The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1880-12-29
WITH JEFFERSON DAVIS.
Visit to the Home OF the Relic of the
Lost Cause.

A Visit to the Home of the Relic of the
Lost Cause.
Hon. A. X. Mcclure, of the Philadelphia
Times, has been visiting Jeff Davis. He
writes as follows to his paper:
drive Of five miles through the sand and
struggling pines which skirt the Gulf bay eX-
hibils the same general dilapidation among the
| old time summer homes, which were once the
favorite retreats of the elite of New Orleans in
the sickly season. The shore OF the bay has a
I number of palatial plantation houses, but they
have iallen into the sweeping decay that marks
them as relics of an age that has gone. The only
one that seems TO have been carefully preserved
from the desolation that surrounds ii Is the Dor
! sey place, nov the home OF Jefferson Davis. In
laden nOre Orange r sTsen and 1 prosion Of
vines and flowers a large frame planta-
ton house is presented. Ii is single story in
height. and has the regulation pillars and broad
verandas of the aristocratic Southern mansion.
There the ex-COnfederate President lives with his
nephew, General Davis, and their joint families
The ex-Queen of the Confederate Court, is a stout
motherly, cultured and genial woman, and a
daughter, a strongly-marked copy of the mother
possesses unusual attractions of both person and
intellect. The house is furnished with every re-
gard for comfort. as the well-wOrn easy chairs
and lounges aud the hall and parlor divans
faithfully attest, and the walls are decorated with
ancient paintings and modern bric-a- brac, while
| the wide chimney place and capaciOus mantle tell
how the cheerful pine fire sparkles when chill or
4 bird amp the blOodthirsty serenade of the
quito. Soon after had been politely bowed into
the parar, Jefferson Davis entered alone, and his
greeting the cordial welcome OF the prOyerblal
hospitality of the South confess to disappOint-
meet in the general appearance of the man who
stands in history to-day as the s0ldler-statesman
without a country expected to find the strong
/ Unmarked traces of grievously disappointed
life and severe ciyility and studied reticenee in
discussing all things OF the past; but those who
believe Jefferson Davis TO be misanthropic in tenn
permanent and embittered against the Nation and
the world greatly misjudge him. Nor Is he the
broken invalid that ee Is generally aegard9d.
! NAVE ~ corvrpcArro~
His yet abundant locks and full beard are
deeply silvered, and his face and frame spare
as they have always been. but his step is elastic
and steady, and the hard lines on his brow,
which conspicuous in his pictures. are DIT
once efiaeed when he enters into conversation.
Instead of increasing the visitor as a political re-
cluse who has interest in the land to whose
citizenship he will live and die stranger, he at
once invites the freenom of the planters home
| by chatting without reserve, save when his
contemporaries are likely to be criticised, when
/ he adroitly and pleasantly turns the discussion
| into innofensive channels. He is yet the same
thot made him the leader of a causeless rebellion
| He well understands that he casts the die for
Empire or for failure that must make him alien
to the country and the world, and that he lost;
and he knows that he Is to-day the most power
less OF all in the land to retrieve the fortunes
of those who followed him to bereavement and
| sacrifice.
lie reads arIght the memorable judgment that
makes HIM eXecrated for the Confederacy, while
his equally guilty subOrdinates have been well
coined 10 the fatted calf. His Vice President, who
| followed the slave empire afar off, when doubt
and darkness gathered about il, made haste to
scramble over the ruins of the COnfederacy and
| regain the seat in Washington from which he Sc
coded with Davis TO aid in guiding the Rebellion.
| Two of his unnoted warriors have sat in Repub-
| lican Cabinets; Lees ablest Lieutenant is the
Republican Minister to Turkey; the man who
marched the first regiment of volunteers to
Charleston, and who served as Confederate Sena-
/ tor until AppOmatox became historic. died as
the Republican Minister to Russia, and Sen
ate. House., and the Washington Departments
lCrrp nm Nu1fh mos Nrhn ohrsaac xtrffh
Jefferson Davis in every effort TO dismember the
Republic, but Davis Is the embodiment of hui
initiation while his fellows go in and out without
! displeasure l heard no allusion to or complaint
of this injustice, but il is plainly evident that
Davis entirely appreciates 1t and that he believes
he would not be consistent with himself and the
grave responsibilities ne assumed however mis-
taken he may have been IN assuming them, If he
did not deliberately remain an alien to the Gov
erdment that he, more cOnSpicuOusly than all
Others, struggled to overthrow. He could not
help the South or himself by seeking or accept
ing restoration TO citizenship. and he is wisely
content with stubborn faith in the rectitude OF
his lost cause.
SOME "REMINISCENCES OF THE WAR.
I have long desired to know the exact truth
from the fountain of Southern knowledge on the
subject. in regard to several important events Of
the war, and l was agreeably surprised at the
freedom with which Mr.. Davis met my inquiries
Why Beauregard was ordered to fire upon Ander
son in Fort sumter after his surrender was inev-
liable at a specified time. without assanltng the
flag, has never been Entirely understood 1t was
the act of madness, as il made division in the
North impossible, and / have always believed
that the real cause OF the order to open fire was
to unity the South and end the threat
ening movements for reunion on
! terms. Mr.. Davis answered promptly and
emphatieally that the order was given solely be
cause faith had been broken by the Lincoln Ad
mInstratlon in attempting te reinforce Anderson,
and the South neen no war to solidify its people
l think he errs in Understanding the probable
power Of the movement in the South for recon
structon before war, but 1t is evident that in de-
Gliding Issue the fatal order for tho
Sumter, he believed the Confederacy invincibe,
and defantly resented what he regarded as VIC
lation of the pledge of the Federal Government
That act practically consolidated the North
and henceforth the Confederacy was fearfully
hopeless venture. On another important
When asked whether the aggressive movement Of
Lee. that eliminated at Gettysburg adopted
as purely military strategy or the offspring Of
answered that il was the wiSest of both military
and political strategy but that it not dictated
at all by political considerations. lie said thai
the wisdom of the military movement was proven
in the recall of Meade from Virginia and the
transfer Of both armies to Northern soil; but
he soberly added, the battle was misfortune
il, for military success, and that would
have deranged the whole plan Of the
Government and impaired its resources Cor the
campaign of that year As military movement
Mr.. Davis says the Gettysburg campaign had the
entire approval OF Lee, and there were no politi
cal divisions in the South to dictate any depart
ure from the wisest military laws. desired also
to know whether. at the time of the Hampton
Roads conference between Lincoln, Seward
Stephens and Others, Mr. Davis had received any
intimatiOn from any credible source that Mr.. Lin
coin would assent to the payment of 100000
600 as compensation for slaves If the South
would accept emancipation and return to the
Union. He answered that he had no such init
nation from any source, but that If such PROPOSE
ton had been made he could not have enter
tanned il as the Executive of the Confedeacy
He said that he was the sworn Executive of a GOV
eminent founded on the rights of the States that
slavery was dstinetively declared to be exclu
siyely State institution, and that such an issue
could have been decided only by the indePend
ent assent of each state. Some of them, he added
would have accepted such terms at that time bui
Others would have declined 1t, and peace was
therefore impossible on that basis.
Strange Suicide of Two Lovers.