The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1890-02-26
4 CONVERT TO DAVIS.
JAMES REDPATH, ABOLITIONIST
AND UNION NAN.

Remarkable CttcraEce Iros, SiTaHs
Sosrce-The Impressive Dignity oil q
Confederate Ex-President-Ne Rebel
Frsitor-The Case of the south Presente
in Nutshell.
Nsw York World.
DENVER, Col, Feb ls.-'Neithe
Rebel nor Trsitor." Writing with tn
for sabjecr, Prof. James Redpath, i
the Commonwealth, say of Jeferso
Davis:
''I spent nearly the entire summe
oflSS9 IS guest of Beauvoir House
the home ofthe late Jefferson Da7l
I was in his company for from six t
ter hours every dsy during the Who'll
time of my visit. During that perio'
VIC talked of every important event IL
his long and eventful life, and discuss
ed almost every issue between tn
North and South. Ny position enabled
and authorized me to ask question
and 10 introduce topics which other
wise it might have been ungracious, K
say the least, Or in bad form, as the
latest Phrase is, to refer to in the home
ofthe e1 President OF the Confederate
States by any Northern writer, especl
: ally one who, like myself, had beer
an Abolitionist Of the most radical
school from his earliest manhood-s
fact well known to my venerable hest.
sI first met Mr.. Davis in the SUM-
mer of 1883 Mr.. Allen Thorndike
Rice had determined to prepare as 8
companion volume to his Reminlscen-
ces of Abraham Lincoln, IS sort OF
Confederate supplement, volume OF
RemiDis ences Of Lee and Stonewail
Jackson. Having convinced him
that it would be impossible to secure
the contributions ne Deece0 from ia
NOUS Ssutherners without Mr. Davls's
cooperation, was commissioned to
visit Beauvoir and secure It and to OBJ
tain one or two historical essays from
him for the North American Review,
Of which At the time I was the nsnag-
ing editor.
well, I reached Beauviol sad re-
NAMED there about q week. Before l
had been with Mr.. Davis threee days
every preconceiyed idea Of him utterly
and forever disappeared. Nobody
doubted Davis's intellectual capacity,
but it was not his mental power that
most impressed me. It was his good
ness, first of all, and then his intellect
ual integrity. never saw al OLD man
whese face bore more emphatic. erl-
dence of a gentle, refined and oenlg-
nsnt character. He seemed to me the
ideal embodiment Of sweetness and
light. His conversation showed that
he had charity for all AMI malice to-
ward none never heard him utter
al unkind word of any man, and he
spoke ofnearly all Of his more famous
opponents. His manne1s could best
be described as gracious, so e1qulsltely
reaaed 80 courtly yet heart-Warm. Inc
dignity of most of our public men often
reminds one of the hod-carrler's store
suit it is 80 evidently put on and lii-
ft:ing. Mr.. Davis's dignity was as
natural and as charming ss the per.
furne of rose-the fitting e1pressl on
of a serene, benign and comely moral
nature. HeweYer handsome he Msy
have been when excited in battle or
debsse-and at such times. was told,
he seemed aR incarnation ofthe most
poetic conceptions of q valiant knight
it svrely was in his OVID home,
with his family and friends
around him, that he WAS seen at ais
best: and that best was the highest
po,nt of grace and refinement that
the Southern character hsseve1 'each'
Nh. Rdpssh tells ofhis great friend
ship for jefferson Davis, and con-
tinues:
But with this slightand inadequate
expression of my affection Tor Ar.
DAYS, must now rest content, IN or
der 20 stats Is clearly and tersely IS l
ms, why the o,6 Confederate chief
Tain never 'rspented, and why he
rever regarded himself as either a
rebel or = traitor, but secuted such
titles. whenever applied TO himself or
10 the Southern people, as q proof that
the ut,erer Of thom was llgnorant OF
constitutional law and OF the true ns'
;Urc OF the EcQeFal CulOh-
~ returned to Beauvoir and remain
ed ,hr-e or four months. assisting Mr..
Hayi. ic preparing Short History ol
N. Confederate States. After the last
psaos OF that work now in press) hao
Be en- ma!isd Mr. Davis consented tc
pref are for the sane publishers an e1'
tended autobiography if ] would re'
main to assist him. He had not pro
c.e6ed tar with his life before business
recalled ne North. Although | re-
tarned in a few weeks it was 100 late
as the mean time Mr.. Davis hac
visited his plantation at Briarhe!d
where he caught the malarial fever thai
ended in bis death.
SIN order to assist MI Davis with
the least friction and loss OF time, Il
became necessary at the beginning O.
NV work that should clear! y under
sand the State Rights doctrine as too
bv the Confederate leader. MI. DAVIS
therefore. gave re such Of his writ
iuas on the topic as embodied his psr
sonal views and also other argument
th.t be approved In addition to tnes'
documents had many and long con
yersations with Mr.. Davis until fol
competent to state the Southern theor.
without any doubt as to the correct
pe.s of uy understanding oft: In thi
paper I will present only such view
as Mr. Davis himself maintained, 5
il. understood that the language oni
If what follows IS mine; the statement
re those Of Mr.. Davis
"A traitor IS one who violate
his allegiance an4 hetrays his cour
t..
~-bel is one who revolts fro,
tbe country to which he owes sileg
NOV, from the Southern point
view, 20 secessionist violated his q
.syi.ncc O, betrayed his country. o'
cs1;se Re held tnat MS allegiance VIZ
,jna 70 his State, and he vas loyal
I'LL re