The weekly Mississippian. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1859-1864, 1860-04-18
JEFFERSON DAVIS.

as general rule, know but little of the great |
men who are remote from them. This is a |
tendency against which every wise man and |
good patriot ought to exert his Influence but |
unhappily considerable portion of thuse to |
Whom the country just now is entrusting It's |
interests, are 50 short-sighted and so mistaken |
as to be doing all they can to increase an evil |
which the laws Of nature itself leave already
too great. The leading statesmen of the |
North do not often visit the South the lead
ing statesmen of the South do NOT often visit |
the North; Northern speeches are not read
at the South, and Southern speecbes are not |
read at the North. We think. therefore that |
we are setting good example to Others. and
DONG our readere no harm, in devoting DOR
ton OF our space this day to a consideration of
the public services and leading mental traits
of the distinguished man whose name stands
at the head of this article.
The name of refferson Davis is doubtless
well known at the North and most readers
OIL newspapers at the North are aware of his
services in the army, in Congress, and in the
caolnetof President Pierce but few, we appre-
mend, have any very distinct impression of
what manner of man he is, or of the traits Of
mind and character by which he is distin-
gulshed from the other men who are now Ia
king part in the government of the country.
This country is now, and indeed always has
been, governed by body of men quite small
in comparison with the whole nu.aber of
those to whom its charge is apparently en-
| trusted The Senate has baen FIR
many years becoming more and more the nov
erning power Of the country, and . large pro-
portion of the men who shape its policy. and
control its destiny, are Senators and we fear
that truth must compel US to add that at this
moment the South has more Of these at Wash
ington than the North.
Be this as it may, it is verycertain that at
this moment Mr.. Davis is one of the men who
are governing this country; and perhaps there
is no man in Washington whose influence is
more important, or whose opinion would be
entitled to more consideration in regard to
any contemplated measure. This command
| ing position he owes in part to his native pow
ers, and in part to the training and discipline
of his life. Born in 1903, he was graduated
at West Point in 1923, and served in the army
for seven years, resigned his commission in
1885, lived in retirement as cotton planter
in Mississippi till 1916, was then elected to
the Honse of Representatives and took his seat
in that body in December of that year, served
with great gallantry and distinction in the
Mexican war, as Colonel of volunteer regi-
ment, was in the Senate from lS47 to 1851,
was Secretary of War in President Pierce's
cabinet, and has now re-entered the Senate for
the term ending March 4, 1868. Thus agood
deal Of his education has been military, and
his mind snd character were under military
influences during its most ductile and plastic
periods. Now between wits and soldiers
there has ever been a feud. When the Duke
of Wellington came in as prime minister in
| 1929, all the wits in England were against
him. Much the same thing was here during
the contest between Adams and jackson for
the presidency. Men Of books, young men
of books especially get from their books no.
ton that the training of soldier units man
for the proper discharge Of civil function. But
the instincts of the common mind are the 9TH
er way; and the longer we live, and the more
we see of life and human nature, the more in
clined we shall be to come to the conclusion
that the common mind is right. Certainly,
we derivr from both history and observation
the fact that, as general rule, the man who
is competent to command an army is COM
petent to govern a country. Soldiers learn
to obey before they learn to command
and the former discipline is good preparation
for the latter. In administration, especially,
as distinguished from government, the habits
of order, method and punctualty which mill
tary service of the necessity forms, are of
great value 1t was admitted alike by friend
and foe, that Mr.. Davis's administration of the
war department in President Pierce's cabinet,
was most able and energetic; and to this sue
cessful discharge of his duties his training in
the field undoubtedly contributed.
But Mr.. Davis's preparation for public life
has not been wholly military. During the
time he was in the army, and also while he
was living in retirement upon his plantation,
he must have been diligent student; for
there is no man in Congress who has greater
amount of the knowledge that is wanted than
he. No man is more familiar with the hiSto-
ry of the country, and the general machinery
of government He understands well the ge-
ography and physical resources Of the South
the southwest, the west the territory re-
Gently added to the United States and Mexi-
CO. His knowledge ofthe physical and exact
sciences is said to be full and accurate. His
purely literary culture has probably not been
beyond the average.
In his qualities of mind and character he
presents combination not often found any,
where, but perhaps as often found among
Scotchmen as among any men but wherever
found, never failing to give him who possesses
it influence and consideration. He has prac-
teal sagacity, metaphysical subtlety, and
fervid temperament. A good man of bust
ness and acute lOgician, he is impatient of op-
position, and by nature of an imperious spirit,
which he has learned to control, though the
effort it costs him is easily seen. He has
some of the traits of character of Gen. Jackson
and some of the intellectual peculiarities of
Mr.. Calhoun. His speeches are concise, point
ed, and analitical. He takes hold of the sub
ject with strong grasp, and goes at once to
its heart He is not an orator, or rhetori-
clan; he is a skillfull and vigorous deba-
ter, though the strength of his convictions and
the ardor ofhis temperament often elevate him
to eloquence. He never speaks without COM
handing the full and undivided attention of
the Senate. His natural impotence and irri-
liability, aggravated by the sufferings of a
wound received during the Mexican War,
lead him sometimes to say things in the heat
of discussion, which he himself would after
wards undoubtedly be glad to recall but no
man is more generous and magnanimous in
acknowledgment when an error of this kind
has been committed. His courage is of such
perfect temper, and has been so often tried,
that he can afford to be generous as he is be-
yond the reach of misconStruction His inhu-
ence in debate is enhanced by the fact that he
always speaks with exclusive reference to
the point under consideration. Most men,
or at least many men, who speak in Congress,
do so with double aspect they have one
eye on the subject under discussion, and an
other on their constituents at home they speak
partly for the press and partly for the audi
ence before them. But here comes in the
operation of an memorable law Of compensa-
ton for just SO far as a man speaks for the
press, is the present value of his speech-its
immediate effect on those who hear tim
paired. Mr.. Fox always maintained that
if speech read well it was not good speech:
we are not sure that he was not right
In his political creed, Mr.. Davis is State
rights Democrat of the straightest sect. This !
is the central pivot on which his whole politi- |
cal life turns from this involves the formulas |
by which all political problems are to be |
solved. He believes that his first and strong |
est allegiance is due to his State. Nothing |
should be Gone by the central government |
which the States can do as well. He limits |
the power Of the general government to a mar
row compass In the constitutional construc-
ton, he belongs to the school Of Jefferson, |
Taylor OF Carolina. and caihsenHi who held I
the constitution to be in the nature of COM
pdCb, VI d0dtJS DOtWCOH independent SuN6T-
eighties, and to be interpreted from thai. point |
of view. He is more afraid of federal aggres-
sion than Of State usurpation and in his eyes
there is more danger Of centralization than of |
His views as to the conflict
ing rights Of the general government and the
State governments led him, in q speech de-
livered in Boston in the autumn of 1858, to
what we must deem the extravagant length
of defending the ridiculous conduct of Gov
Hancock in declining to call upon President
Washington, on the ground that on the soil of
it was the duty Of the Presi-
dent Of the whole country first to call upon
him, the Governor Of the State.
Our limits do not permit us to speak of the
particular measures which Mr.. Davis has sup
ported or opposed,-or Of the marked and
brilliant points in his administration Of the
War Department, or of the instances IN his
public career in which his course has been
open to criticism, among which we should in
clude his correspondence with General Scott