Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-12-21
NOT UNDER DAVIS SIGNATURE.

NOT UNDER DAVIS SIGNATURE.
Another of the Letters with Which
Gen. sherman BOIsters Up his Charges
Against Ex-President Davis.
The St. Louis Republican has received
from Washington another one of the
letters upon which Gen. Sherman based
his recent assertions respecting jeff
Davis position in regard to separate
state action, conspiracy, etc, while he
was President of the Coufederacy. The
letter is from Alex Il. Stephens, add essed
to icrschel Y. johnson. and is dated
Craw .nrdsvilie, Ga, April 3, 1864. 1t
opens with a reference To a previous letter
written to Johnson regarding the habeas
corpus act, and says: ''If, after reading
that, YOU are still of opinion that the act
suspendng the writ of habeas corpus IN
/ certain cases dOes.nOt attempt TO confer
upon the President and others under him
/ the power to arrest and to hold persons
arrested. without the proper warrant
under oath, a power they could not
/ exercise without il, then it Is useless to
| say more: and il. after reading that letter
/ and the order OF Gen. Cooper alluded To
in it, you are sull of opinion that
| personal liberty is not jeOpardIZed by it,
vltals of liberty. then indeed you would
not believe though one were to rise from
| the dead"
Mr.. Stephens then refers to a letter re-
ceived from, Johnson in which the latt'
! alludes 10 st phens as beng hostile to the
administration and saying be will neces-
| sarily be e .assed with those whose palpa-
| BILE object it is 10 organize party in OPP
position to 1t. Mr.. stephens in reply 10
this says: Il allude to these matters tor
/ the sole purpose of correcting an err
TOneOus impression on your mind. | as
sure you that l have no antipathy to Mr..
Davis, nor am / hostile to him, and if
! there is an object, or intention, or wish,
/ with any to organic a paTtyin opposition
to the administrat on, know nothing OF
1t, and have heard nothing Of it,
LAS To the late movement on the action
of Georgia upon the subject of the habeas
corpus and the resolution in relation To
the terms upon which peace should be
sought, | think | know as much as any
body else. If anyone is responsible for it
no one is more so than myself. 1t Is true
that these resolutions were not drawn up
by me, but they were prepared by Linton
after full consultation, prepared at his
house before he went to MilledgeVille, and
as for Mr.. Davis or his administration,
they had but little to do with It-nOthing
in the world except in so far rs they
tall within the scope of the point as
stated. They do not rise to the dignity OF
a moments serious consideration or
thought one way or the other. Greater
Objects by Tar were then engrOsSing my
attention and LintOn's too, | think. AS
for Mr. DAVIS. | repeat again that | have
no teelInz Of antipathy, much less hostil-
ity. What opinions you may think l enter
tain OF HIM, as you intimate, know not,
but | have no heStancy IN stating to you,
freely and frankly and most cOniidentially,
what my opinions OF him are. They are
much more akin TO suspicion and jealousy
than animOsity or hate. While L do not
and never have regarded him as a great
man or statesman on a large scale, or d
man of marked genius, yet | have regard
ed him as man of good intentions, weak,
VaciIlatng, timid, petulant, feVerish,
obstinate, but not firm. | am now begin-
ming doubt his good intents. 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 other purposes. These are
my real sentiments, and my reasons for
them are these:
''Siuce his first elevation to power he
has changed many of his State rights !
principles, as in case of cOnscriptiOn. !
His whole policy on the organization and |
discipline of the army is perfectly con- !
aiming at absolute power. Not a word |
has come from bin on the military usur-
patton in the orders for martial law by |
Bragg and Van Dorm, or the whole system |
of passports and Provost Marshals, which |
is utterly wrong aud without authority OF |
law. After all that may be said or |
written by myself and others against !
these usurpati0ns, not one word ever has |
escaped Mr.. Davis showing his disaD- |
prevail of them. Again, it is well known /
that the subject of dictatorship has been |
mOOted, talked of and discussed in private |
and in the public journals, and that the
most earnest advocates of such q course,
the virtual doing away with Congress and
the cOpstit utiOn, have been editors near
him. right under his nose; editors of
Journals recognized at the time TO be the
organs Of the administration, Now 1t
seems to me strang1 that this should be !
SO. and men holding and advocating such
sentiments for months should hold a near |
relation to him, if such sentiments were
distasteful to him. These are bad signs
to me; they are not conclusive evidences
of bad objects or intentions on his part
they leave me in doubt, but certainly |
awaken my suspicion and watchful
jealousy. They teach me to be on my
guard, and they should, in my opinion,
put the whole country on its guard. The
pri of liberty is eternal vigilance.
''But again, L assure you that feel no
more hostile TO him than 10 you. There
are great numbers / meet who see no
danger in the e things. My hostility and
wrath land l have enough of it to burst
10000 BOTTLES is not against him or any
Otner man, but against the thing, the
measure and the policy which l see now
leading us to despotism. If you can under
stand and appreciate this position and
these feelings, then you can understand
9 hon OH Il Of
understand me and cannot But l trust
you do. As to what you say about the
one word. l hardly know
what idea you attach to tins term as used
by you. II you mean the Cabinet, then
they are sustained by neither Congress
nor the country, and when their recon-
were rejected by Congress, II
they had had any seif-respect they would
have Re signed their places. If you mean
the acts and messages of Congress-, then
L am confident not one-tenth OF the people
of this country approve them. L would
stake my head upon the issue that not ten
districts in Ine COnfederacy could be
carried in a Congressional election for
candidate running on the advocacy OF the
four leading measures of the last Con-
gress and pledged to sustain them as the
settled policy of the country. This cry OF
the administration you will
allow me to say, with all due respect to
you, is nothing but stupid, senseless
exclamation. Nobody approves it. l
heard that Gen. Cobb, in his speech at
MilledgevilIe said that all these acts ofCOn-
gress were proper, wise and Just, and yet
do know that Gen. Cobb spoke very
differently to me about some of them
before they were passed"
Gen. Sherman was seen last night at
his residence, No. 9l2 Garrison avenue,
and shown the telegram, says the Re-
publican of Dec. 16.
Yes" said he, ''that's the letter, and
here's the original" and pulling open a
drawer of the desk at which he had been
preparing a treatise on st. Louis militia
Gen. Sherman onened lone white enve=
iope tied with a pink ribbon, and took out
small package consisting of sixteen
pages OF yellow note paper, slightly small
er than the ordinary commercial note pa
per. "There it is as it was taken from the
house Of Herschel Y. johnson, where it
had been concealed"
The handwriting was clear and dis
tinct, and the letter was signed with the |
peculiar signature of the well-known |
statesman. The date and body of the let |
ter correspond, word for word with the |
telegram, and there could be no doubt OF |
the Authenticity of The original.