirty-seven years, seve
years more than old Benton,
Thirty.years-in-the -senzte' fame.
My Kentucky acquaintance was 0
eloquent fellow, aud had the flow
language which the Blue Grass count
produces in men as much as the flo
Of milk from kline. lie told me th
his father was an emancipationist, al
set his slaves free in 1852. II b
came. he added, a UniOnist on 4
breaking out Of the war, althoul
many Of my family were in the Co
federate army,
This gentleman had, he said, litt
confidence in the evolution Of L
race into a self, controlled al
reasoning people. Why, he adde
the negroes my father cmancipat,
twenty-seYen years ago are to-day
thriftless and shiftless as in the da
Of their slavery. They come to I
continually for pecuniary aid, seemi.
70 think they have a claim upon o
family. / have always been an abo