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COLONEL JOHN B. BROWNLOW
ADVISES PRESIDENT ROOSE
VELT TO CORRECT HIS ERRO
NEOUS STATEMENTS ABOUT
LEADING SOUTHERNERS.
In the interest of that “square
deal” which President Roosevelt has
so volubly advocated with tongue and
pen, but which he hasi done so little
to promote by his acts, I wish to say
a good word for the president.
When a young man of 28 he wrote
a book in which, in substance, he de
scribed Andrew Jackson as about the
most unworthy man who had ever oc
cupied the presidential office. Ac
cording to Historian Roosevelt the
occupancy of the white house by such
a man as the “hero of New Or
can government. That Ido not state
this too strongly, I could prove by
such copious extracts from his “Life
of Thomas H. Benton” that it would
require more of your space to insert
than I could ask you to grant me.
But I gladly acknowledge that in hi#
speech at Nashville on Jackson, Mr.
Roosevelt made the amende honor
able. He told the truth about our
great Tennesseean as he had learned
it since he wrote that book, twenty
two years ago, when he was in the
roasting ear age of his life, and for
so doing he has elevated himself in
the estimation of Tennesseeans. His
last words on Andrew Jackson have
been worthy of the great office he
holds.
His Attack on Davis.
Many years ago when Mr. Roose
velt was still a young man, he wrote
for a northern magazine an article on
Jefferson Davis, in which he charged
that “Mr. Davis in 1851 had advo
cated the repudiation of Mississippi’s
state debt, and not only was he a
repudiator of public debts, but that
he had repudiated his private debts.”
In other words, that Jefferson Davis
was dishonest in his private business
life. When this article appeared the
venerable widow of the Confederate
president wrote Mr. Roosevelt a po
lite letter, telling him that he had,
unwittingly, she supposed, done her
deceased husband injustice, that he
had never approved of the repudia
tion by Mississippi of its debt, and
that never before had any one charged
that her husband had repudiated or
attempted to repudiate, or failed to
pay his private debts, and she con
cluded her letter by respectfully re
questing him to give her his authority
for the charges he had made.
Instead of courteously replying,
giving her the name of his author,
Mr. Roosevelt wrote her: “Mr. Theo
dore Roosevelt declines to have any
correspondence with Mrs. Jefferson
Davis. ’ ’
I will here add that within a few
years after the close of the civil war,
when all manner of lies were pub
lished about Mr. Davis, such for ex
ample that “when captured he was
dressed in female attire,” it was pub
lished in a Northern newspaper or
magazine that he had advocated the
rcpudiatioa of kia State’s debt in
1850-1851. Promptly Mr. Davis re
plied, through the North American
Review, that “the charge that he had
ever favored the repudiation of his
State’s debt was false, and he chal
lenged proof to the contrary.” This
put a quietus on the charge.
Whatever Mr. Davis’ faults, the
greed for money was not among
them, nor was peisonal dishonesty a
trait of his character. His reputation
for personal integrity was unblem
ished. Prior to the civil war, though
not rich, “like the thrifty New York
Roosevelts,” he was in comfortable
financial circumstances and, being a
man of unostentatious and economic
al manner of living, and of high sense
of honor, neither necessity nor in
clination prompted him to swindle his
creditors.
“Who steals my purse, steals trash,
’tis something, nothing;
’Twas mine, ’tis his, and has been
slave to thousands.
But he that filches from me my good
name,
Robs me of that which not enriches
him
And makes me poor indeed.”
For many years after the close of
the civil war i spent every winter in
Washington, where I personally met
Sumner, Wade, Chandler, Cameron,
Chase, Stevens and other Republic
ans who were contemporaries of Da
vis, and had served with him in both
the Senate and House. I heard them
discuss his character. They disliked
him as a politician, considered him
as the chief of political sinners, but
said not a word in derogation of his
private character or personal integ
rity.
Ben Butler’s Opinions.
After the war General Benjamin F.
Butler, of Massachusetts, made a
speech in the House of Representa
tives in which he said that “Davis, as
the leader of the Confederate move
ment, ought to have been hanged.”
Hon. Samuel S. Cox, in reply, twitted
the doughty general, who never won
a battle, with having voted in the
Democratic national convention at
Charleston in 1860 for Jefferson Da
vis fifty-seven times as a presidential
candidate. I asked Butler why he
had so ardently supported Davis, and
if he was not embarrassed by what
Cox had said. Os course, it was a
foolish question for me to ask Butler
if anything could embarrass him, but
I did. He replied: “No sir; lam not
embarrassed; I am proud of having
voted as I did. Subsequent events
have vindicated my judgment. I be
lieved that Mr. Davis would be the
strongest, most available candidate
the Democratic party could run, and
if nominated he would defeat the Re
publican candidate. He could unite
the democracy North and South. 1
knew if Mr. Lincoln were elected we
would have secession and war, and
that I wished to avoid. That he was
stronger in the South than anybody
else was later shown by his election
as chief of the Confederacy. His ir
reproachable private life, his unblees-
W AYSON’S WEEKLY JEFFERSONIAN,
ished character for personal integrity
and his brilliant record as a soldie pl
would have made him a strong candi I I
date in the North.” Continuing, Mi ’ I
Butler said: “While secretary of wai f
between 1853 and 1857, Mr. Davis
made a tour of New England, speak
ing eloquently of the preservation of
the Union, and the constitution, and
receiving everywhere most enthusias
tic ovations.”
As an illustration of Davis’ high
sense of honor, Butler related to me
the following: He said, “Massachu
setts had a claim for several hun
dred thousand dollars against the
United {States government which was
nearly as old as the government it
self; that for more than a generation
congress had refused to pay it be
cause of the scarcity of money in the
treasury, and after that had refused
because of the age of L he claim.
Finally, when it was referred to a
committee in the Lnited States Sen
ate, of -.vh'ch Mr. Davis was chair
man, the latter made a thorcugi? in
vestigaii n and a bu and
made a speeca win a forced cht Sen
ate to pus it. Mr. Davis insisted
that the claim was just, and sail
that no lapse of time should he made
a bar to the payment by the govern
ment of a just claim, as nef l?onox
able man would seek to avoid pay
ment of a private lebt by pleading
the statute of limitations. Suca
was the character of Jefferson Davis
for integrity.”
While recently in Mississippi Mr.
Roosevelt favorably mentioned Mr.
Davis for his gallantry at Buena Vis
ta. It did not need Mr. Roosevelt’s
testimony to establish that General
Zachary Taylor, commander-in-chief,
and every other officer and soldier in
that battle, freely acknowledged that
Davis, as colonel of the First Missis
sippi Rifles did more to win. that bat
tle, which made Taylor president of
the United States, than did any other
officer. And when the conqueror of
Napoleon, the Duke of Wellington,
read how four thousand volunteers
and five hundred regulars had routed
at Buena Vista an army of twenty
two thousand well-armed and drilled
men under experienced officers, he
said: “It was one of the most won
derful victories in all history.”
What He Was Advised to Do.
I advised Mr. Roosevelt to make
the amende honorable nearly three
years ago when my attention was
first called to the matter. This is
w’hat General Jackson and General
Grant would have done, hard fighters
and stubborn men as they were. The
first officer to scale the Indian forti
fication at the battle of the Horse
Shoe was Col. William King, of Sul
livan county, Tennessee. In his of
ficial report of the battle Gen. Jack
son did not do full justice to Col.
King. The latter, a hot-headed and
intrepidly brave man, challenged
Jackson to a duel because he had not
done his regiment and himself jus
tice. “Old Hickory” replied he
would net accept the challenge; he
“he thought his courage was suf
■ iciently established to make it un
| lecessary he should fight a duel when
llhere was no necessity for it, and
’he knew Col. King’s was. He admit
ted that in the pressure of business
he had not done justice to Col. King
and his regiment, but said it was an
inadvertence, and he would remedy
the omission in a subsequent report,”
and he did. And many years there
after, when he became president, he
had the magnanimity to appoint Col.
King governor of the territory of
Florida.
Gen. Grant, while president, decid
ed adversely to the petition of Gen.
Fitz John Porter for restoration to
the regular army, from which he had
been cashiered during the civil war
by a court-martial influenced by par
tisan considerations. Subsequently
he frankly acknowledged he had erred
from lack of information, and on hia
earnest recommendation congress
passed a bill restoring Gen. Porter to
the army.
Mr. Roosevelt makes the mistake
of supposing that the people of the
United States will place a lower es
timate on him if he frankly acknowl
edged that he had erred.
On the contrary, the people know
that he is not infallible, and if he
would acknowledge in a manly way
where he has done palpable injustice
they would have more respect both
for his judgment and honesty.
JNO. B. BROWNLOW.
Knoxville, Nov. 1, 1907.
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