Year: 1875




Some time since the Committee of the Win
nebago County Agricultural Fair, in Illinois,
invited Jefferson Davis to visit the fair and
deliver an address, Mr.. Davis accepted this
offer in graceful and courteous letter. say
ing that it would afford him great pleasure
to visit a country that he had not seen since
it was a wilderness. AS soon as the announce
ment was made there were many expressions
of indignation on the part of those truly
loyal men of the North who regret that the
war ended before the destruction of every
citizen in the South. We learn from Chicago
that meeting was held at Rockford, ILL.,, by
the Grand Army of the Republic, at which
resolutions were passed to the effect that it
was an insult to the loyal citizens of Winnie
bago to 'invite the arbitrator jeff Davis
to address the relatives and surviving friends
of thirteen thousand men murdered at Ander-
sonville alone by his orders" They say,
furthermore, that they will not attend the
fair nor do anything toward making it
success if the Board brings forward this
''archtraitor and coward"


When we heard that Mr.. Davis had ac-
cepted the invitation to visit Illinois and
deliver an agricultural address we were graft
fed. 1t was kindly thing on the part of
the farmers of Illinois to invite Mr.. Davis. 1t
was a courteous thing for the ex-Presdent of
the Confederacy to accept it. good deal of
bitterness that belongs to the recent war un-
Justly centres around the person of Mr.
of h.
of the Republic is an illustration of this in
justice. If Jefferson Davis is an unwelcome
guest at Northern agricultural fair then no
other Southerner who fought in the war can
DO welcomed. We do not see whore the
members of the Grand Army Of the Repub-
lie draw the line between jefferson Davis and
General Longstreet, unless in this that Mr.
Davis preferred to cherish the convictions
with which he entered the rebellion, while
General Longstreet, with more wisdom and
courage, has accepted the doctrines Of the re-
publican party. Mr.. Davis was no more
responsible for the rebellion in the South than
any one of thousand other men. In fact,
before the war; while the question of seces-
sion was under discussion, he was among the
more moderate of the Southern leaders.
There were twenty members and Senators in
the Congress which preceded the rebellion
more active than Mr. Davis in bringing about
hostlities and Snore responsible for the
result. Mr.. Davis and his colleagues in that
Congress followed public opinion in the
South, and did not lead it. Mr.. Davis was
put at the head of the Confederacy simply
because he had more character than most of
the Southern leaders. Even as it was the
Confederate Congress almost elected Mr..
Toombs, of Georgia. The election of Davis
wGs the expression of u conservative senti-
ment even in the Southern Confederacy. As
President of the Confedcracy Mr.. Davis did
/ his duty as we'll as he knew how. He did
what any other Southern leader would have
done in the same place. He stood by his
post TO the end When he fell he fell with
the Confcderacy. Therefore, to deal with Mr..
Davis as in any way more responsible for the
rebellion than any one of the conspicuous
men of the South before the war is to do him
great injustice and ourselves discredit.


The wisdom of Mr.. Davis coming into n
uDntilc community w utllNtT " lccLUrG upon
any subject might be questioned 1t is prob
ably tho penalty which he and all men like
him who have held supreme station in rebel
lion must pay, that he must accept failure as
closing to him any opportunity for display
or Advancement We think it would baye
been gracious thing for the people of Illi-
nois to have accepted his act in the spirit
which prompted it, These members OF tho
Grand Army of the Republic represent only
the dismal memories Of tho war, This or