Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1881-12-23
General Johnston and Ex President


value to 81, 500. 900, and that this treas
ure had never been accounted for. In
other words, it was made to ap
pear that General Johnston sought
to convey the impression that the
ex- President of the Confederate States
had wrongfully made way with a large
amount of money belonging to his gov
eminent
We did not reproduce this alleged in
terview, for many reasons. First, we
did not believe that it was genuine. We
could not conceive the idea that man
occupying the position of General Joseph
E. Johnston would condescend to re-
vamp an oft.repeated, and long since
exploded, SANDER against his late Chief,
when the bitterest enemies of that gentle
man, who had raised the same
calumny against him just after
the war, had been long ago forced
to abandon it because of its absurdity.
Second, we could not believe that Gen
eral Johnston would, even if there had
been the slightest foundation in truth
for this statement, have been the one,
merely TO crafty petty malice, to have
given it publicity, and so fasten odium
upon the chief of the government which
he General Johnston had so conspicu-
ously served. Third, we did not think,
under these circumstances, that the
Southern press should be the medium
for spreading and circulating what every
Southern man knew was a miserable
SANDER, and which we felt confident
would speedily fall to pieces of its own
weight.
Others Of the Southern press, however,
did not feel in this way regarding the
matter, and the alleged interview has
been copied extensively from Maine to
Texas, and from the Pacific to the Rio
Grande. Naturally enough the enemies
of the South have seized upon this charge
with avldity, and heralded it abroad with
every manifestation of delight, having
been thrown in frenzy of delifium over
what they imagined was conclusive proof
upon no less evidence than that of a
leading ex Confederate Genersl-that all
the rascality in the country could no
longer be laid at their door alone, but
that the South likewise was corrupt; and
especially were they happy in the
belief that that corruption had
been manifested in the person of the
man whom, of all others in the world, they
fear and hate-HOn. Jefferson Davis. On
the other hand, the Southern press pub
lished the story only as a matter of news,
and, without exception, have promptly
expressed their indignation that so
fiimsy a SANDER should have been again
started. They, in common with every
man of any intelligence in the whole
country, know that Mr.. Davis, during a
public career of over half century, has
made for himself a reputation for pro-
bity and sterling honesty which his
most malignant enemies have been IN
able to asssil. They know further that
even had he so desired, he had no op-
portunity for making way with this treas
uIe, since he was hunted down by Fed
er0l soldiers almost from the very mo
ment he left Richmond, was speedily cap
tured. taken to Fortress Monroe, there
placed in chains for a season, and kept
for nearly two years in a casemate of the
fort. They know further that since his
release from prison he has lived in sim
pie, unostentatious quiet with his family,
and has been in anything but opulent
circumstances. These facts, we say, have
long been well known to both South
and North, and they fully disprove Gen.
Johnston's alleged statement. If any
others were needed, however, to prove
Mr.. Davis honesty they are abundant
and have been promptly advanced, for
we publish elsewhere this morning a
complete refutation of the charge alleged
to have been made by General Johnston,
furnished by Colonel Burton N. Harri-
son, of New York, formerly the private
secretary of Mr.. Davis-and who was
with him when he was captured-and
we see it stated further that Gen. Basil
Duke, who had command of the train
upon which the money was carried, is
preparing a full statement of the case,
which will completely, and without any
possibility of contradiction, result in MIR.
Davis vindicatiOn.
1t is also stated that General John
ston denies that he spoke as was
alleged regarding him, for a Wash
ington special to the New York World
stated that he General Johnston) had
said to a correspondent of that
paper that che had made no statement
to the representative of a Philadelphia OF
any other paper, intended for publica-
ton" and that he denied "the accuracy
of many of the statements attributed to
him in the alleged interview" He
did admit that che was beguiled
into talking freely about three weeks
ago to a gentleman at hotel in Rich
mond, Virginia, who he did not al
the moment suspect was a newspaper
man." but he claims that "what he said
was so distorted and expanded that
1t became no more like what he said than
he to Hercules. He asserts that che is
made to put words in the mouth OF
Beauregard and others and to say things
he didn't know, and which could only
be gathered from records or reported by
some one familiar with Southern history
and Southern men," "And further.
says the correspondent of the World,
''the General said he was to blame as
well as the interviewer, for he was old
enough to know better 1t appears,
therefore, that while much of the al
legged interview never took place, some
was false and other portions inaccurately
reported"
1t would seem from this, however,
that GanaraI IohnSton dad saw some.