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THE WASHINGTON GAZETTE.
JAS. A. WRIGHT, AGENT,
THE WABHW6TON 6AHTTB,
T*jou—Three DotLirs a year, io advance.
jeftosoh iuvib n qm<
The Prison Link on Jefferson Davis
—By Lt. Col. John J. Craven, M. D,
late Surgeon U. S. Volunteers and Phy
aieian of Uie Prisoner. Carleton: New
York.
We make no apology for haring de*
voted so much epaoe, in oar paper, to
the prison history of Mr. Daria, believing
that we ean in no way contribute so much
to the gratification of readers. The work
will no doubt soon be for sale by our book
sellers, when all may satisfy the desire,
sharpened by tbs extracts we have given,
to read the work entire. It is a remarka
ble volume, and though apparently trench
ing on strict propriety, is written with such
admirable taste and judgment as to violate
in no way the trust imposed in the confi
dential relations existing between the illus
trious prisoner and his biographer.
BE AVERS THE FURRY OF IUB MOTIVES.
“They charge me with crime, Doctor,
but God knows my innocence. I indorsed
ao measure that'was not justified by the
lawt of war. Failure if all forms of guilt
in one, to men who occupied my position.
Should I die, repeat this for the sake of my
dear wife, and poor darling children.
Tell the world I only loved Ameriea, and
that in following my State I was only car
rying out doctrines received from reveren
ced lips in my early youth, and adopted by
my judgment as the convictions of riper
years.”
Mr. Davis spoke with intense earnestness
—the solemnity of a dying man, though
not then in my judgment, in any immedi
ate danger. ilia words, as quoted, were
taken down on my return to quarters, and
are here given for what each roader may
think them worth. They certainly impres
sed me as sincere, and as if—whether true
or not, judged by the ataodard of law—
the speaker uttered them iu the good faith
of a religious mao, who thought death
might'possibly be.near, if not imminent and
certain.
CRITICAL STATE OF nEAI.TH.—VITIATES
AIR THE CAUSE.
September I.—Was called at daylight
by Gmpt. T.(h>w, officer of. the day, to tee,
State prisoner D»v*, ’WhoVppeared" rapidly
sinking, and ws * believed in a critical con
dition. The carbuncle was much inflamed,
bis pulse indicating extreme prostration of
the vita! forces. Thoerysipelastwhioh had
subsided now re-appeared, and the febrile
excitement ran very high. Prescribed such
remedies, constitutional and topical, as ware
indicated; but always bad much trouble to
persu .de him to use the stimulants so ur
gently needed by his condition. Let me
here say, however, that in docility and a
strict adherence to whatever regimen was
prescribed, Mr. Dsvia waa.the model patient
of my practice, lie seemed to regard the
doctor as captain of the patient's health,
and obeyed every direction, however irk
some, disagreeable, or punful, with milita
ry exactness.
Mr. Davis renewed bis complaints of the
vitiated atmosphere of the casemate, de
claring it to be noxious and pestilential
from the causes before noticed. Mould
gathered upon bis shoes, showing the damp
ness oftire -place; and no animal life could
Mospdf in ui atmosphere that granted
these hfrpbometoas fungi. From the ris
ifaantf fefcing of the tides in the loose
cf the casemate, mephitic fun
ilft tis in .[l. the sports of which, floating
BmMnnrs thrown off in such quan-
Hpies, incessant repetitions of ro
ttpdtHffioßs, as to thoroughly pervade the
ottering the lungs and blood
r redeveloping their
the citadel of life.
<Om of {fosse fungi were ebar
4pteri»iio jpf noosphere in which
a»4 other *» *f plague were
(trial vankiy genera^, as La«l been eatafo
ttdhttr fcytfes Rev. W'- in a long
Wresting ser,«s of experimental re
•UMlips with the microscope
dsukSC tlto cholera visitation .>f 1854 In
Eedbwd. Men in rolrnrt Wto mUrf
deiythese mimmatic Snftueffinj; b'*
him so physically reduced ,Ae nt. »o*
phere that generated mould found no vk
tal force sufficient to resist its poisonous
inhalation.
BIS VIEWS OF THE FUTURE OF THE SOUTH.
Speaking of the negroes, Mr. Davie re
marked, as regards their future, be saw no
reason why they must die out, unless re
maining idle. If herded together in idle
nma and filth, as in the villages established
by our military power, the small-pox, licen
tiousness and drunkenness would make
short work of them. Whenever so herded,
they bad died off like sheep with- the -mur
rain. Bat remaining an the plantations,
as heretofore, and employed for wagee,
they were a doedt and procreative people,
altogether differing from the Indians, and
not Ikely to die out like the latter. Their
labor was needed, and though they could
not jgijlliply sg fori in freedom s> under
WASHINGTON, WILKES COUNTY, GA-, FRIDAY MORNING, JULY 18,1866.
their wholesome restraints, he saw no good
argument for their dying out.
In ten years, or perhaps less, the South
will have recovered the pecuniary lossee of
the war. It has but little capital iu manu
factories. Its capital was in land and ne
groes. The land remains productive as ev
er. The negro remains, but thejr labor
baa to be paid for. Before the war there'
had been 4,000,000 negroes, average value,
8500 each, or total value, two thousand
millions of dollars. This was all gone,
and the interest upon it, which bad been
the profits of the negro’s labor in ex
cess of bis coat for food, clothing and med
cines. Still their labor remains; and with
this and such European labor as will be
imported, such Northern labor as must
flow South, the profits of the Southern
staples will not be long io restoring mate
rial prosperity.
In his freedom, if capable of being made
to labor at all, the negro will not average
more than six bales a year; but as the
price of cotton has more than doubled, and
is not liksly to recede, even this wilt yield
an enormous profit. Six bales, of 400
pounds each, will be worth 8600 at twenty
five cents per pound, while the cost of this
species of labor will be about 8150 a year
per band found—a profit of cetainly not
less then 8300 a year on each blaok labor
er employed.
The land will not pass to any great ex
teat from its former proprietors. They
will lease it for a few years to men with
capital, and then resume working it them
selves ; or sell portions of it with tame ob
ject, not materially decreasing their own
poeessions. When the country is quiet,
and profits of the crop come to bo known,
there will be a rush southward from the
sterile New England regions and from Eu
rope, ecly equalled by that to California on
the discovery of gold. Men will not stay
in the mountains of Vermont and New
Hampshire cultivating little farms of from
fifty to a hundred acros, only yielding them
some few hundreds a year profit for inces
sant toil, when the rich lands of the South,
under skies as warm and blue as those of
Italy, and with an atmosphere as exhilara
ting as that of France, are tbrowo open at
from a dollar and a half to three dollars
per acre. The water power of the South
will be brought into use by this new immi
gration and manufactuiit* will spring in all
r
HIS TREATMENT OF PRISONERS.
Mr. Davis remarked that when bis tray
of breakfast bad been brought in one
morning he overheard some soldiers in the
guard room outside commenting on the
food given our prisoners during the late
war. To hold hint responsible for this was
worse then absurd—criminally false. For
the last two years of the war, Lee's army
had never more than half, and was oftener
on quarter rations of rusty bacon and
oorn. It was yet worse with other South
ern armies when operating in a country
which bad been campaigned over any time.
Sherman with a front of thirty or forty
miles, breaking ioto anew country, found
no trouble in procuring food; but had he
halted anywhere, even for a single week,
must have starved. Marching every day,
his men eat out anew section, and left be
hind them a starving wilderness.
Colonel Northrop, hi* Commissary-Gen
eral, had many difficulties to contend with;
and, not least, the incessant hostility of cer
tain opponents of his administration, who,
by striking at Northrop, really meant to
strike at him. Even General , other
wise so moderate and conservative, was in
duced to join this injurious clamor. There
was food in the Confederacy, bnt no
means for its collection, the holders hiding
it after the currency bad become deprecia
ted ; and, if collected, then came the diffi
culty of its transportation. Their railroads
wereover-taxed, and the roiling stock soon
gave out. They could not feed their own
troops; and prisoners of war in all coun
tries and ages bare canes of complaint.
Some of his people confined in the West
B Rd st Lookout Point, had been nearly
starved at certain times, though be well
knew, or well believed, full prison rations
had becn-ordered and paid for in these clas
’set*
Jlcrd men together in idleness within an
arms taken from them, tbeir
< /gpafcatiai*' lost, without employment for
t you will find it difficult to
keep them • good health. Tbyc-Were or
dered t« r* ive precisely the same rations
given to A' troops guarding them; bnt'
dishonest t, » . i*saries and Provost Mar
shals wet's, %' ‘ -nfaed to any people.
Doubtless tfo- cm both aides often
suffered thpf Ac ifth-ra,jiving charge of
them might rjrii, bat wherever such
dishonesty could be brought borne, prompt
punishment followed. General Winder
and Colonel Northrop did the beat they
could, he believed; but both were poorly
obeyed or seconded by their subordinates.
To bold him responsible for such nnanthor
ixed privations was both cruel and absurd.
He orderafter order on the subject,
and, cOnscfoui # the/«»r«Sl*d»SeuU* .of
feeding tb»
al offers for exchange—almost willing to
accept any terms that would release his
people from their burden. Non-exchange,
however, was tbs policy adopted by the
Federal Government—just as Austria, in
her campaigns against Frederick the
Great, refused to exchange; her calcula
tion being, that as her population was five
- times more numerous than Prussia’s, the
refusal of exchange would be a wise meas
ure. That it may have been prudent,
though inhuman, situated as the South
was, he was not prepared to deny; but pro
tested against being held responsible for
evils which no power of his could avert,
and to escape from which almost any con
cessions had been offered.
WHAT CONSTITUTES 4 REBEL.
Mr. Davis said it was ooalrary to reason
and the law of nations to trait as a rebel
lion or lawless riot s movement which had
been the deliberate action of an entire
people, through their duly organized State
governments. To talk of treason in the
South, was to oppose ao Matrary epithet
against the authority of all writers of in
ternational law. Vattel deduces from his
study of all former precedent—and all
subsequent international jurists have agreed
with him—thet when a Ration separates
into two parts, each claiming independence,
and both or either setting up anew gov
ernment, their quarrel, should it come to
trial by arms, or by diplomacy, shall be re
garded and settled precisely as though it
were a difference between two separate na
tions, which the divided sections, de facto,
have become. Each must observe the
laws of war ic the treatment of captives
taken in the battle, aud such negotia
tions as may, from time to time arise
shall be conducted as between indepen
dent and sovereign powers. Mere riots,
or conspiracies for lawless objects, in which
only limited fractions of a people are irreg
ularly engaged, may be properly treated as
treason, aud punished as tb. publio good
may require ; but Edmund .Turks had ex
hausted argument on the subject, in his
memorable phrase, applied to the first
Amerioan movement for independence: ‘I
know not how an indiotmput against a
whole people shall bo framed
But for Mr. Linooln’s untimely death,
Davis thought, there could Jiive been do
question raised ufes*.-4bojMity#w,, That
event —more a calamity t«#’ .) South than
-North, ttma.»»Ljp«n»Sm l Sfofo. r<gtg»K
piring bad ijijbunes popular passions to'
the highest pitch, aud made Aha people of
the seotion which had lost tifoir chief now
seek as an equivalent the life of the chief
of the section conquered. This was an
impulse or passion, not a conclusion which
judgment or justice could support.
MR. DAVIS ON FEDERAL GENERALS.
To my question what bethought of Gen
eral Grant, Mr. Davis replied that he was a
great soldier beyond doubt, but of anew
school. If he had not started with an en
ormous account in bank, bis checks would
have been dishonored before this culmina
tion was reached. At Shiloh he was de
feated tbo first day, and would have been
destroyed or compelled to surrender next
morning but for Buell’s timely arrival with
a fresh and well disciplined reinforcement,
the strength of which had teen variously
stated.
When Secretary of War, he thought
McClellsn the ablest officer In the army
and had employed him on two important
services—as Military Commissioner iu. the
Crimes, and to explore a routs for the Pa
cific Kail Road—both of which duties,
bad been discharged in a manner to
increase his reputation. Jla organized the
Army of the Potomac admirably, but it
required a'commander of more dash to
wield the weapon in the field! McClellan’s
caution amounted closely to timidity—
moral timidity, for he was penonally brave.
On his first laoding on the Peninsula there
bad been only seven thousand troops to
meet him, and these he should have rushed
upon and overwhelmed at whatever cost.
Cautious, and wishing to spare the blood
of bis men, be commenced a regular siege,
at Yorktown, giving bis enemies time to
concentrate sufficient numbers and drive
bimback. Asa magnanimous enemy he.
respected McClellan, bnt thought he bad
been promoted too rapidly for bis own
good—before he had ripened in command
and gained the experience requisite, for the
supreme position. Ilsd be been kept in a
subordinate capacity the two first Years
of the war, rising from • » division to a
corps, and thence to command in chief, be
would have been the'greatesg of our sol
diers. He had the best natural .gifts and
highest intellectual training,tml was just
.becoming fitted, and best fittod, for. bis po
sition when removed. Had he been •sup
ported by the government hfr might, have
taken Richmond two years earlier, and it
was with joy Mr. Davis hoard qf His removal
after the battle of South Mountain and
Anlictnra. Such sacrifices of officers to
the ignorance of an unwariifce {jeOpli, anx
ious to find in him a scapegoat" for tbeir
own lack of discipline or endurance, were
unavoidable in the early stages of every
popular scat, . r *
Pope, while Secetary of War, he had
never been able to make serviceable, and
Pope held bis own gallantly. His mind
was not less inflated than his. body. He
was a kind of American gascon, but with
scientific attainments. Summer and Sedg
wick were gallant and able soldiers—excel
lent commanders in notion, courteous and
reliable in all the relations of life. Hun
ter, oi whom I asked him specialy as one
of my old commanders, was his beau ideal
of the military gentleman—the soul of in
tegrity, intrepidity, true Christian piety,
and honor. Mr. Davis had long been asso
ciated with him, both in the service, and
socially, and believed Hunter’s want of
sucoess due in a great measure to his un
willingness to bend to anything mean or
sinister. He was rasb; impulsive; a man
of action rather than thought; yielding to
passions which he regarded as divine in
stinots or intuitions—the mental temper of
a devotee or fanatic.
HIS ESTIMATE OF CONFEDERATE GENERALS.
Os the officers of the Confederate side,
Mr. Davis spoke in high terms of Gener
al Lae, as a great soldier, and pure, Chris
tian gentleman; also, in praise of Bragg
and Pemberton, though the two latter,
from unavoidable circumstances, snd the
hostility of the party opposed to Mr. Da
vis had not been accorded the position due
to their talents by publio opinion in either
Bectiou. Pemberton made a splendid de*
fence of Vioksburg, and might have been
relieved if the officer commanding the
army'sent to relieve him (General Johnson)
had not failed to obey the positive orders
to attack General Grant which Mr. Seddon
then Secretary of War, had sent. If the
same officer, who was upheld in command
by the anti-administration party, had vig
orously attacked Sherman at Atlanta
when direoted, the fortunes of the] war
would have been changed, and Sherman
burled bank to Nashville, over a sterile and
wasted country—bis retreat little leas dis*
aatrous than Napoleon’s from Moscow.
Ha did not do so, snd was relieved—Gen
eral Hood, a true and spirited soldier, taking
his place—but the opportunity was then
gone; and to this delay, more than to
any other cause, the Southern people will
attribute tbeir overthrow, when history
comes to be truly written.
Bragg's victory w ttosocrsw st Chio
amauga .Mr. Davii regarded as one of
„ Tfrr TwstjtevwnwwSw of to*.
' tsar eom'upS&iftwM disparity of the forces.
TbesdMPP concentration of Grant and
Hooker with Rosecianz and the victory
of their combined foroes at Lookout
Mountain, was the result of sn audacity
or despiration whioh no military prudent'
could hero forseen. So confident was
Bragg in the iropregnabiility of his posi
tion, that immediately after Gbicamauga.be
detaohed Longstreet, with 16,000 men—
about a third of his entire foroe—to make
a demonstration against Knoxville, thus in
directly tbeatening Grant’s communication
with Nashville. Bragg’s position was final
ly carried by tbo ovewhelming nunjdersof
the enemy. Opponents of the adinistrstion
censured Bragg for detaching Longstreet,
but the subsequent events which made that
movement unfortunate were of a character
which no prudenco could have foreseen, no
military calculation taken into view as,
probable.
All such reflections ware idle, however
concluded Mr. Davis, and he must not be
again betrayed into their indulgence.
Success is yirtue and defeat crime. This
is the philosophy of life—st least the only
one the great Masses of mankind feel ready
to accept. Woe to the conquered it is
no less a popular cry in the nineteenth cen
tury than when the barbarians first yelled
it as they swarmed with dripping swords
to the sack of Rome.
DAVIS OH HIS CAPTURE.
On leaving Richmond he went first to
Danville, because it was intended that Lee
should have moved in that direction, fall
ing back to make s junction with John
ston's force in’ the direction of Roanoke
River. Grant, however, pressed forward
so rapidly," and swung so far around, that
Lee was obliged to retreat in the direction
of Lynobburg with his main force while his
vanguard, which arrived st Danville, insis
ted on falling back and making the rally
ing point at Charlotte in North Carolina.
In Danville Mr. Davis learned of Lee's
surrender. Immediately started for Golds
boro’, where be met and had a consulta
tion with General Johnston, thence going
on South. A,t Lexington be received a
dispatch from Johnston requesting that the
Secretary of War (General Breckinridge)
should repair to his headquarters near Ral
eigh— Geheral Sherman Laving submited a
proposition for laying down arms which
was too comprehensive in itsscope for any
meTe military commander to decide upon.
Breckjnridge and Postmaster-General Rea
gao immediately started for Johnston's
camp, where Sherman submitted the terms
of surrender on which ao armistice was de
clared—the same terms subsequently dis
approved by the autboritiei at Washing
ton, -
One of the features of the proposition
YOL. I.—NO. I*.
submitted by!General Sherman was 5 de
claration of amnesty to all persons, both
eivil and military. Notice being called
to the fact particularly, Sherman said: "I
mean just that," and gave as his reason
that it was the only way to have period
peace. He had previously offered to filr
a vessel to take away any suoh persons as
Mr. Davis might select, to be freighted
with whatever personal property they
might want to take with them, ana to go
wherever it pleased.
Field-Marshall BeneDeß, the Aus
trian Comwandkr-jn-ChCS?.—BebMh,
May 26.—The military correspondent sis
the Kolniche Zeitung has lately given soma
information respecting Field-Marshall Ben*
edek, which possesses considerable interest
from the important part that he will proba
bly play in the approaohing campaign. He
says that Benedek is not to be looked np*
on with a loving eye by the Austrian no
bility, who regard him as a mere porvmue.
Unfortunately, there is ao Austrian general
who was not beaten in 1859, snd conse
quently Beaedek has become so unpleasant
necessity, in spite of his want of aristoora*
tio birth. When the Emperor offered him
the command of the Army of the Nortb f
he consented to accept it only under cer
tain conditions. The first of these was
that it should consist of 890,060 men.
He is reported to have said that the Prus
sians were a dangerous, and for the time *
more hated, enemy than the Italians, and
that the only proper plan was to attack
them with suoh overwhelming foroe, sad
to deal them such colossal blows, as to
crush them in the first instanoe. Hie
Prussian needle gun and rifled cannon
would probably occasion the Austrians ve
ry severe losses, but that the latter most
push on regardless of any saorifieo of life,
however great, In Italy, on the other
hand, Austria should at first sot on the de
fensive, and only after Prussia had been
thoroughly vanquished, Silesia reoonquerej
and Berlin burned to the ground should
Austria direct her victorious armies to tha
south and settle her account with Italy.
Ii would appear from this that Eenedek is
a General of the School of Gen. Grant.
The Emperor has agreed to this condition,
and iq consequence the army intended to
operate against Prussia will oonsist of aey*
en complete army corps, in addition to %
strong cavalry rc«erya whereas the <w.tu
ern army will consist of only three army
hare been a somewhat bitter pill for an *
Imperial Hapsbnrg, but it has bean swal
lowed nevertheless. It was, namely, that
no arohduke should be present with the.
army. None of the archdukes are regar
ded as prodigies of military genius and
they will sooordingly do garrison duty in
fortresses of the south. Hjs third condi
tion was that be should select all the offi
cers of his staff, which, from his known
proclivities, is nearly equivalent to the ex
clusion of Germans from suoh important
commissions. Correspondence London
Star,.
■ • ’ TJ
A Romance of this Liverpool E*.-
change.— As illustrative of the business
which produced the late panic in England,
the following story is told of one of the,
great firm in Liverpool:
“The firm in question have recently
compounded with tbeir oreditors for a sum.
under ten shillings in the pound, and in
five instalments, extending over about
eigbeen months. There is, however, just
a probability that they may again be placed
in a position to resume business and pay
tbeir debts in full. It appears that their,
chief losses have been in cotton, whioh is
now, of course, relatively at a great depre
ciation. They purchased some time ago,
either in Araerioa or Egypt a very exten
sive shipment of cotton, at about the high
est price of the market at the time. The
ootton was insured to its full value, but
the chip on board which it was stowed,
though considerably overdue, has not yA
arrived at this country. If the vestal is
is lost, therefore, the underwriters will have
to pay over the full marketable value of
the cotton st the time it was porehosed,
and the firm will be enabled not only to
pay tbeir debts in full, but to realize a
handsome surplus. Should the vesessel
and her cargo yet arrive in safety, the
firm will be compelled to adopt tbecom
positon above described. Persons at a
distance from the centers of commer
cial excitement and cpeculatlon perhap
hardly realize the effects of a sudden
fdepreciation or rise in cotton, but wa may
statute as an illustration that in the cose of
a vessel which recently arrived io Liverpool
from Bombay, laden with cotton, depre
ciation iu the value of this single oargo
amounted to £63,000.
The man who. made a shoe for the foot
of a mountain is now engaged on a hat
for the head of a discourse—after whick
be will manufacture a plume for Gen. Intel
ligence.
What relation is the door-mat to till
scraper? A stop father,