Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1884-12-17
PEICoF THE COSFEDERACT,
srxpaxSss OPINION or DAVIS

1ltiness suseess.
A wsshlnetcn spccisi 70 che New York
Hfrold saws: The following letter, the orr.
eiusl a which h In the possession Of Gene
ri sherman. bcsrs upcn the charge which
he Tscntly made IN spccch AZ ~. Louis,
thai ytf:ors on l,avis contemplated dicta-
torxhip. Tho letter Il one written by Alex
spdxr IN. Stephens. Vice President OF The
Ccpfc6erscy. TO Hcrschell ". johnson, once
candidate tor vice-Presidcnt Of the
United states. AZ will be seen. Mr.. Ste
phcns did not hesitate 10 express the belief
thsf Dir. Davis was aiming atabso'ute DOW
er, and to hold Mr.. Davis responsible for
the advocacy Of a dictatorship by Journals
which were regarded ~ organs Of the Ad-
ministrstion.
GENERAL. suERxAx's cgRTfrIcArE.
The letter is thus certified by General
Sserman
ST. LouIs, NO.. December 7, 1ss4.-The
following Is true copy OF an original ict-
ter loaned me BY Dr. II. G. Robbins. OF
Crsstou. 0gle county, H.. who was Tor
merly surgeon Of the observation-disclosures
F,rsf lliiuols Infantry. who obtained ~ on
the premises Of III. v. johnson. at sandy
Grove, Ca, IN the autumn OF 1854.
w. r. SHERMAN, General.
MR.. sTgPHEss's LETTER.
Mr.. Stephenss letter follows
CeAwys NEVILLE, Ga. April ., 1SG4.-My
Dear SIR: Your letter Of the 9th instant
has lust reached we, and l deyofc q few
leisvre moments To you In reply this eve
ming, because / do not know that | shall
have time TO do Il In the morning before
The nail closes. 1wroie you pretty long
letter dsy before Yesterday, and feel no dis
position 10 proloug the discussion. III,
after reading that, you are still OF
the opinion that the act suspending
the writ Of hobeas corpus in certain cases
does not attempt TO confer upon the
President and Others under him the
power to arrest and 10 hold persons arrest
cd without proper warrant under oath.
power that they could not exercise win.
out u, then II Is useless 10 say more; ana
n. after reading that letter and the order oil
General Cooper alluded to In II. you are
stiil Of the opinion that personal liberty is
not ieopartiized by II. and that no blow Is
struck by Il at the very vitais OF liberty"
then. indeed, you would not believe though
one were 90 rise from the dead. So no more
on those points.
ALLEGED ASTlPATHY TO DAVIS.
Iwish barely to say few things on some
other points. After spe'king OF the COM
mer dsble tone OF the Milledgeyille speech,
you say Yet. below the surface your an.
tipaihy 10 The President Is perceptibie 10
any one acquainted with your opinions OF
the NAM; and on this point you say: 81
think you might a. well have fully unbut-
tened your wrr,h. for after all your are a.
well unrrrstood in the estimation OF the
country TO be hostile rs 10 you had avowed
it,; and you 20 on 10 say that ] viii ne
cesscr;iy he classrd s'with those whose
palpaLlc object Is TO organize party In
opposition 10 the Administration" Aud
further en- you say that my antipathy TO
DAVIS bss misled my judgment, or / have
allowed my srtiplthy TO him TO mislead my
judgment.
For your candor and frankness in all
this sincerely thank you, for IL is conclu-
siye evidence to me that such are your
opinions. and allude 10 these matters for
the sole purpose Of correcting an erroneous
IMPRESSION on your mind. | assure you
have no antipatly 10 Mr.. Davis, nor am /
hostile to HIM, and II there Is an object OF
hicuiion or wish with any 10 organize n
party I'm opposition 10 the Administration
] know nothing of IL, have heard nothing
Of 1t.
As TO the late mey ement on the action OF
Georgia upon the subject OF the hdbedS
corpus and the resolution in relation 10 the
terms upon which peace should he sought,
1 think | know a. much rs anybody else.
II any one is responsible for IL no one is
more so than myself. 1t Is true that those
resolutions were not drawn up w me, but
fhey were prepared by Linton, after fun
consultation at bis house before he went 10
Milledgo,ille; and rs for Mr.. Davis or
his Administration. they had but little 10
do with it-nothing in the world except in
so far as they fall within the scope Of the
point as stated. They did not rise to the
dignity OF moments serious c0nsidera.
ton or thought one way or the other.
Greater objects by far were then engr0ss-
lng my attention, aud LiDton's, too, l
thiuk.
oTNIoS OF DIR. DAVIS.
As for Mr.. Davis, repeat again. have
no feelings Of antipathy. much less OF hos
tility. What opinions you may think /
entertain OF him. Us you intIwated. | know
nothing. but have no hesitancy IN stating
TO you freely and frankly, and most conf
den,ially, what my opinions OF him are.
They are much more akin to suspicion and
jealousy than OF animosity or hate. While
j do not and never have regarded him a
great man or statesman on large scale or
q nan Of any marked genius, yet have re-
garded HIM as man Of good intentions,
weak. and yascillatiug. Timid. petulant,
petvish, obstinate. but not firm, | avn now
beginning 10 doub, hls good intentions.
] say doubt. for after wrtching him closely,
] am not satisfied In my own mind,
nor have ] arrived at any conclusion.
whether some Of his Shortcomings are
TO be attributed 10 weakness or bad pur-
poses. These are my real sentiments, and
my reasons for them are these: Since his
first elevation 10 power lac has changed
many OF his former States rights prinei-
pies, as In case of consumption. His whole
policy--the organization and discipline OF
The army-is perfectly consistent with the
hypothesis that he 4 aiming at absolute
power. Not word has come from him OF
military u.urpstion in the orders for mar
tial law by Bragg aud Van Dorm. On the
whole. the system OF passports and pro-
vost naTshals is utterly wrong and with
out authority 81 law. After all that may
be said or written by my sell and Others
against these usurpstions, not Que word
has escaped Mr. Davis showing his disap-
proyal OF them.
QUESTION OF DICTATORSHIP.
Again, " " wei KNOWN tNN Tue suolrCt
Of dictatorship has been mooted, talked
Of, and discussed In private and in the
public Journals. and that the most earnest
advocates Of such course, the virtual
doing away with Congress and the ConSti-
tuition, have been editors nelr him-right
undtr bis nose; editors OF journals rccog-
nized Of the time 20 be the organs OF the
Administration. Now, IT seems 10 me
strange that this should be so, and
that men holding and advocating such
sentiments for months should hold
such near relations 10 him II such
sentiments were dlstasteiul to him.
These are bad signs to me. Yet they are
not conclusive evidence OF lad objects or
intentions on his part. They leave me In
doubt, but certainly awaken my suspicion
and watchiu jealousy. They teach me TO
be ON my guard, and they should. Ia my
opinion, put the whole country on their
guard. The price Of liberty is eternal Wig
lance. But AGAIN. assure yon i feel no
more hostility 10 him than l 10 TO you and
great numbers ! meet With, who see no
danger In these things.
TuE SEVERITY OF PITY.
Nv hostility and wrath (and 1 have
enough Of IL TO burst ten thousand bottles)
h not against him OF sny man or men, but
against the thing, the measures, and the
policy, which. see, Is leadiug us to
dtsponsm. II you can understand and
npnrec iate this position and these feelings