The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1891-02-12
JEFFERSON DAVIS TREATMENT.

cruelty 20 her husband Wllne prisoner NJ
Fortress Monroe by General Nelson A. Miles,
commandment Of the post at that time. have
called forth a number Of indignant deiiials
from that officer and his friends. They even
90 50 far as TO deny that Mr.. Davis was sub
iected to any inconvenience Of moment
whatever much less indignity and outrage,
and to read their story one would think that
the life of the ex-President in his casemate
cell was one more of dignifed leisure than
that of hated prisoner Of State.
Unfortunately for the veracity of these
friends Of Miles however. there is evidence
against them which even they cannot dis
pute. For instance, there is DR.. Craven's
Prison Life Of Jefferson Davis" which tells
plainly the story Of their shame and it comes
from Il source impossible for them 10 ignore.
DR.. Craven was then a surgeon III the United
States army, stationed at Fortress Monroe,
and II is 10 be presumed that he had no more
friendly feelings towards Mr.. Davis
than did the average Northern man
aud army officer, who felt for the
exPresident only the most malignant
hate on account Of the severe humiliation the
Southern forces had so frequently inflicted
upon the Northern arms. Yet he. IN his book,
corroborates fully the account given by Mrs.
Davis of her husbands ill-treatment. He not
only describes that piece Of deyilish work. the
forging Of manacles, by three great strapping
fellows. a blacksmith and two armed soldiers.
upon the limbs Of a feeble and helpless old
gentlemen. but he tells Of the even more ter
rible suffering TO which he was subjected
by having a sentinel at watch over him at all
hours with orders 10 keep ulis-eye lantern
turned constantly upon the prisoners face.
No Commche Indian ever lived 10 invent so
ingenious system of malignant torture than
that adopted by the authorities Of great,
powerful and victorious nation against Jeiier-
son Davis while prisoner of State, because
he had been the President Of the Southern
Confederacy in It's great four-year fight for
Southern rights and Southern independence
against the combined forces # the world.
OF course, General Miles and the Northern
press will deny these charges. now so I'M
happily, perhaps, revived They will deny
them Just as they deny that barbarities were
exercised towards all southern prisoners IN
Northern prisons during the war. They
would have, if it were possible posterity to
believe that the inhumanity was confined to
Libby, Belle Iele and Andersonyille, while
these unhappy unfortunates at Johnston's
Island and Point Lookout were being treated
as distinguished guests. But the poor enact
ated Southern prisoners had different tale
to tell, both in looks and words, on Their re-
turn to their homes, while a few years ago,
when Mr.. Blaine present Secretary Of state,
was rash enough to touch on the same subject
in the United States Senate, he was taught So
severe lesson by Hon. Ben Hill, of Georgia.
that he has not vcntured since TO tread upon
such dangerous ground. 1t has been recorded
upon the pages Of the Congressional Record
that the Senator from Georgia then informed
the Senator from Maine Of what, il may be,
he did not before know, namely: That despite
the charges Of brutality at Andersonville, the
Northern prisoners there confined were treated |
as well, and even better, than were South |
EN- heroes then in the field under
going the hardships Of war and |
fighting the battles Of the South and that all
the suiierings the prisoners had to endure
were chargeable direct to Generals Grant and
Sherman and the authorities at Washington,
who, in the face Of protests of the Confeder-
ate Government. refused all oyertures for ex-
change. These facts, and the additional |
ones that mortality in Northern was greater
than in the Southern prisons. were all brought |
ont in that famous controversy, which ended |
in Mr. Blaine's summary dropping the sub |
iect and anxiously consenting to its indefinite |
postponement.
The plain truth of the matter regarding Mr.. |
Davis is that after his capture and imprisOn-
ment in Fortress Monroe the Northern au-
thorities found they had white elephant Oh |
their hands They did not dare, and never |
have dared although he courted the test-tO |
bring him TO trial. for they knew that if |
the constitutional right of the South |
t. dissolve the compact made with the |
Federal Union were subjected to legal scrutiny, |
even the Supreme Court of the United States |
as then constituted would be forced TO decide |
against the North and vindicate the South in |
the person of jefferson Davis. The only pos |
sible solution Of the difficulty presented to |
them was Mr.. Davis death. and as that could |
not be judicially accomplished, it was neces-
sary to try and worry his life out of him as a |
cat worries the life out Of mouse. The great |
trouble in their way, however, was that Mr. |
Davis, seeing their scheme, refused 10 die, but |
lived on solely through the force Of his will.
These are facts Unpleasant they may be. |
but facts still and historical facts at that. All |
the denials that Miles and his friends can ut
ter cannot change them. and they will stand
throughout ages to come, for the ediication
and instru ton OF future generations Aud the
more they are discussed and revived. the worse
il will inevitably be for the North and It's
would-be indicators.
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