Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1886-06-10
HON. JEFFERSON DAVIS.

CORRESPONDENCE Of the Alexandria GAZETTE
NORFOLK, Va June For years before
the war prominent men and representative
men in various sections of the North de-
nounced the Union and the Constitution;
encouraged infraction of laws passed to car.
nv ous constitutional provisions; cried out
Justify for dissolution OF this slave cursed
Union" pronounced it "a covenant with
death, and a league with hell" etc. Not Il
word of denunciation was uttered against
these men by the republican press or pull
pit ny of the North. But when Mr.. Davis,
who had served his country long ana well,
was placed at the head of the Southern Con-
federacy by an almost unanimous vote; when
for four years he had, with health 80 feeble
az often to con6ne him to his bed, borne
upon his shoulders the burthens Of q nascent
nation; when he conducted the war in &C
cordauce with the rules of the most advaEc
ed civilizations; when at last worn out, ex-
hausted and crushed by overwhelming num-
bers and boundless resources, he fell into
the grasp and power of his enemies, they,
in defiance Of every rule oil honorable war
fare; in disregard Of every noble impulse,
every generous sentiment, and every manly
instinct, threw Mr.. Davis into prison and in
| chains. A humiliation and degradation
worthy alone of the most cowardly, base
and mean of all the low passions. Not only
was this the grossest insult and indIgnlty to
a brave, intellectual and manly spirit, but
| it was sweeping and brutal attempt to
humilatc and degrade as brave and knight
| ly a race as ever trod battlefield. A race
who had stood like wall of fire around
their homes and hearths for four evcntful
| wears, hurting back two and three to one,
of their INVADERS planting the standard Of
victory on hundred battlefelds, and final.
| " (say what you please about Northern
magnanimity) wringing from their invaders
the promise of the most honorable terms of
surrender.
So soon as our armies were disbanded,
| and our arms surrendered, these constitu-
ton and Union loving patriots began as
patry, pcayunish and diabolical system of
persecution and oppression as the world
ever saw, making life, liberty and family
inteeyity as perlous as possible, and the
hopes of the future as dark as Erebus.
A bonus was freely awarded to supersti-
ton and ignorance, while an embargo was
laid on virtue and Intelligence. Universal
suffrage was bestowed upon the ne.
groes, while thousands of the wor-
thiest whites were DISTINGUISHED. Ju-
dical and legislative powers were placed
| in the hands of the most venal and uu-
scrupulous, while the most learned, virtuous
and honorable, were placed under the ban
| OF a mercenary military urveilance-taxed
to pay the price Of their subjugation, and
support the hired emmissaries who ELECTED
it-compelled TO vote their own disfran.
chsement, humiliation ana aggregation, or
live forever under military despotism,
where life, liberty and property were at the
precarous power of Provost marshal or a
despotic Procorsul This is faint picture
of the morals, actions and animosities of the
Northern republicans to the people Of the
South.
And whcn through tho influences Of revival
of the long suppressed patriotism among the
| Northern democracy, tho Southern fathers and
mothers, and brothers and sisters gathered up the
bleaching bones Of their loved and lost ones to en-
shrine them under a maulsoleum erected by at
| fcction's hand, and called on Mr.. Davis to unite
with them to pay tribute to their memory, aud
when Mr.. Davis, in obedience to that call, enlo-
gZsd tho motives conduct, principles and bravery
| of their fellow heroes, wall OF lamantation and
| n howl of Indignation rings out from tho black
| republican press OF the North AS wrathful AS the
flames of Tophet. To him (and no less to the
whole South the appcation Of traitor
| WTctfn, CHIpEIl,
ind have been given.
| IF this h. free country-ifa man has the right
| tn express his convictions us to the motives and
| objects which influenced his heroic comrades III
| dc!cndin. their homcs-thrn Mr.. Davis has done
| injury to no one, and deserves the highest COM
! incubation from all who admire bravery and love
patriotism.
| Water with thy tears, O hero Of Bucna VISTA
the graves cf your fallen braves IN the loftiest
| tones Of thy matchlcss oratory peal forth tho
praises of their proves and pa rntism until far
distant lands shall ring with its echoes, and ma
| tions yet unborn shall catch up the refrain and
| roll il oil i'll tmo shall he more.
HANOVER.