The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1885-01-21

Charleston News and Courier.1

|
. that he would answer Mr.. Davis denia
in his own way and at his own time
The public have writed with some curl
osity for the fulflment of Gen. Sher
mans promise, but We have waited *
far, in vain.
1t will be remembered that Gen Sher
man claimed to have in his posses
sion or to have seen, letter writ
ten by Mr.. Davis which contained proc
of the charges he had made. OF THU
letter nothing more has been heard Oh
said up to this time, but, instead Of it, 8
letter written by Mr.. Alexander Ste
phens to Mr.. H. V. johnson, OF Geor
gia, has been widely published. In thi:
letter the character and motives Of Mr.
Davis are discussed with great freedom
The letter is said to be in possession OF
Gen. Sherman, and is certified by him
to have been obtained" by one OF his
officers from the premises" of ii. V,
Johnson, at Sandy Grove, Georgia, in
the autumn of 1864. As the letter is in
Gen. Sherman's possession, it Is I'M
doubtedly published with his knowledge
and is intended to support,in some way
his claim to have seen testimony to the
same effect in the handwriting of Mr..
Davis himself. The following extracts
will show the tone of the letter:
while do not and never have re-
garded him (Mr Davis as a great man
Or statesman on large scale, or man
Of any marked genius, yet l have regard
ed him as a man of good inten-
tions, weak and yacillating, timid, pet
ulant, peevish, obstinate, but not firm.
am now beginning to doubt his good
ntentiony His whole policy-the
organ cation and discipline of the army
is pc ,fectly consistent with the hypo-
thesis that he is aiming at absolute
power.
again, it is we'll known that the
subject of a dictatorship has been moot
ed, talked of a.d discussed in private and
in the public journals, and that the
most earnest advocates of such a course,
the virtual doing away with Congress
| and the Constitution have been editors
of journals recognized at the
time to be the organs of the Administra
| ton. "You surely have
heard me in conversation speak of his
weakness and imbecility, but certainly
with no b tterness of feeling, and what
have said on this subject has always
been more in sorrow than anger"
1t did not require the publication Of
| this letter TO n axe known the fact of
the Vice Presidents disliLe and distrust
| of Mr.. Davis. He made no secret of
| his feelings during the war, and mani
| tested them so openly, indeed, as to
! render himself, in turn, an object of
dislike and distrust to perhaps major
| - Il. Il ii E l.
| COnfederacy. There was a time during
the contest when Mr.. Stephens was
| regarded as little less than traitor to
the cause of the South. But enough of
this Mr.. Davis's CT ara ter fer integrity
and ability does not, and will not, de-
pend upon the estimate placed upon it
| by his avowed enemies. Prior to the
| Revolution which selected him rather
| than Mr.. Stephens, as its responsible
head, ..Mr. Davis occupied position in
the councils of the nation, and of his
own State, which was inferior to that of
none of his contemporaries. The bene-
| fetal results of his wise administration
as Secretary of War were felt in
every department of the United States
government during the late war, and are
felt until this day. The charge that he
was aiming at the dictatorship of the
Confederacy during the war is not bet
ter founded. The uniform and earnest
support which he gave to Lee and Jack
son might possibly have looked to confer
ring the dictatorship on one of. those
distinguished military officers, but GER
tainly not to the assumption of it by
himself.
The letter of Mr.. Stephens bears date
April 8, 1864. 1t was written, there
fore, at the time when he was most un-
der the influence of jealousy and sus-
picion," which he coniesses, in the same
letter to have entertained regarding Slr.
Davis as President of the Confederacy.
| What his views were some years after
ward, when he had had time for refec
| ton, and when he set himself to record
| deliberately his conclusions for the
benefit of the public and of posterity,
fully appears in the following extracts
| from the Var betleeen the States, volume
III, pages 624-5. Speaking of Mr.. Davis's
speech at the African Church in Rich
mond, after the return of the Southern
| Peace Commission from their unsuccess-
full interview with Mr.. Lincoln at the
Hampton Roads Conference in the winter
of 1864, Mr.. Stephens says:
MANY who had heard this Mas,er of
| Oratory in his most brilliant displays
| in the Senate and on the hastings, said
| they never before saw Mr.. Davis so
really majestic The occasion and the
effects of the speech ,as well as all the cir
cumstances under which it was made,
caused the minds of no. few to revert
to like appeals by Reinzi and Demos
themes.
However much | admired the hero
ism of the sentiment expressed, yet in his
general views or policy to be pursued
| in the then situation, could not CON
cur.
az doubt not that all-the President
the Cabinet end Congress-did the reg
best Mey could, from their own convic
tons of what was best to be done at the
time"
In the same volume, on page 657, Mr.
Stephens speaks of Mr.. Davis as a maj
"of very strong convictions and great
"earnestness of purpose" In CONVEX
sation had during the sum ner of 1868
which was reduced to writing at the
time, Mr.. Stephens said:
sThe hardships growing out of oul
military arrangements are not the faul
of the President; they are du
to his subordinates."
In October of the same year tnLife o
"a. H, Stephens" by Johnson ant
Brown, PIP. 445-47) he wrote to friend
who had asked what would be his prob
) able course in the event of the death o
the President, as follows;
Il should regard the death of tn,
President as the greatest possible pubtii
calamity. What l should do / know not
A large number vf prominent
and active men in the country
would distrust my ability to conduc
affairs successfully. They have now
: and would have no confdenbe in my JUDI
E ment or capacity for the position ths
such an untimely misfortune would cas-
r upon me-"
Z These passages and others that Nigh
: be selected from the writings of Nj
. Stephens since the war bear voluntar
. and involuntary testimony to the cha
9 acter and motives of Mr.. Davis, an
) more than answer the querulous CON
plants contained in the letter to NJ
ii. V. johnson. Mr.. Stephens and M
Davis occupy very different places
the regard of the people of TIE Nortf
and perhaps that difference is the mes
= sure of the Northern estimate of thei
y respective loyalty to the Southern cau'
= and their devotion to it. Mr.. Stephel
. lived long enough to be petted by Il
= bitterest enemies of the Confederac
!, Mr.. Davis, after long imprisonmel
g and untold suffering, remains to-da
: the object of the concentrated dislike ,