From The New-York Times August 16, 1863:
Jeff. Davis’ Private Letters.
The country will be interested and amused, if not instructed, by the letters received by JEFF. DAVIS from all sections and all sorts of men during the secession Winter, and which have been recently brought to light by the progress of our armies in the Southwest. We are rather surprised not to find in any of those which came from the North the injunction, “Destroy my communications, as I shall yours,” with which WEBSTER, the Treasury-note swindler, closes his circular to his victims. Certainly, if any of the writers had thought that his letter would ever be shown up in this way, he would have been most earnest to have it destroyed; or, rather, if he had a grain of common sense, he would never have written at all, “for there is nothing concealed that shall not be made known.” We hardly know which characteristics are more remarkably displayed in these documents, the ignorance and subserviency of those who wrote to DAVIS from the North, or the arrogance and deadly earnestness of his Southern friends.
A Professor in a New-York College writes in December, 1860, to propose a new scheme which he thinks would secure “everything which the Southern States desire.” He says: “Let the Territories remain free from Slavery while Territories. When the Territories become States, let them then or at any future time have the privilege of introducing Slavery at their own election.” This scheme, which differs but slightly from our old acquaintance Squatter Sovereignty, in that it assured the freedom of the Territories until they became States, the Professor says “may have already been presented,” but he had not seen it, and he therefore takes the liberty of suggesting it, prefacing his communication by the statement — “My sympathies are entirely with the South.” He should have known that the result of the experiment in Kansas had convinced the South that even if Freedom was not assured to the Territories, but Slavery was allowed an equal chance there, there was no hope of success, and that the Southern mind was made up to demand that Freedom should not even be put on an equal footing with Slavery. For a Professor, he does not seem to have been well posted. …
Mr. LAMAR, of Mississippi, rejoices over the victory at the recent election of “the friends of Southern independence, of firm and bona fide resistance,” and congratulates his leader in the conspiracy that now “any concession by the North Will fail to restore that sacred attachment to the Union which was once so deeply radicated in the hearts of our people.” We cannot but hope that GRANT’s guns and the victories which our gallant soldiers have won upon Mississippi soil, and even the ruins of her Capital, may be the means of renewing at least for the children of these people what concession would have been unable to restore to them.
We can hardly help envying sometimes the future historian of these dark and disturbed days — not that his toil will be a light one, for it will be a herculean task to overhaul the immense mass of information which has been and is yet to be gathered. But he will have opportunities for judging more fairly than we can, for getting behind the scenes, for knowing what were the secret springs and the underground courses of action, many of which are as yet for us but matters of conjecture. Such correspondence as this will then be invaluable, outweighing columns of partisan speeches and public writings. We are glad that these letters have been saved from perishing.
