Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1885-01-31
JEFFERSON DAVIS.
New York World.

j. rlt 5tt H - 5Istte.4f Tof 4h 4.
i New York World.
J The American people acted witt
/ noble generosity towards the Con
federacy at the close Of the war
| Probably on no other nation on this
globe would armed rebellion have
received such prompt, spontaneous
land complete forgiveness on its
, suppression. t
ii The war ended nearly twenty
years ago. Its wounds have long
been healed. The country has re-
Inoved even the seamy traces of the
scars.
But there are scheming politic-
Ians and malignant partisans who
are loath to surrender the capital OF
sectional strife supplied them by
the unfortunate rebellion, and who
refuse TO recognize the fact that
slavery and the war to which it led
are things of the past. They hate
the Southern people because the
South has become politically antag-
onistic to their party. The fiercest
Confederate brigadiers and the
neanest Confederate scalawags are
patriots in their eyes If they will
consent to turn Republicans. But a
Southern Democrat they foully rep
resent as an unrecOnstructed rebel
to- the end or his days.
These blo0dy-shirt agitators have
one precious relic of the war to
which they cling with jealous tenac-
ity. Poor JEFFERSON Davis is their
capital. Whenever they find ii
necessary to stir up their sectional
hell-broth they use Mr.. Davis as
the spoon, He isan old man with
one foot or une foot and half
in the grave. For years he has been
a private citizen, living in the most
retired manner, except that at long
intervals, with the excusable vanity
of advancing years, he makes a
harmless speech. Yet these uneasy
politicians talk of him as the old
English nurses talk of the Black
Douglas and try to irighten people
with his name,
Before the rebellion Jefferson
Davis served his country well i'm
peace and in war. He won honor
in the form Of wounds on the field
battle. He served for sixteen years
in Congress, in the Senate and in
the Cabinet without becoming a
millionaire like John Sherman.
Slavery made him rebel. Yet
slavery was not the fault of the
South. 1t was its misfurtune-a
curse alike to black and white, in
herited from the nation from which
we wrested our freedom. Before
the Confederacy, the record made
by Jefferson Davis in honor, ora
tory, craftsmanship and integrity
would shame some of his corrupt
asssilants in the Senate and compare
favorably with any.
Why do the Republicans now
take this old man by the hair and
drag him into the Senate2 Because
they were defeated in the election
aud think they can rebuild Repub-
licanism by reviving sectionalism.
They fan the embers of hate in
order to rekindle the fire of corrup-
tion.
Mr.. Vance pronounces the old
woman's story got up by babbling
General as groundless. His word
carries conviction with il. The
agitation i'm the Senate is bubble
based on the error or immlgination
Of reporter. But suppose the
Sherman story to be true. What
public good is subserved by its re-
vival at this day? What does the
Senate want of it? Is jeff Davis on
trial Is the Southern Confeder-
acy on trial Is not the only trial
going on the tfial of lot of un-
scrupulOus Republican partisans,
raFa l,1f all Nnf In a
closed wounds of our unhappy civil
war? ad a;ii zssa -frla ii5G se.wi
Other. nations have had their
trials similar to- our own. Yet with
restored peace has come revived
patriotism. Itwould be fatal to a
politician in Germany, France,
Spain, Italy or any European cOun-
try to assail has own countrmen
and to attempt to prove them false
and reasonable. Yet this is the
effort of the Republican politician
in the United States. He selects
Jefferson Davis as the convenient
instrument of his malice. Perhaps
il Mr.. Davis, instead of leading the
lie of A private citizen, had lent
his name, which beyond doubt has
Il certain influence, TO a firm OF
Wall street brokers, had made
himself friendly with the Goulds,
Vanderbilts and Fields of the mon,
eyed classes, and had voted the
Republican ticket, ne would have
been .courted by the politicians who
hold up as a scarecrOw and lash
themselves into fury whenever his
name is mentioned. H~