Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1860-04-23

| not good speech; we are not sure that he was
not right.
In his political creed, Mr.. Davis is State
| rights Democrat of the strictest sect. This j.
the central pivot on which his whole noliticaI
lite turns: from this he evolves the formulas by
Wnlcn the political problems are to be solved
lie beleVes that his first and strongest allie
glance Is due to his State. Nothing should be
gone gone by the central government which the
E'ateS can DO as well. He limits the power of
tue deneral Government to narrow COM
pass In constitutional construction he be-
longs to the school of Jefferson, Taylor of Car
ollne, and Calhoun; who held the constitution
10 be In the nature of a compact, or treaty, be-
tween independent sOvereigntes, and to be in
terpreted from that point of view He is more
afraid OF federal aggression than of State usur-
patton; and in his eyes there is more danger of
Capitalization than of disntegration His views
as to the conflicting rights of the General Gov
ernment and the State governments led him.
In speech delivered in Boston in the autumn
Of 1898, to what we must deem the extravaoant
length of defending the ridiculous conduct of
GOV Hancock, in declining to call upon Presi-
dent W Washlngton, on the ground that on the
SOIL OF Massachusetts, it was the duty of the
President OF the whole country first to call
upon 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 bril-
ilant points In his administration Of the War
Department,-Or of the instances in his public
career In which his course has been onen to
criticism, among which we should include his
correspondence with General Scott; suffice il
10 say that his public life has been perfectly
consistent and that he has always been faithful
to his political convictions sometimes not
without sacrifices Of immediate advantage
And herein we find his chief title to the respect
alike OF those who agree with him. and of those
VINO differ from him. His is manly nature,
and his public course has been in conformity
Herewith. He has certain set of POLITICAL
principles; they may be right or thew NAV be
wrong,-that Is as man thinks-but they are
his, and he will cleave to them through good
and through evil report. No man is less of a
demagogue than Jefferson Davis his character
Is straightforward and self-reliant, he neither
processes to be what he is not nor conceals
what he is: he is no riddle or mystery, but his
excellences, his peculiarities, his defects, are
AT once dlScernable; and no two sagacious OBJ
servers could differ substantially in their report
OF him. He is more of a statesman than of a
politician; within the ranks of his own party
we can imagine him to be somewhat unm1n-
ageable and lmpracticable, but he is one of
those men who will always have an influence
independent Of, and beyond, their particular
party.
The above sketch of Mr. Davis differs essen
TALLY, we presume, from the common New
Eng land estimate of him. He is one of the
Sery; we paint him to ourselves, as a nullifer,
secesSionlst, fre-eater-perhapS brag-
CART OF violent speech and rude manners,
armed with pistol and bowie-knif and posi-
bly,, to keep up the allegory" we throw in the
vices OF gambling and whisky y-drnking But
this is far from the truth he is man
of delicate health, of labOrous habits, of in
tellectual tastes, whose private life is without
a stain, and in the common intercourse Of man
with man, as true gentleman as ever brea thed.
1t may be asked why we have been moved
to go out OF our way, and say what we have
said of gentleman living in remote part of
the country, and whose political opinions are
very far from cOinciding with our own We
have two reasons for it first, because MasSa-
chusetts owes Mr.. Davis debt of gratitude for
his services in procuring the payment of the
last lnstalment of her claim against the Gen
eral Government-SeryiceS which never would
have been rendered had he been a common
place political partizan, for we presume there
is no man in Congress to whom the present
political attitude of our Commonwealth is more
dlstasteful than to him. And, in the second
place, we deem that we are doing our common
country no i'll turn if we occasionally remind
the people who live around us of the merits
and services of the public men whose persons
are not familiar to them, and whose political
principles are opposed to theirs. We happen
to be of the opinion that such speakers and
such journals as are endeavoring to produce a
more kindly feeling between the North and
South, are laboring to good end.-Boston