Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1889-12-13
FRIDAY MORNING, DEC. 10, 1889
JEFFERSON DAVIS DEAD.

JEFFERSON DAVIS DEAD.
The death of Ex-President Davis has not
been unexpected. Eighty years and i'll
health cannot travel long together.
His death will settle many things that
would never have been conceded during
his life. 1t will settle for posterity that
he was great man. No man of his time
could have done better in the high and peril
Gus position in which he was placed. Sue
cess was not within the reach of human
hands. The real odds against which he
fought, were four to one. The -Four with
the worlds markets open for supplies OF
men and munitions. The One with its
ports sealed by cannon and consuming its
own vitals.
1t will settle the fact that Jefferson
Davis was not Secessionist for personal
ambition, but that he was a friend and lover
of the American Union and only, as other
Southern men, favored secession when
living in the Union with equal rights of
property was proven by experience to be
impossible. That truth will now be heard
calmly. Death takes the heat out Of argu-
ment.
1t will settle the fact, almost lost sight of
by the rising generation, that Jefferson
Davis was a great man, welding great
power in this Nation before disunion was
thought of. He was not a product OF the
Southern Confederacy. His fame ante
dated it.
al n fa tb1f h1C l.
ways been accepted, that he was pure, in
corruptible Patriot with single motive,
and that high and pure one, and that all
his acts were governed by that motive.
jefferson Davis was not loved by the
Southern people as were Lee and jackson
But the South by honoring him is honoring
itself and putting itself right in history
The tributes to his memory are not meaning
less. They mean that the South held him
as little guilty of treason OF rebellion" as
the least of those who stood by his side, and
the intention of these tributes is to en-
phasize that meaning.
As events went, it would have been
strange had Mr.. Davis held warm place in
the affections of the Southern people. AL
the glory Of the victories won, went to the
soldiers who won them. All the darker
side-the CONSUMPTION, the starvation, the
suffering of the war, the congressional
laundering, as well as his own mistakes,
were charged to the patient, silent, reserved
man who sat in the White House at Rich
mond, who was no more responsible for the
hardship and disastrous termination of
affairs, than the humblest private in the
ranks.
History will see in him a Patriot and a
Christian whom the hand Of Fate made the
head of terrific and losing wal, and the
pen of historic criticism will search in vain
for an act during that tragic era inconsis
tent with Patriotism and Christianity.
The Farmers Assembly in session al
Richmond, adopted some suggestions
to our legislators that will attract theil
attention. The injustice of taxing both the
land and the mortgage on 1t; provision
for making agriculture more prominent in
the curriculum Of the public schools; the
adoption of a State railroad law to con-
form to the Inter-StateS Commerce act
and the placing Of practical agricultural mel
in charge of the State agricultural institu-
tons, were among the subjects that the
Assembly suggested to the Legislature
Judge Charles Grattan was on the commit
tee that prepared these suggestions.
Staunton's excellent Superintendent of
Public Schools, Mr.. W. W. Robertson. was
among the defeated candidates for State
Superintendent of Public Education. But
he should not feel discouraged. To be de-
feated by man so well qualified and with
so many claims ON the gratitude of Virgin
ia as John E. Massey is no reflection on
any mans suitability to the post. Nh.