Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 32.djvu/354

 342 Southern Historical Society Papers.

walk to alleviate this source of disturbance, but with only partial success. His vital condition is low, and he has but little recupera- tive force. Should he be attacked with any of the severe forms of disease to which the Tidewater region of Virginia is subject, I, with reason, fear the result. ' '

MILES'S PITIFUL PLEA.

The comments of the press quite excited General Miles, and he, in a confidential communication to the Assistant Adjutant-General, said: "* * * I regret to say that I think Surgeon Cooper is entirely under the influence of Mr. and Mrs. Davis, the former of whom has the happy faculty that a strong mind has over a weaker to mould it to agree with its views and opinions. Surgeon Coopers wife is a secessionist and one of the F. F. V.'s of this State. He is exceedingly attentive to Mrs. Davis, escorting her to Norfolk and back, and yesterday he had a private interview with Davis and Messrs. O'Connor and Shea. To-day the four were together at the doctor's house."

It is patent that this stab in the back was intended to misrepre- sent the intention of an honorable medical officer, who could be fair and just to a prisoner, so as to justify the vilefier's own despicable conduct. Public indignation not only spread over the whole South, but reached to such a degree in the North that the newspapers were emboldened to denounce the tortures of Jefferson Davis in scathing terms.

THE PRESS TO THE RESCUE.

The New York World of May 24, 1866, in an editorial under that head, says: "It is no longer a matter of newspaper rumor that the treatment which Jefferson Davis has received during his incarcera- tion in Fortress Monroe, has been such as to break down his con- stitution and to put him, after twelve months of protracted suffering, in imminent peril of death.

" Upon the recommendation of the Secretary of the Treasury the President of the United States recently ordered the post surgeon to make a careful and thorough examination of Mr. Davis' health. That report has been made and is now published. It cannot be read by any honorable and right-minded American, no matter what his sectional feelings or his political opinions may be, without a sickening sensation of shame for his country and a burning flush of indignation against the persons who have prostituted their official