Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-01-13

! Tics OF the southern COn1ederacy. There was
no occasion for such allusions. It did not
! concern the argument of questions before the
/ Senate. when no appeal was made to partisan
! feeling. for Senators to rise one after another
/ and dwell upon the fact that they had been
\ members of the Confederate Senate, and that
| jefferson Davis was beloved by the Southern
| people, and that he had been actuated by the
! sentiments OF a man Of honor and patriotism.
MIR. VESTS CONFEDERATE SENATOR
| SHIP.
Referring to Mr.. Vests allusiOn to his
membership of the Confederate Senate, Mr..
| Ingalls, remarked that so far as the Senator
| from Missouri was concerned, Mr.. Vest had
not been accredited to that Senate, as the
state OF Missouri had not been out of the
! Union. In the name Of the loyal people of
| Missouri. Mr.. ingalls, protested against the
sentiments which he had heard so often eX-
| pressed by Mr. Vest. As to the immediate
controversy under discussion, Mr.. Davis had
called Mr.. sherman a liar. That was the
| plain English of it. In any controversy
between Mr.. Davis and Gen. sherman, Mr..
ingalls, was for Gen. sherman, and So he
country be.
Mr.. sherman said that from a feeling of
personal dellcacy growing out of his relation
snip TO one OF the parties to the controversy.
he would have preferred not speaking on it,
but some senators seemed to treat il as a con-
trOYersy between two citizens. 1t would be a
matter Of surprise TO Gen. Sherman that it
was Of that character, Gen. Sherman had
stated that he did not know Mr.. Davis per-
sonaily. Gen. sherman had by invitation at
tended a reunion of an army post and in the
course OF some impr0mptu remarks as report
Ell by newspapers, perhaps correctly enough,
SAID that he regarded MIR. Davis 5 not only a
rebel, but conspiratOr, and that he had seen
certain letters ana papers while on his march
through Georgia tending to show that Mr..
Davis, while the war was progressing, had
abandoned his States rights convictions and
had become practically a dictator in the
South. But there was no personal matter OF
controversy between MIR. Davis and Gen.
Sherman.
sHERMAN'S WHIM.
Gen. Sherman simply insisted on the
right to class Mr.. Davis rs a conspiratOr and
traitor. Did that make a personal quarrel
between two men? Far from it. He tthe
Speaker) might as well be said in the same
way to have personal quarrel with the de-
cendants of Benedict Arnold by repeating a
historical fact. Mr.. Davis had written a
bitter article, not addressed to Gen. Sherman,
but substantially giving him the lie. Gen,
sherman did not respond to that article by
any letter to Mr.. Davis, or to any newspaper.
He did the very opposite. He was still in
every sense an officer of the army. even
though on the retired list. He was subject to
the Presidents orders, As an army officer,
therefore, he properly gave to his military
superior the reasons for every assertion
he had made. This he was bound to do
When an officer OF the army, whether retired
or not, had an insult put upon him or any,
thing which among gentlemen would reflect
upon bis character, his honor or his integrity,
he was bound by his calling to make an eX-
planation to the proper authority to show
that the imputatiOn upon his honor was not
just. There was, therefore, no personal con-
trOversy between jefferson Davis and Gen.
sherman, but there were some statements of
very striking character involved which
ought to be put on the Official records of the
government.
THE ALLEGED CONSPIRACY.
Gen. sherman had produced resolutions
passed by Democratic Senators from South
ern states, which were about to participate
in the late war in which they resolved that
they would organize government called
the Confederate Government, and fixing the
date that committee should be appointed,
composed OF Messrs. Davis, Slidel and NAL
lOry, to carry into execution in the South the
plan adopted. and that other Senators should
remain IN Congress so as to prevent any leg
islatiOn that might hinder or delay proposed
in the name of God was it? Gen. Sherman
had also produced a letter from Aleck
Stephens, the associate Of Mr.. Davis, in which
Mr.. stephens says that MIR. Davis had aban-
dOned his States rights doctrines and
that he was seeking to subvert
the very government established by the
Confederate States. That letter was captured
in the hands of Herschel V. johnson, of GeOr-
gia, to whom it was addressed. Senator
sherman had seen the original and knew il to
be Mr.. stephens handwriting. Again. Gen.
sherman had produced a message from Davis
to the Confederate Congress marked ''secret."
kept in the rebel archives, and found bv an
officer of the United States army when Rich-
mOnd was captured. In this Mr.. Davis had
demanded the suspension of the writ of ha-
beas corpus. "Whygl Senator sherman asked
''shOuld not these papers be printed? Did thev
not show the motives that led to the great
civil war2 Did they not tend to show the
probable termination of the rebellion, even If
the United States arms had not suppressed it,
to be the eventual establishment OF a despo-
tism in the Southern Statesy"
NO DESIRE TO STAB DAVIS,
sherman did not desire to say ANYTHING un-
kind of him, and did not desire to wound his
feelings. But, great Godp' said the Senator
'Will it ever be disputed in this country of
in war, and before the war, jefferson Davis
was consplrator and traitor to his country?
Never, trust" Later Senator Sherman
added: "Whenever, in my presence. Jefler-
son Davis is treated as patriot I must enter
my solemn protest. Whenever the motives
and causes of the war are called in
question, / must assert that it was
a causeless rebellion, entered upon with bad
motives, and that all the men who led in that
movement were traitors to this country of
Ours.'
MIR. Lamar said that he had but Just stepped
into the Chamber. and had not heard the res
OlutlOn read. He presumed that it referred
to the publication of some papers relating to
the war, uOw of file in the War Department
Without knowing, he said, the position occu-
pied by his friends, he would say that he had
no objection to any publication that would
throw llgnb upon the true character of the
movement for the separation of the States of
the South from those of the North. He would
have given his vote silently on the resolution
had it not. been for the remarks of the Senator
from Ohio (Mr. Sherman).
sHERMAN's INACCURACIES.
That speech was marked by fagrant mac
curacies in the statement of the issue between
Gen. sherman and Mr.. Davis. The issue be .
tween those two distinguished men was not
hat which the Senator from Ohio mad repre-
sented, and the issue existing between them
had not by that Senator been brought to the
attention of the people of the orth. Accord .
ing to the publications in the press and which
went not only to the eXtremitles OF this
nation, but to the eXtremities of civilization,
the question was not merely that the secession
of the Southern States was the result of con-
spiracy. That question, as the Senator from
Ohio (Mr. Sherman) had properly remarked
was a question of historical truth. and
was to be ascertained and decided by
the facts of history as read by future
generations. Whether it was the conspiracy
of a few ambitious individuals or the uprising
of a whole people to preserve, as they thought.
their autonomy and their institutions, was a
question which Mr.. Lamar was willing should
be remitted to the verdict of posterity. No
Senator had kinder feelings for Gen. Sherman
or more respect for his military sagacity or
genius than had Mr.. Lamar, but Gen. Sher-
man had been betrayed by his feelings and
by misinformation into an allegation and
charge against jefferson Davis which he could
not sustain, which no man could ever sustain,
and which was not truth.
NO SUCH LETTER EVER SEEN.
That allegation was that he saw letter
from jefferson Davis asserting that if the
Southern States should secede from the Con-
federacy he would put IL down by the military
coercion of the Confederate Government.
There was no question of historical fact in
relation to the character of that movement as
between Mr., Davis and Gen. sherman.
1t was outside OF the record;
that there was no personal controversy be-
tween these two distinguished gentlemen his
statement came in direct conflict with the as
sertlons OF Gen. sherman hlmself, who, when
| interviewed by representative of the press
in st. Louis with regard to Mr.. Davis denial,
refused to make a statement, saying that it
was matter between hlmselI ana Mr.. Davis
| and not matter for the press. Its personality
| was established by Gen. Sherman him
| self and the discussion that had been
brought up in the Senate could
| throw no light whatever on the naked, bald
issue of the fact. Whether Gen. Sherman
/ saw letter written by jefferson Davis to a
| Senator now in the United States Senate say
| ing that he would cOerce a Southern State if
| it should attempt TO secede from the COnfed-
| eracy, Il assert, sir" said Mr.. Lamar, "that
/ no such letter is in existence, and in my
! opinion no such letter was ever written. In
1 saying that" he continued, II wish to dis
| claim here any reflection whatever upon the
Yeracty of Gen. sherman. That is not my
| purpose. What | do mean Is that he has been
misled and mlslnfOrmed, and when the truth
| comes before him, that he has made an asser-
tiOn even against a political enemy which he
| cannot sustain.
| SHERMAN'S MOST HONORABLE COURSE.
ut would cOmport better with his high
character and position to acknowledge mad
| vertance and unintentlonal injustice than to
| change the issue before the American people,
and raise a question as to the character of the
| Secession Government" AS reason for his
| belief. Mr.. Lamar said that he had been
throughout friend of Mr.. Davis, and had