Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1886-10-01

Sals- fS.s - t-s-GtS.ss,
The Baltimore SIM pricts fyg.colu.Gn
lettor from Hon. Jefferson Davis to Col. }.
Thomas Schsll, Of !hst city. The hrat part
OF Mr.. Davis letter IS tlevoaa II Il .eflItA-
ton Of the charge niatio bY Geo. Sherman
bc!nre the Frank Blair Post. 10 the effect
that Mr.. Davis had, 10 d letter written 10
ate, threatened 10 turn Lees arny egMinst
any State that might attempt 10 secsdo
from tbs Southern Ccrfodcracy After re-
ferring to Gen. Sherman'a words IS "a nrat-
uitous and gross assault uron private in
divlaual living il absolute retirement"
Mr. Davis Gays:
The history Of my public Ifs hears evil
derce that did a! in my power to prevent
the war; that l did nothing 10 precipita.e
collision: that did not seek the l,ost Of
Chief Executive, bat advised my friends that
preferred not to ill it, That history Ger.
Sherman may siandeTor2ly assail ty bis
statements, but he cannGt alter It's consist
ency; nCr can the republicans Of tha Senate
change IFS unbToken story otfaj!htui service
tG the Union and The Constitution uajil, ~
the commaEd CT my sovereign State. ! with.
drew as her ambassador from the United
States Senate. For all tie acts 81 r,y pub.
lie lie as President Cs the Coat.:;;urato
States am responsible at the bar O! History,
and must accept her verdict, which shall
do without tho least apprehension trait it
will be swayed from tru;u ~ tho ln&.iGiGus
iaisehcods Of Gen. Sherman, even when
stamped as an 'exGoc' by tic United
States Senate"
Mr.. Davis says that be would uot refer 10
the matter had not the statement bocn rut
forward in az executive document iealetl BIZ
the United States Senate. He cites proof
after proof to show that no such letter was
ever written by him. He details, also, the
various unsuccessful efforts he has made to
get Gen. Sherman TO produce the lstter in
which the coItradictea statement is sail TO
appear, and closes this part Of the comulu.
uicatioa with the following language:
my alleged Raleigh letter has never b2en
found. Sherman says it was sent to Nash.
vile, Savannah, Wfshing:cu and s.. Louis,
and may have been fuaily burned in Chica-
so in the great fire in 1871. But il ell lis
travels no other person but Sherman saw it;
not single officer at any headquarters icas
been produced who read il, ana i; passes oe-
lief that in the excitement OF ire closing
days OF the war, and during my imprisUr-
ment, when every letter Of mine Was care.
fully examined to find evidence upon which
to convict and destroy NE, tina. not an Of
ticer at al those headquarters should have
read that letter. Every fair.miulied uan
must, therefore, conclude that Gen. Silnr.
man stated ut ths Graud army post II viii
ful and deliberate iniseiioc5, aud that Ii.
motive had its inspiration ic tia. mean u;,.i-
ice which has characterized his a2ts ana
writings in other respects toward The Suulh.
ern people"
BY far The NEST interesting part of Glr.
Davi7's letter is that i'll which he indignant.
!: denies the charge made by Gen. Sncr.
man in his Historical statenleut,n p.inr@I
by The Senate, that there was q "consl;r-
acy" in the Water Of lSG0-6l. Mr.. Dayi.;
says:
Il know nothing of any conspiracy or OF
any 'conspirators.' There vas no secrecy
about any of the political affairs which led
to the secession Of the States in lSGO-GI.
There was 10 possibility of any conceal.
ment. They people were advised by the
press, they acted knowingly, aud the 70.
suits through ail their various phases, were
necessarily known 10 tue people, By whom
they were ratified and confirmed. 20 talk
now OF conspiracy and conspirators il slal.
low nonsense, and Notwithstanding Shar-
man says he YVES approached hy q number
OF the knights OF tho Golden Circle that
accusation will be dismissed IS the coinage
OF political demagoeues. If Sherman Was
Approached by consprators' they knay
Mclr meu they may have heard of bis con-
Versatlon at Fick:hurS, his expressions CT
approval OF Southern action, ilia talk Of tie
ID Yankees to Gen. Roper. and such
expressions may have regarded him % a iii
consplrator with themselves. No man ever
lnsulted me by approaching me with sug-
gestions OF conspiracy.
rs to the action taken at The conference OF
some of the Southern Senator's in JanSsrc.
1861, and which is introduced ~ this his
torical statement as evidence of n 'consnir-
acy,' 1t is only necessary to say 10 those
Senators who, in the debate OF the IIawlev
resolution, referred to the letter Of y 7,
4ulae to Joseph Fnnceau and tho resclu-
tons attached thereto, that the resolutions
were forwarded to the conventions Of the
States then in session, and that they were
the resolutions Of Senators REPRESENTING
those States conveying TO the conventions
OF the States the views CT tbs Senators.
Those resolutions were not discovered by
Gen. Shermsn-they wcro not dug III from
beneath the SOD IN any yard through which
he marched. They were necessarily public
slnce they were cent 10 conventions of the
States, and they were printed in the news.
papers. To speak Of such action as o coz.
splracy, as Senator Sherman did in the de-
bate on the Hawlcy re3olutiou. shows to
what deiense he was driven to assist l:s
brother out OF the inira Of lncn3aci:y in
which lie was n0underin~.
1T was the opinion Of ,aat conference ii
1861 that secession vas Tie only remedy i.r
to the States; that every effort to preserve
peace had failed. mainly through the action
CT that portion of the republican partv
which refused ali propositions TOR adjust. |
ment made by those who sought in Januarv,
1861, to justify confidence, insure peacs and
preserve the Union. In the sane month il
which that conference was held served on |
committee raised by the Senate to seek
some possible mode of quelIing the excite |
ment that then existed. That committee
was composed OF the three political diyis |
ions OF the Senate, and it was considered
useless TO report auy measure which did not
q