Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1886-05-08
MR.. DAVIS LAMENT.


Montgomery had left nothing un.
doae to give her visitor big recep-
ton. The landlord of tho hotel in
which he was to lodge, catching the
inspiration of the occasion, newly
furnished the room which Mr.. Davis
was to occupy. A bedstead in which
La Fayette had slept was sent all
the-way from Richmond for the use
of the man without country.
The newspapers published twenty
page editions in honor of the hero
Of the hour. One of the local prints,
stirred to the highest pitch of en-,
thusiasm, apostrophised Mr.. DAVIS
as "the gallant soldier, the pro-
found statesman, the illustrious
martyr" When Mr.. Davis read
this he knew it was absurd. but it
was a fitting overture to the part he
was to play. He did serve well in
Mexico. As profound states
man" he accomplished nothing for
the people whom he misled. His
contemporaries in the Confederate
movement have dissected his states
manship and left nothing of it. To
call him martyr is to misuse a
word and abuse an idea. If he is
martyr at all it Is to his own inor-
dinate conceit. In any other land
he would have felt the halter draw.
But he was allowed life, liberty and
the pursuit of happiness in his own
way.
If Mr.. Davis had been willing to
recognize the Government which he
could not overthrow, as better men
than himself have done, his citizen
ship would have been restored. If
he had shown anything of the spirit
which animated some of the most
brilliant civil and military leaders
of the Confederacy, it is not at all
improbable that he might have been
seen again in Congress if his people
had so desired. The Vice President
of the Confederacy returned to Con-
gress. Its eminent soldiers and
civilians sit there. Mr.. Davis plays
the martyr because he likes the role
which preserves for him a certain
kind of distinction.
When Mr.. Davis came to make
his speech he stood where twenty
five years before he had taken the
oath of Office as President of the
Confederacy, two slaves appropri.
ately acting as candlebearers. Slav-
cry was the dark light that was to
illumlne the Government which lie
hoped to found. Coming to revisit
these scenes Mr.. Davis said that the
demonstration in his behalf "shows
that the spirit of Southern liberty is
not dead"
In these days it is difficult to un-
derstand just what is meant by
Southern liberty as distinguished
from the liberty that all men are
supposed to enjoy in this country.
In the days when Mr.. Davis was
organizing rebellion, Southern liber-
ty meant the right of certain men to
own other men, denying to them any
liberty whatsoever. Mr.. Stephens
said at Richmond that slavery was
the cornerstone of the Cohfederacy,
and Mr.. Stevens knew what he was
talking about. In that section in
those days liberty had very re-
stricted meaning.
Referring to the time when they
bad assembled to destroy the Union,
Mr.. Davis said, "then you were full
of joyous hopes, now you are wrap
ped in the mantle of regret" Mr..
Davis is one of the very few men in
the South who wear so ridiculous
and unbecoming garment. Since
the collapse of the misadventure Of
which Mr.. Davis was the leader, the
men of the South have found it more
profitable to grow cotton, rice;
sugar, and corn, to mine coal and
iron, to set up blast furnaces, estab-
lish factories and build railroads
than to go about like ghosts of de-
parted hope, wrapped in the mantle
of regret.
The people who listened to Mr..
Davis must have thought it strange
that he had come from retirement of
Beauvoir only to weep over a blum
der, bringing no word of en-
couragement, lacking the courage
or the wisdom to utter single help
full thought. He might as well have
bottled his tears and sent them by
express. If every Southern man
had followed the example of Mr..
Davis since the war, contributing to
the prosperity of that section moth
ing more than he has, the South
would indeed be "a land of desola-
ton. The ravages of such a peace
would be ten-fold worse than the
havoc of war.
Mr.. Davis does not represent the
New Appomattox, but has had will