Chapter XXII: of these “Memoirs,” the Rev. Stuart Robinson had quoted

Mr. Crittenden, of Kentucky, and another, to show the peculiar
estimate in which Mr. Holt was then held. “I know little,” wrote Mr.
Robinson, in June of ’5, “either of the personal or public character
of Mr. Holt.... The only well-defined impression I have of his
personal character is gained from two remarks concerning him in
1861–’2. The first, that of a venerable Christian lady, of the
old-fashioned country type, made to me: ‘Joe Holt, Sir, is the only
young man I ever knew that left this country without leaving one
friend behind him in it!’ The other, the fierce retort of the
venerable Crittenden, to a Cabinet officer, reported to me by Governor
Morehead: ‘Joseph Holt, of _Kentucky_, did you say, Sir? I tell you,
Sir, by Heaven! there is no such man as Joseph Holt, of _Kentucky_!’”

In addition to such contemporaneous public utterances concerning Mr.
Holt, I have learned much that is corroborative by word of mouth from
men whose opinions have been softened by time, and whose conspicuous
positions in national affairs establish their utterances as both
weighty and trustworthy. Said one of these, a United States Senator,
within the year (1903), “Joseph Holt was the meanest man of his time.
He was both unscrupulous and ambitious; and the _smartest_ man I ever
knew!”

Another as prominent in the nation’s affairs, said, using the same
adjective as did the Senator just quoted, “He was a peculiarly mean
man. I don’t know the true circumstances of Mr. Davis’s and Mr. Clay’s
imprisonment, but the suspicions that attached to Holt were never
proven, nor, so far as I know, investigated. After he went out of
office he seemed to have no friends. He remained in Washington. I
often saw him. Every morning he would get into a shabby old buggy and
drive to market, where he would buy his meat and vegetables, potatoes,
etc., for the day. These he would carry back to the house in his
buggy, and his cook would prepare his solitary meals for him. I never
felt anything but dislike for him,” said this gentleman, “and I don’t
know any one else who did!”

“True!” responded another gentleman, whose word has balanced national
opinion to a large extent for many years, “Mr. Holt was repugnant to
me. I think he was generally regarded as a man who had forsaken his
own section for gain. I thought him a heartless man. When he left
office he went into utter obscurity!”

These remarks, coming from sources so authoritative, lent strength to
the supposition that Mr. Holt’s behaviour toward his self-surrendered
prisoner and former friend, Clement C. Clay, if it might be traced to
its source, would, indeed, reveal a persecution at once vengeful and
malicious, springing from some personal animus. For a year I made
continuous effort to find this motive, but without success. Pitiless
enmity, supported by almost unlimited powers (vested in Mr. Holt as
Judge Advocate General, when the Government was in an unprecedented
condition of chaos), this officer surely exercised toward Messrs.
Davis and Clay; but, where was the _raison d’être_?

By an accident, “at the eleventh hour,” the paper in Mr. Clay’s
handwriting containing the sentence quoted in the preceding text came
to light. I wrote promptly to Mrs. Clay-Clopton concerning it, urging
her to try to recall, if possible, the “reasons” which Mr. Clay, in
his prison in Fortress Monroe, on the night of December 29, 1865, had
given her in explanation of Mr. Holt’s animosity toward him. Her reply
ran as follows:

“I _can_ give you, in regard of Mr. Holt’s persecution of my husband,
one very important reason! On the breaking out of the war, I think on
the secession of Mississippi, Holt, who had won both his fame and his
fortune in that State of his adoption, espoused the Southern cause.
Whether this was known to others than Mr. Davis and Mr. Clay, I do not
know. From the impression that remains on my memory, Holt communicated
in confidence to those two gentlemen alone his intention of standing
by the South. Possibly, it was said to Mr. Davis alone, as the latter
was Mississippi’s leading Senator, and by Mr. Davis repeated to Mr.
Clay. It was a common thing in those days to keep secret one’s
intentions.” [See visit of Admiral Semmes, Chapter IX.] “Whether
Holt’s decision was known to others than Mr. Davis and Mr. Clay, his
friend,” continues the letter, “I do not know. I remember Mr. Clay
telling me that Mr. Holt was a renegade and a traitor, _who had
pledged himself to the South_; but when, in his selfish ambition, he
received a higher bid from the Federal Government, he deserted our
cause and went over to the opposition. I do not recall the position
offered Mr. Holt by the Federal Government, but it was a plum he
coveted.

“You ask whether Mr. Clay and Mr. Holt ever had any dealings with each
other, political or business:

“None of any kind! Mr. Clay only knew of Holt’s base defection from
our cause and condemned him for it. My husband told me (in the
Fortress), ‘Mr. Holt knows the estimate Mr. Davis and I have of his
defection and would fain get us out of the way!’” A. S.

Footnote 69:

Governor Clay died the following autumn.

Footnote 70:

On the back of this scrap, Mr. Davis wrote in pencil, “If you get
this, say I’ve got the tobacco and will give you a puff.” Long
afterward, lest the identity of the little slip should be lost, Mr.
Clay added this comment beneath the original inscription: “Preserve!
Mr. Davis to me in prison! C. C. C.” A. S.

Footnote 71:

Mr. Harrison died in Washington, March 29, 1904. A. S.

Footnote 72:

Mr. Clay’s response to this letter is printed in Mayes’ “Life of
Lamar.” (Page 122.)

------------------------------------------------------------------------

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES

1. Silently corrected typographical errors and variations in spelling. 2. Anachronistic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings retained as printed. 3. Footnotes have been re-indexed using numbers and collected together at the end of the last chapter. 4. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.

End of Project Gutenberg's A Belle of the Fifties, by Virginia Clay-Clopton