New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-12-07
JEFFERSON DAYS.

Mr., Jen erSOn DAVIS mas Deen LOT twenty
years the most conspicuous monument of Re-
public's generosity. Educated at public ex-
pense at West Point he headed rebellion
against the Nation and yet was magnanimous-
" permitted to retain the life he had forfeited.
1t cannot be said of him, as of many others,
that he merely obeyed his State. On leaving
the Senate he avowed that his own will was in
full accord with the action of his State, and
history must say of him, as that most philosoph-
ical historian of the Civil War, Comte De Paris,
said in his first volume, " he was the soul of the
rebellionu and had been the soul of secession"
Indisputably he had cOnspired and labored to
bring about secession, and when the rebellion
had gone down, when he had been captured in
ignominious flight, and after brief detention
was released without punishment it was <et
throughout the world that no other nation would
have been equally magnanimous. But his
nature was not capable of appreciating such
generosity, and he persisted even to the end
in representing himself as the suffering mart! l
of lost but righteous cause BY such utter
anoes he has constantly damaged the cause Of
his political friends, just as his conduct helped
the Union to triumph over the rebellion
There are not many now living who realize
how much this reunited Nation actually owes
to the incompetence and unftness of MIR. Davis.
In 1866 Henry S. Foote predicted in his his
tory of the war: Twenty years hence no one
will be heard to deny that to the direct and I'M
wise interference in great military movements
on the part of Mr.. Davis are to be attributed
nearly all the principal disasters of the war"
and he thereupon gave instances of stupid
laundering" by Mr.. Davis, from Confederate
point of view The practical knowledge Of war
which Mr. Davis possessed was confined to ono
years service as Colonel in the Mexican War,
and his conduct as President was such that
f. A. Pollard, in his Second Year Of the War"
does not hesitate to ascribe most Of it's reyerSes
to his military pragmatism" His harsh treat
ment of some efficient generals and gross favor
itism for others caused constant weakness. The
same writer says that Mr.. Davis was man
" of the strongest prejudices, the harshest OBJ
stinacy, and the most ungovernable fondneSs
for parasites" To clOthe such person with
the despotic power almost inseparable from the
discharge of executive functions in revolu-
tionary struggle was to invite defeat.
These criticisms of Confederate writers
seemed the angry words of partisanship when
records on both sides have been uncovered.
Yet they do not touch the greatest service of
Mr. Davis to the Union. Fatal to the Confed-
eracy, beyond everything else, was the financial
incapacity of its Administration. No part of
Mr. Davis's experience had fitted him for imam
cial success, and nobody will dispute the verdict
of Mr.. Pollard that he was grossly incOm-
petent on that subject" He began with foolish
predictions that England would recognize the
Confederacy within sixty days, or that the Con-
federates would carry the war where food for
the sword and torch await our armies in the
densely populated cities" and in that state of
mind naturally made no far-sighted provision
for the future. Then he deliberately recon-
mended in August 1862, an unlimited issue
of currency, and forced payment of Government
obligations in such paper. No wonder the
Confederacy practically became bankrupt with
in eighteen months, and from that time to the
end was forced to fight at the point Of Starva-
ton What Mr.. Pollard calls the Ignorant
and wild financial policy Of Mr. Davis was in
itself almost enough to insure defeat
lie had rare faculty of selecting incom-
petent men as his subordinates. This was
seen, not only in his choice of Mr.. Memminger
as Secretary Of the Treasury, but in selections
Of other officials who were merely obSequiOus
clerks but in no way competent to advise or
organize Mr.. FoOte bears testimony that Mr.
Davis was not only responsible for the ap
pointment of so large a proportion of incOm-
petent public functonarieS," but also for OBJ
stinateIy adhering to them when their inca
pacity had been proved. One of the most brill
liant SouthernerS, Mr. lancey, who died in
1863 had long since ceased to entertain re-
spect for Mr.. Daviss abilities, either as the
manager Of difficult civic concerns or as the
chief controller and director of military move
ments," Mr.. Foote bears testimony. In no
entitled to the regard Of the Southern people,
unless it be a title to their gratitude that he
did much to plunge them into a terrible strug-
gle, and much to make it disastrous.
His conduct during the last twenty years has
shown no higher qualities. Other Southern
men have learned to instil loyalty and hearty
love of country into the hearts of the people
Mr. Davis let no opportunity pass to fan the
dying flames Of sectional hatred and disloyalty
Surely it is permitted to hope that he repre-
sented only what was worst in the Southern
chan acter and that, as he departs from the
stage, the narrow dictatora and yindictive
spirit which he so sharply represented may also
fade away
THE FIRST DUTY OF THE LEGISLATURE