The National tribune., 1884-12-25
JEFF DAVIS
Alex. II. StephenS'S Very Frank
Opinion of Him.

IOSseSSiOn Oh tcH. SHefHnan
SRAwFoRDsvILLE Ga, April 5 Is q, 1864.
Ny DEAR SIR: Your letter of the 9th inst.
has just reached me, and l devote few leisure
moments to you ia reply this evening, because
| do not know that ! shall have time to do it
in the morning before the mail closes.
wrote you pretty long letter day before
yesterday, and feel no disposition to prolong
the discussion. If after reading that you are
still of the opinion that the act suspending the
writ of hdjeGs corpus III certain cases does not
attempt TO confer upon the President and 9TH
erS under him the power to arrest and to hold
persons arrested without proper warrant under
oath, a power that they could not exercise
without 1t, then it is useless TO say more and
it,?i after reading that letter and the order of
Gen. Cooper alluded to in it, you still of the
opinion that personal liberty is not jeoparded
by it, and that no blow is struck by it st the
very "vitals of Liberty" then, indeed, you
would not believe though one were to rise from
the dead. So no more on those points.
| wish barely to say few things on some
other points. After speaking of the commend
able tone of the Miiledgeville speech you say
" Yet below the surface your aJtipathy to the
President is perceptibie to any one acquainted
with your opinions Of the man." (underscOring
mine,) and on this point you say, g / think you
had as well have fully unbottled your wrath ;
for, after all, You are as well understood, in the
estimation to the country, to be hostile as if
you had avowed it," And you go on to say
that l Will necessarily be classed with those
whose paipdjle object it is to @ganiee party in
opposition to the administration" (underScOriHg
all mine); and further on you say that my an
tipathy to Davis has mislcd my judgment, or
have allowed my antipathy to him to mi5lead
my judgment.
For your candor and franllness in all this
sincerely thank you, for it is conclusive evil
dence to me that such are your opinions and l
nIl lYyAa 70 pf
correcting an erroneous impression on your
mind.
| assure you have no aniipathg to Mr.. Davis !;
nor am | hostile to him; and if there is an OBJ
.ject or intention, or wish with any to organize
party in opposition to the Administration
know nothing of it--haye heard nothing of it.
As to the late movement on the action of Geor-
gia upon the subject of the habeas c0rpuS, and
the resolution in relation to the terms upon
which peace should be sought, | think | know
! as much rs anybody else. If any one is re-
! SpOnsble for it, no one is more so than myself.
It IS true that those resolutions were not drawn
up by me, but they were prepared by Linton
! after full consultation: prepared at his house
| before he went to Milledgeylle. And as for
Mr. Davis or his administration they had but
| little to DO with it-nothing in the world, eX-
! cept in so far as they fall within the scope Of
| the point rs stated. They did not rise to the
! dignity OF a moments serious consideration or
| thought one way or the other. Greater OBJ
! jects by far were then engrossing my atten-
| tion, an Linton's too think.
| As for Mr.. Davis, | repeat again l have no
! feelings of antipathy, much less hostility.
What opinions you may think l entertain of
| him as you intimate / know not; but | have
! no hesitancy in stating to you freely and
| frankly, and most contidentialy, what my
| opinions of him are. They are much more
| akin to suspicion and jealousy than of animos-
ity or hate. While do not, and never have,
| regarded him as great man or statesman on a
! large scale or a man of any marked genius,
yet l have regarded him as n man of good in
/ tentionS, weak and vasciilating, timid, petu-
! liant, peeviSh, obstinate but not firm. Am now
! beginning to doubt his good intentions. l say
doubt, for after watching him closely | am not
! satisfied IN my own mind, or arrived at any
conclusion, whether some of his shortcomings
! are to be attributed to weakness or bad pur-
! poses. These are my real sentiments, and my
reasons for them are these: Since his first ee-
! vation to power he has changed many of his
/ former States Rights principles, as in case of
conscripton His whole policy on the organ
ization and discipline of the army is perfectly
consistent with the hypothesis that he is aim
/ ing at absolute power. Not 4 word has come
from him of military usurpaton in the orders
for martial law by Bragg and Van Dorm on the
! whole system OF passports and provost-mar-
! shals which Is utterly wrong and without au-
/ thority OF law. After all that may be said or
/ written by myself and others against these
usurpations not one word has escaped Mr.
! Davis showing his disappr0val of them. Again,
! ii is well known that the subject of dcta-
! torship has been mootcd, talked of, and dis
cussed in private and i'll the public journals,
and that the most earnest advocates of such
course, the virtual doing away with Con-
! gresS and the Constitution have been ed
! itors near him right under his nose !;
! ,l. .f.,.- IL l.
| time to be the organs of the Administra-
! tion. Now, it seems to me strange that this
! should be so and men holding and advocating
| such sentiments for months should hold such
near relations to him if such sentiments were
distasteful to him. These are bad signs to me,
! yet they are not conclusive evidences Of bad
| objects or intentions on his part. They leave
me III doubt, but certainly awaken my suspi-
cion and watchlul jealousy. They teach me to
! be on my guard and they should, in my opin-
| ion, put the whole country on their guard. The
| price of liberty is eternal vigilance. But again
/ assure you | feel no more hostility TO him
| than ] do to you, and great numbers / meet
| with who see no danger in these things. My
| hostility and wrath land | have enough of it
to burst ten thousand bottles) is not against
him, or any man men, but against the thing
the measures and the policy which | see is
| leading us to despotism. If yOu eln under
stand and appreciate this position and these
! feelings, then You can understand me: and
| if You cannot, then YOU do not understand me,
and cannot. But ! trust you do How you
! could have got the impression, or entertained
the thought, that / had an antipathy to Mr..
! Davis or was hostile to him is strange and unac-
| countable TO me. You surely have heard ME in
conversation speak of his weakness and imbe-
cility but certainly with no bitterness Of feeling
and what have said on this SUBJECT has always
been more in sorrow than anger. | had no more
! feeling of resentment towards him for these
! than had towards the defects and infirmities
| of my poor old blind and deaf dog that you saw
when you were here. Poor old Iis; he is dead
now and gone to his long rest. Peace TO his
ashes and honor to his memory. While
| ] deplOre his inirmities ! certainly have no
| feeling of unkndncss to him. AS to what
YOU say about the administration, one word
| | hardly know what idea you attach to this
| term as used by you. If You mean the
Cabinet, then they are sustained by neither
the Congress nor country, and when their rec
concentrations were rejecte by Congress, if
| they had had any selfrespect they would have
/ resigned their places. If yon mean the acts and
messages OF Congress, then | am confident not
| onc-tenth Of the people Of this country approve
them. ] would stake my head upon the issue
that not 10 Districts III the Confederacy could
he carried in a Congressional election for a
candidate running on the advocacy Of the four
leading measures Of the last Congress, and
pledged to sustain them as the settled policy OF
the conntry. This cry of sustaining the Ad-
miaistration, you viii allow me to say with
all due respect to you, is nothing but stupid,
senselcss cachinnation. Nobody approves
/ = orl hot Con IN, u &c u,