Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1886-10-01

HE DENoUNcEs THE STATEMENT MADE AT ST.
LOUIS AS "A DELIBERATE FABRICATION
AND SPEAKS OF THE "PIcrUREsouE PRE-
vARICATIoN" OF THE SENATOR

HE pENoUNcEs THE STATEMENT MADE AT ST.
AND SPEAKS OF THE "PIcruRksouE PRE-
vARrCArIoN" OF THE SENATOR
The Baltimore Sun OF to-day contains long
letter from Mr.. jefferson Davis, written as a
reply to the charge, made last year, OF Gen. W.
l. sherman that Mr.. Davis was not a secession
ist, but conspirator. Gen. Sherman, In a
speech before a Grand Army post in st. Louis
declared that he had seen and identified letter
from Davis to confederate, whose name he
would not mention because the recipient of the
letter was then In the U. s. Senate. i'm which
Davis threatened to turn Lees army against
any state attempting to secede from the confed-
eracy. Mr.. Davis quotes his original denial
and also quotes Gen. Sherman as refusing to in
reviewers TO name the senator he had referred
10 and as saying he would write TO Mr.. Davis
himself This, Mr.. Davis charges SHERMAN
never did, but instead filed what he called a
"historical statement" in the w ar department.
MI. Davis arrsigns the United States senate
Tor calling for this statement and giving it
ofncial sanction under the circums stances. lie
then enters into a specific and detailed refuta-
tion OF the charge against him. He declares
That he would have permitted the matter to
as an irresponsible slanderer had IL not bee n
Tor the action OF the senate. He points To
Gen. Sherman's historical statement as
indicating Senator Vance as the recipient
OF the alleged letter, the General hav-
ing said he found and read the letter
In book at the governors house in Raleigh.
MI. Davis quotes Senator Vance's sweeping
denial of the existence Of any such letter. Mr..
DAVIS. after reviewing Gen. Sherman's many
statements on the subject, characterixes the
generals course as that of
PICTURESQUE PREvARIcATIoy,"
unsupported by proof and contradicted by we'll
known acts and the general course OF his (Mr.
Davis) career. Mr.. Davis corrects in detail,
the various statements OF Gen. Sherman and
ms brother, Senator Sherman, quotes Hon.
Alexander ii. stephens in vindIcation of his
course as president explains the suspension
OIL the writ OF habeaS corpus Ia the con ra te
states and contrasts the use OF the power thus
conferred with what he calls its abuse by the
federal authorities, particularly in Maryland:
defends Gen. Albert sidney Johnston from the
10 zen. Sherman's duplicity towards Gen.
Grant as shown in the Fry correspondence and
quotes his (ShermaE's) confession of the faisity
vi Ills charge against Gen. w AIDE HAMPTON with
reference tO the burning of Columbia, s. c., as
showing him to De unworthy OF belief. Mr.
Davis concludes by saying that he was COM
oil the people VINO honored him with the highest
oi1lcial position in their gilt to '.group" to-
gether Instances OF repeated falsenoods de-
loerately spoken and written by Gen. Sher-
man."
A STATES RIGHTS QUESTION.
The writer then goes into q demonstration
that his states rights view would alone have
prevented him from adopting such policy as
the using Oh the army against any state In the
cohIederacy, and refers 10 ms refusal to march
confederate troops into Kentucky to oppose
Inc federal government there in 1861. Gen.
Sherman having used an extract from "A .'sout n.
ern paper, supposed to be the Richmond Err.
dmtner, as evidence that Davis encouraged X
pre>slons OF hostility to state sovereignty, and
Was thus preparing to subyert the conederacy,
the latter prints a letter from Nat Ia. lor, Tie
surviving editor of the paper TO the effect that
while the paper in the early part Of 1864 urged
certain radical measures, il did not pretend TO
speak Tor the admin trdtluD.
Concluding this phase OF the issue Mr.. Davis
writes: II Know nothing OF any conspiracy or
about any OF the political affairs which led 10
tine secession of the states in 1866 There
was no possibility of any conceaimenI Tie
people we're advised by the press, they acted
knowingly, and the results, through all their
various phases, were necessarily known to the
people, by whom they were ratified and CON-
nrIneu. 10 talk now of conspiracy and cons n.
rators is shallow nonsense, and not wi thstand-
Ing sherman says that tie was approached by a
that accusation will De dismissed as the coin.
age OF political demagogues. Ii sherman was
approached by 'conspirators' they knew their
man; they may have heard of hs converse ton
at Nicksbury, his expressions of approval of
southern acton, mis- talk oi the id Yankees
to Gov. Roper, and such expressions, may have
selves. No man ever insuited me by approach
ing me with suggestions of conspiracy
ga MIRE OF MENDACITY."
The most important subsequent paragraph
OF Mr.. Davis communication il AZ follows:
"As TO the action taken at the conference Of
some of the southern Senators in January
1861, and which il introduced in this .histor,.
cal statement AS evidence OF q conspiracy il
is only necessary To say 70 those Senators who,
in the debate on the Hawley resolution re-
ferred to the letter of ID. l.. Yulee TO Joseph
Finnegan and the resolutions attached thereto.
that the resolutions were forwarded TO the con-
ventions OF the states then in session,
and that they were the resolutions OF
Senators representing those states convey
ing to the conventions Of the states the
views of the Senators. Those resolutions We're
not discovered by Gen. Sherman-Jhey were
not dug up from beneath the sod in any yard
through which he marched. They were neces-
sarily public, since they were sent 10 conven-
the newspapers. 10 speak OF such action as q
as Senator Sherman dad in the
debate on the Aawiey resolution, shows 10
what defense he Wa, driven 10 assist his brother
out OF the miIe VI mendacity in which he was
HE ACCUSES GEN. SHERMAN
OF willful and deliberate falsehood, and says
his motive had its inspiration In that ..mean
malice which has characterised his acts and
writings in other respects towards the southern
people," He denies that there Was any con.
spiracy 10 take the south out Of the Union, and
declares that the voluntary abandonment of
the charge OF treason against him, not at his
Instance, but in spite OF his defiance, should
preclude the charge of treason against MIN.
Towards the conclusion, Mr.. Davis revives Gen.
Shernan's letter declaring that had G.. ].
Smith lived Grant would nave disappeared
from history, his denial OF its authorship and
the subsequent publication OF the letter.