Replies

Here is one of his speeches in 1858.
Speech of Jefferson Davis before the Mississippi Legislature, Nov. 16, 1858

You did not provide a speech, or even a quote from said speech. I am not taking homework assignments today. As you found nothing in the speech worth citing or quoting, I find nothing in it worth reading.

In short, you provided a quote as imaginary as that of Rick Blaine in Casablanca: "Play it again Sam." Everybody has heard it, but Rick never said it.
This quote is consistant with other quotes made at the time, but I understand your skeptism. We'll drop it.

You mean you provided a quote from 1861 that is fictional so let's drop it. When challenged to provide any evidence that the words were actually stated by Jefferson Davis, you only provided a search link to part of the text. The closest the search returns come to providing provenance is sourcing to Chargles G. Halpine, a notorious alcoholic and fabulist.

Your bogus "quote" is not consistent with real quotes which can be sourced to Jefferson Davis. Neither does your quote referencing “negroes’ fidelity” appear in the letter of October 11 in the Papers of Jefferson Davis (13 vols).

Now compare his defense of slavery, and paragraph 7 in particular, to the quote you posted from 1865.
"I hope the negroes' fidelity will be duly rewarded and regret that we are not in a position to aid and protect them. There is, I observe, a controversy which I regret as to allowing negroes to testify in court. From brother Joe [Joseph Davis], many years ago, I derived the opinion that they should be made competent witnesses, the jury judging of their credibility. (Jefferson Davis: Private Letters 1823-1889, selected and edited by Hudson Strode, New York: De Capo Press, 1995, reprint, p. 188)
Let's see if you understand now.

The quote by Hudson Strode is obviously taken from the Memoir by Varina Davis, Volume 2. All but the first four of the Varina Davis “excerpts” are not from the letter of October 11th as claimed. Varina Davis made an erroneous attribution and Hudson Strode copied it and repeated it. The excerpt about the release of John Mitchel is time-wise impossible as he was not released until October 29th. Everything after Excerpt 4 is from some other source. What Varina Davis attributed to a letter of October 11 is not in that letter.

Varina Howell Davis, Memoir Vol. 2, 1890, 1990 ed., pp. 720-28. The Varina Davis Memoir, published in 1890, is in the public domain.

Papers of Jefferson Davis (PJD) , volume 12, June 1865 - December 1870, Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge, 2008, pp. 32-36. I am unaware of publication of the Papers of Jefferson Davis version of the letter until 2008.

From Varina Howell Davis Memoir. She presents excerpts only. The parts cast in blue font appear within the version printed in the authoritative Papers of Jefferson Davis — the rest is not part of that letter. Mrs. Davis’ Memoir, published 25 years after the fact, apparently attributed material to the letter in error.

I have added paragraph numbers to the first four Varina Davis excerpts to indicate what paragraphs they are from in the letter as it appears in the Papers of Jefferson Davis, the actual complete letter of October 11-12.

Blue font indicates the Varina Davis excerpts which do appear in the Jefferson Davis letter as it appears in the Papers of Jefferson Davis.

Red font indicates the Varina Davis excerpt erroneously attibuted to the Jefferson Davis letter of October 11-12. It does not appear in the Jefferson Davis letter as it appears in the Papers of Jefferson Davis. Of the original 15 paragraphs, Varina Davis presented only excerpts from paragraphs 3, 6, 7, and 8.

The elisions [. . .] stand for a great deal of text that was omitted.

The excerpt from paragraph 3 is missing the first two and the last 11 lines.

The excerpt from paragraph 6 is missing the first 10 lines, and includes only the last word of the eleventh line. It omits the last 2½ lines.

The excerpt from paragraph 7 is missing the first 16 lines, and the last 7 lines.

The excerpt from paragraph 8 is missing the first 9 lines, omitting the indication that it was written on another date. Jefferson Davis explained that he could not find an envelope the previous day.

Excerpt 7 is not from paragraph 7 of the letter, nor from any other paragraph.

CHAPTER LXXI.
LETTERS FROM PRISON.
From Mr. Davis to Mrs. Davis “Fortress Monroe, Va., October 11, 1865.
[3] “. . . On the second of this month Iwas removed to a room on the second floor of a house built for officers’ quarters. The dry air, good water, and a fire when requisite, have already improved my physical condition, and with increasing health all the disturbances due to a low vitality, it is to be expected, will disappear as rapidly as has been usual with me, after becoming convalescent. I am deeply indebted to my attending physician, who has been to me much more than that term usually conveys. In all my times of trouble, new evidences have been given me of God’s merciful love.
[6] ". . . The Herald claims to give me regular information concerning my family, but if it did contain such news, as I only get occasionally a copy, the promise would be unfulfilled.
[7] ... I have lately read the ‘Suffering Saviour’ by the Reverend Dr. Krumacher, and was deeply impressed with the dignity, the sublime patience of the model of Christianity, as contrasted with the brutal vindictiveness of unregenerate man; and with the similitude of the portrait given of the Jews to the fierce prosecutions which pursued the Revolutionists after the restoration of the Stuarts. One is led to ask, Did Sir Henry Vane and the Duke of Argyle imitate the more than human virtue of our Saviour, or was their conduct the inspiration of a conscience void of offence in that whereof they were accused?
[8 - Oct. 12th.] “Misfortune should not depress us, as it is only crime which can degrade. Beyond this world there is a sure retreat for the oppressed; and posterity justifies the memory of those who fall unjustly. To our own purblind view there is much which is wrong, but to deny what is right is to question the wisdom of Providence or the existence of the mediatorial government.

[Paragraphs 9-15 of Jefferson Davis letter do not appear in Varina Howell Davis excerpts]

[Everything below, from Varina Davis Memoir excerpts, does not appear in the Jefferson Davis letter as it appears in the Papers of Jefferson Davis.]

“Every intelligent man knows that my office did not make me the custodian of public money, but such slanders impose on and serve to inflame the ignorant—the very ignorant—who don’t know how public money was kept, and how drawn out of the hands of those who were responsible for it. My children, as they grow up and prove the pressure of poverty, must be taught the cause of it; and I trust they will feel as I have, when remembering the fact that my father was impoverished by his losses in the war of the Revolution.
“Our injuries cease to be grievous in proportion as Christian charity enables us to forgive those who trespass against us, and to pray for our enemies. I rejoice in the sweet sensitive nature of our little Maggie, but I would she could have been spared the knowledge which inspired her ‘ grace,’ and the tears which followed its utterance. As none could share my suffering, and as those who loved me were powerless to diminish it, I greatly preferred that they should not know of it.
Separated from my friends of this world, my Heavenly Father has drawn nearer to me. His goodness and my unworthiness are more sensibly felt, but this does not press me back, for the atoning Mediator is the way, and His hand upholds me.
“I hope the negroes’ fidelity will be duly rewarded, and regret that we are not in a situation to aid and protect them. There is, I observe, a controversy which I regret as to allowing negroes to testify in court. From brother Joe, many years ago, I derived the opinion that they should then be made competent witnesses, the jury judging of their credibility; out of my opinion on that point, arose my difficulty with Mr. C, and any doubt which might have existed in my mind was removed at that time. The change of relation diminishing protection, must increase the necessity. Truth only is consistent, and they must be acute and well trained, who can so combine as to make falsehood appear like truth when closely examined.
“For, say, three months after I was imprisoned here, two hours consecutive sleep were never allowed me; more recently it has not been so bad, but it is still only broken sleep which I get at night, and by day my attention is distracted by the passing of the sentinels who are kept around me as well by day as by night. I have not sunk under my trials, am better than a fortnight ago, and trust I shall be sustained under any affliction which it may be required me to bear. My sight is affected, but less than I would have supposed if it had been foretold that a light was to be kept where I was to sleep, and that I was at short intervals to be aroused, and the expanded pupil thus frequently subjected to the glare of a lamp. . . . There is soon to be a change of the garrison here. I will be sorry to part from many of the officers, but as they are to go home I should rejoice for such as are entitled to my gratitude. Au reste, as I cannot control, so I may hope for the best.
“I have not seen Jordan’s critique, and am at a loss to know where that game was played and was lost by my interference. If the records are preserved they dispose summarily of his romances past, passing, and to come. The events were of a public character, and it is not possible for men to shift their responsibility to another. Everyone who has acted must have made mistakes, and the best defence he can make to the public, and the only one beneficial to his conscience, if he has changed his theory, is to confess it; let him whose opinions are unchanged conform his action to changed circumstances, and both classes may preserve their integrity and live and work in harmony. Our life is spent in choosing between evils, and he would be most unwise who would refuse the comparative good thus to be obtained. History is ever repeating itself, but the influence of Christianity and letters has softened its harsher features. The wail of destitute women and children who were left on the shore of Cork after the treaty of Limerick, still rings in the ears of all who love right and hate oppression ; but bad as was the treatment of the Irish then, those scenes of which you were reading not long before you left Richmond, enacted by Philip of Spain in the Low Countries, were worse. The unfortunate have always been deserted and betrayed; but did ever man have less to complain of when he had lost power to serve ? The critics are noisy—perhaps they hope to enhance their wares by loud crying. The multitudes are silent, why should they speak to save him who hears best the words most secretly uttered ? My own heart tells me the sympathy exists, that the prayers from the family hearth have not been hushed. . . .
. . . John Mitchel has been released. He was permitted to take leave of me through the grates, and he offered to write to you. I have not seen our friend Clay for some time, not having been out to walk lately on account of a series of boils, or a carbuncle with a succession of points, which rose in my right armpit, and has prevented me from putting on my coat since the day I last wrote to you. I believe the disease is now at an end, and but for the rain I would have gone out to-day. I will comply with your repeated request for a description of my room, and hope the reality may be better than you have imagined the case to be. The room is about 18x20 feet; is situated at the corner in the second story of a long two-story house which stands under cover of the main parapet, and was built for officers’ quarters. In the centre of the end wall, is a fireplace ; in the centre of each of the other walls is a door. The one opposite to the fireplace opens into the room occupied by the officer of the guard for the day, the one on the south side looks out on a gallery which runs along the building, and, beyond, is a limited view of the interior of the fort; the one on the north side connects with a passage dividing the building. The doorway into the officer’s room is closed by an iron grating, with locks on his side of it, and, turning on hinge, affords the means of exit. The gallery door is closed by a fixed iron grating with glazed sash shutters outside. The passage doorway is closed by iron grating, and a panel shutter into which are inserted two panes of glass. Sentinels are no longer kept in the room I occupy. One sentinel only now walks back and forth along the gallery, one along the passage, and one in the officer’s room, so as to give each of the three a view through his door of the interior of the room. They cause the broken sleep concerning which you ask. I have endeavored to overcome the distraction and annoyance this constant passing causes in the day, and to resist its disturbing effect at night; the success has not, however, been commensurate with the effort. Formerly the circumstances were much worse ; and, before changes were made, a morbid condition had been produced so that wakefulness is continued by less than would have produced it. My bed stands in the corner of the walls of the gallery and officer’s room; on the opposite corner is the water-bucket, basin and pitcher, and a folding screen which enables me to wash unobserved. On the gallery side of the chimney is a recess with a shelf for books, and pegs to hang up clothes. On the opposite side of the chimney, a closet. The bed is the common form of iron frame, two mattresses, sheets, blankets, and a cover with pillows and mosquito bar. Breakfast is sent to me about nine; dinner about four; and tea would be sent if I desired it. The food is suited to my condition, and I have had no occasion to ask for change or addition. The chair, though coarse, is so much better than the one I had before it, as to be comparatively satisfactory; a stand, such as is commonly used in hospital wards, serves me as a table, and for the present there is a stool which answers for a washstand. My clothes are not with me, except those in immediate use. My valise was taken charge of by General Miles. I have not seen it since. I much regret that you did not keep the things which had a value from association, instead of leaving them in the valise.

https://www.nytimes.com/1865/10/24/archives/john-mitchell-not-released.html

Note that as of October 23, 1865, it was reported that John Mitchel had not yet been released.

https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=16343

In memory of John Mitchel
Nov. 30, 1815 – Mar. 20, 1875
Fearless and courageous southern journalist
Staunch supporter of the Confederacy
Editor-in-Chief, Richmond (VA) Enquirer Associate Editor, Richmond (VA) Examiner
1862 – 1865
who was confined in this casemate no.6 from June 17, 1865 to Oct. 29, 1865, a defiant and unrelenting opponent of oppression, an indefatigable and uncompromising proponent of the southern cause, a martyr to the effectiveness and influence of the printed word.
**********
Dedicated by the
Virginia Press Association
• 1951 •

As John Mitchel was not released until October 29, 1865, it was somewhat difficult for Jefferson Davis to have written about his release in a letter of October 11th-12th. Jefferson Davis wrote of the Mitchel release in a letter of November 3-4, where he also wrote about boils and a carbuncle, as quoted but misattributed by Varina Davis.

In the Papers of Jefferson Davis, Vol 12, page 56, footnote 11, there is the assertion that John Mitchel was released from Fort Monroe on October 30, 1865.

As for the alleged Davis quote referencing negro fidelity, attributed to a letter of October 11, 1865, that does not appear in the letter of October 11-12, or in the letter of November 3-4.

If you should desire the obtain a copy of an authoritative source for quotes of Jefferson Davis, the Papers of Jefferson Davis are available at LSU Press.