Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1889-12-13
THE SENTIMENT OF THE PRESS.

The press of the Southern States almost in
unison do honor to the life and character
MI Davis. The press of the Northern States
has many fair and from their point of view,
liberal editorials on the event. Only one Of
them, that we have seen, was mean
enough to make it text for polii-
cal editorial, and that was the Mail and
Express of New York, edited by the pious
Col. Elliott F. Shepherd, which says Mr..
Davis was 'the leader of a rebellion"
which still lives in a large portion of the coun-
try in the form of suppression or intimida-
ton of the suffrage" We give some of the
comments from the Northern press:
Philadelphia Times.l
The present generation knows little of what
manner of man jefferson Davis was. He is
known to the new generation of the South as
the chosen leader of the COnfederacy who had
been imprisoned and Inundated as the repre-
sentative of the cause for which the South had
fought with her0lSm that challenged the
homage of the world, and the new generation
of the North know him only as the Chief Mag
istrate of the COnfederacy that gave us bloody
war and countless sacrifice and as the persistent
defender of the overthrow rebellion. Neither
section does even approximate justice to Mr.
Davis, and only when all the passions of the
present shall have faded out with the people
who cherish them will history present him in
his true character. He was not the author OF
rebellion and war; he became an integral
part of it from the sincereSt convictions; mol
was he the implacable foe of the reunited
republic that he has SO long been regarded i'll
the North.
| n. Y. Evening Post
We have given in other columns sketch OF
the career of the departed leader of the long
departed Confederacy. We have there STATED
our belief that nobody could have done more
than Davis did to give success to a cause thai
was doomed at the outset to fall before supe
rior force. 1t follows that he was one of the
ablest men of his time for it was by no stroke
of chance that he was chosen to guide mas
terful race through a strugglefor national ex
istence. He was selected because he was
believed by good judges, and with practical
unanimity, to be their best equipped represen
tative and strongest man.
IN. Y. Times.]
1t remains true that upon its own strength
and with only unlawful and surreptitous aid
from abroad the South prOtracted the war fol
four years. Considering the difference in the
resources of the two sections. this was a re
markable and, to the yanquished, a most
creditahle feat, and to large part of the
credit of it Jefferson Davis is unquestionably
entitled.
IN. Y. Evening Teegram.l
The dead chieftain had many lovable quail
tiles, which the impulsive people of the Soutl
appreciated to their fullest extent. Not 9
breath OF suspicion ever tainted the absolute
honesty of his public life. His personal
friendships were sacred as his domestic joys
The cause for which he risked his section and
himself was lost, but no wreck of his political
fortunes, no matter how complete, could ever
darken the brilliancy of his intellect OF the
unfinching courage of his convictions. He
was one OF the greatest and most gifted sons
this country ever produced. His misguided
genius must be left to history
IN. Y. Commercial Advertiser, Rep.l
With all his faults, mistakes and blunders
! Jefferson Davis was throughout his public ca.
reer a man of spotless integrity and honest de
votiOn to what he believed to be the right. His
participation in the council halls of the union
| its own weapons against it must be stamped
as wrong. Many OF tbs methods employed in
the early days Of secession We're beyond ques-
ton unrighteous and wrong. But in the cause
for which they were done he honestly be-
lieved.
THE ENGLISH PRESS.
The London Globe recalls Mr.. Gladstones
eulogium, including the famous phrase SO
much criticised at the time. Jefferson Davis
has created nation" and adds that if he did
not create nation it was because such crea-
ton was clearly not possible in the conditions
and if craftsmanship, military genius, and
! devotion ON the part of the whole people were
sufficient for the foundation of the State, the
slaveholding republic would have been estah.
| llShed. The enterprise failed, it concludes,
because success in the conditions was not diff
| ticult but impossible.
er Mr.. Davis will take historical position as
one Of the worlds great men, He was man
of great perSiSIency OF purpose and keen po
| litical vision. He had wonderful luck in dis
covering Lee, one of the greatest generals of
! the age and Secretary Benjamin. an exceed
| Ch adj