, 1875-10-27

chalanoe that Mr.. Jefferson Davis displays
now, and has ever displayed since be fed.
disguised in his wife's pettieoats, from the
enemy who were determined to punish him
with disdainful mercy. If Mr.. Davis were
capable of understanding what was meant by
that pitiless struggle in which he engaged his
people. and was at the same time capable of
talking about its collapse as an ordinary politi-
Dian might talk about the unfortunate result
of an election, We might be- moved to anger
at such Mephistophelean oallOusness. But the
truth is, that of all the moral and emotional
aspects of the great conflict with which he was
identified, whether those thas wrung the heart
of Lincoln or those that broke the heart of
Lee, Mr.. Davis was-as Mr.. Kinglake says Of
Lord Cardigan-"a as innocent as a horse,"
This popularity of intellectual constitution
IS a curiosity in politics, for it makes it more
difficult than ever to explain how the people of
the Southern States came to choose such a
leader as Mr.. Jefferson Davis. The popular
notion-which to some extent is the true one
of the Southern character is that it is excitable,
passionate, and generally distinguished by
what We identity as the chivalric qualities.
But there is another side of the Southern char
acter which explains aud squares with the his
tory Of Mr.. Davis's political authority. The
arrogance OF moral temperament, the contempt,
tor all those civil usages of life which, as
Burke says, are founded on 'compromise
aud barter" the recklessness of loss and
suffering, whether incurred or inflicted,
which distinguishes some phases of society in
the United States, were never compressed
more admirably into concise literary form than
in Colonel john Hays CHASTITY and quaint poem
"The Mystery of Gilgal." The triviality of
the supposed point in dispute, tue unfinching
determination of the disputants, the instant
appeal to the most desperate remedies, the
eagerness with which the by.standers take sides
and fight to the death in a quarrel of which no
one understands the rights,-these touches of
a lawless aud hard grained state of society,
drawn 50 vigorously and strikingly by the
Western poet, were all re- produced on a large
canvas during the Civil War 1t was the ran.
corou9 vehemence of Southern self assertion
that Mr.. Jefferson Davis typifed and represent
ed, aud that, IN his own personal character, he
exaggerated beyond the limits of the probable.
Not "Oolonel Blood of Pike" or E'Judge Phinu''
himself could have surpassed Mr.. Davis in
logged assurance, or in resolution to fight to
the death for his opinion. Neither could any
of Bret Harte's or John Hays heroes show a
more u%uruf1ed demeanour when, the struggle
ended with whatever result, ''they piled the
stiffs outside the door, and cleared the bar for
"a drink" To people who have been brought
up to feel for the sufferiugs of others or to
respect the rights of others, this phase of
savagery is only the more detestablo when it is
veneered with the phraseoIogy of modern civil
lisation, and to a great many Americans We
are sure it is as hateful as to any of ourselves.
But there are enough yet left to appreciate and
applaud the "Indian courage aud Spartan
immobiIity" of Mr.. Jefferson Davis. 1t. is
we'll, perhaps, for those of his admirers who
II II - = - n 49,.
they are compelled to admire the development
of his character 10 adversely, and not in pros
perity. The triumph of a nation which is in
different to the ruin Of defeat would be some
thing appalling.