American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1869-02-06
A French Portrait of jefferson
Davis.

From lie Gaulois-]
Jefferson Davis, ex President of
the Confederate States of America,
is i'll Paris with his wife, whose he-
coism has been equal to her hard
fate. He has come here to find q
retreat for his children, who have
been left temporarily in England.
There is nothing more simple than
this man, tempered like our fathers
of '93, and who, like them, suddenly
hurled over the Southern States as
many armies as the French Repub-
lie, at its birth, opposed to all Eu.
rope in coalition. 81
| Jefferson Davis is tall. slender,
upright; bis chest is expansive and
his bust supports splendid head,
attached to broad shoulders by q
short neck. So
The forehead is ample, its lines
sharply defined by masses of gray
hair, and slightly rounded beneath
it are eyes of clear blue, very sweet
in expression, and observant, and
rejecting deep inner thoughts aud
reveries. The figure is spare; the
check bones are projecting and the
cheeks sunkens the nose is aquiline,
like an eagles beak; the mouth is
very large, and expressive of benev-
Olence, sweetness, and resolution
the chin is long. The general i'm.
preston conveyed by such a physi-
ognomy is that of meditative and
kindly man. But if it does not
promise, in Jefferson Davis case, q
hope Of happier days, and of the.
realization of his great designs, il
reveals the firm belief of this citizen
of the world in tie Judgment of the
men of his time. and of a posterity
daily becomiug less preiudiced and
more favorable to him.
Jefferson Davis speaks softly, and
his features relax when be smiles,
He is slow in expressing himself
in our language, into which he Ia
continually Introducing phrases in
his native idiom. lie is spaTing of
gesture, as well as of recriminations.
BuJ in his mother tongue he employs
terms of expression as neat as they
are concise.
He has remained faithful to slave
ry as a principle, but modified, as he
always held it. He comedies rights
% that black race which shall prove
/ that it is born to enjoy them, and
fit to comprehend them; but in his
heart he is persuaded that the Afri-
can race and the Caucasian race can
never assimilate. Besides, the ex-
treme violence with which the de-
mands OF the anti slavery party were
|put forward. ..tAa. efseGt .af@,E2aieh Yas
the instantaneous ruin of the SOut&
erners, counted for great deal in
the opposition of the latter.
Here, Jefferson Davis enjoys liber-
ally the exhibitions which Paris Of
fers, which he finds very beautiful.
and which he follows up unwearied-
y all day long. As to what concerns
material life, he is Indifferent to his
diet. breakfasting on bread and but
ter and tea. land dining off two dishes.
In moral point of view, his cour-
nge, his views, his uprightness, his
exquisite probity, the example he
has given of selt-devotion and all
kinds of self-abnegation; bis fs;'. !,
in the principles for whir' M La
has sacrificed everythin~ ~
fered everything; aiu 81.
his enemies .r-like spirit fol
renitv--s" ais resignation, his se
Davis Iii have made OF Jefferson
, ., . an exceptional man, and 81
,svated that N the midst of our pet
tycivlllZacion he cannot be approach
Ell "lthout great respect.
j, Mr.. Jefferson Davis dined OH New
= Years Day with his former represeu
tative at Paris. Mr.. Slidell. Tn
. dinner was entirely private, Mrs. Je
o. ferson Davis being in mourning fo
her mother, was not present.