The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1889-12-12
JEFFERSON DAVIS.

JEFrEASON DANAS'
jefferson Davis, the ex-presdent OF
the late Southern Confederacy, died FIJI
day morning, shortly after midnig bit, In
New Orleans, at the residence of his life
long friend, j. U. Payne. He arrived
in New Orleans on the nth of Novem-
Der, and, having contracted q severe
cold during his trip down the Mississippi
from Briertield. was at once conveyed
to Mr., Payne's residence. From that
illness he failed to recover, a fever set
ting in and his general system breaking
down, probably from his advanced age.
Towards the last his weakness was 80
great that he was unable to turn his
body in bed or lift an arm. His end was
peaceful, as he lay surrounded by friends
and relatives,
The Troy Press Democratic) says :
The South is mourning. Everywhere
throughout the length and breath OF the
Southern states, and largely in the 6or-
der states, emblems of grief are dis
played, We cannot and we need not
shut our eyes to the significance OF these
emblems. The South is mourning for a
man that was considered great in nell
tai capacity, who served in battle, Cabi-
net and Senate without mourning per-
sonal reproach, it is true but more than
all, tie South mourns the man who was
its leader in-chief from 1861 to 1865
Let us discriminate in talking about
the Southern grief. To-day it is emo
tional, and the emotions when given
loose rein, are apt to induce the tongue
to go astray. Extravagant as are the
laudatlons that the South heaps upon
Jefferson Davis, explicit as are the dec
larations of fealty to the lost cause,
only a very small faction would follow
Jefferson DAVIS to- day if he were in the
prime of life, instead of lying dead, and
if secession were practical issue. The
South weaps and talks. Its grief may
be sincere. But it doesen't mean half 1t
says.
The Secretary of War, sturdy Yer.
mont soldier that Col. Proctor is, did
not hesitate to snub the Mayor of New
Orleans, who "officially" notified him Of
Jefferson Davis's death, In a wonderfully
diplomatic despatch, and Washington
correspondent says: The flag was not
put at.half-mast over the War Depart
ment, and the portrait of Jefferson Davis
in the long series of portraits OF the
former Secretaries of War was not drap-
ed, Jefferson Davis ceased to be citi-
zen of the United States in 1861, when
his seat in the United States Senate was
marked vacant, and he had always de
clined to take the legal steps necessary
to restore himself to his forfeited citi-
zenship. The name of Jefferson Davis
as Secretary of Wsr was erased by Union
soldiers early in 1851 from the piers of
the Aqueduct Bridge at the Great Falls,
from which the Washington water sup
ply comes and no Democratic President,
whether named Andrew johnson or
Grover Cleveland, has ventured TO 30
far defy the Union sentiment OF the
country as to attempt to replace 1t,
When that name was chiseled out OF that
stone the name of Jefferson Davis was
stricken from the list of those who loved
the Union, and it has not been mention
ed in Congress since, in kindness or in
eulogy, except by those who were allies
with him in his traitorous cause, and
now that the grave is about to be closed
over the President of the Government
of the Rebellion; the friends of the Union
will quite agree with Secretary Proctor,
who, in speaking of the suggestion that
the flag was not at half-mast over the
War Department, said "We know no
such man. 1t is better to forget such
things. 1t is better to let them pass
from our minds" They will not be per-
mitted to pass from the minds OF the
survivors OF the Rebellion south of the
Potomac River.
The New York Press, in a carefully
written article, says: The man who was
more responsible than any other one
person for the greatest civil war in mod
ern history, has gone to meet his account
before his Maker. Jefferson Davis, the
ex President of the Southern Confeder-
acy, has entered that eternity into which
80 many thousands Of his fellow citizens
were violently hurled during the rebel
lion, in which he was the most conspicu
GUS figure,
A son of the old Southern social re-
ginle, Jefferson Davis was imbued from
infancy with that spirit OF aristocracy
which the institution OF slavery devel
oped in the upper stratum of the white
race of the South. Thomas Jefferson's
purchase of a vast Southwestern terri
tory from France had the effect OF max
ing the Southern planters of the first
half of this century feel that there was
plenty of room in their latitude for enor-
nous plantations. The cheapness of
slave labor encouraged this idea, and
the sight of an army of slaves on each
plantation caused the Southern white
youths to grow up taking the numerous
ness and inferioIity Of the colored race
as matter of course. The white man,
his wealth and his pleasures, we're the
end that justified any means, and the
negroes were the most convenient means.
Sooner or later it was to be expected
thst this social spirit, prevailing univer-
sally among the Intelligent and ruling
classes of the South, should have an in
carnation among public men. II was
inevitable that in the fertile soil OF free
institutions it should produce type, a
man of force and intellect, fitted by
heredity, training and ambition to at
tempt the task Of applying 1t to govern
ment,
jefferson Davis was this incarnation
and type, A man OF tremendous force
Of character, great intellectual acumen
and power, and unlimited ambition, he
was bred in State where the schoolboy
dreams OF triumphs of craftsmanship in
his trundlebed and where the enthusi.
asm with which the old field school
greets his defamation, rings in his ears
like prophecy of 1.-The applause OF list
ening Senators"
A West Point cadet, soldier and a
Mississippi planter, controlling numer
Gus slaves, the ideas, command" and
"obey" became familiar to him. He
absorbed from his cradle two controlling
ideas that he was to have political
career, and that command Of the infer
Tor by the superior was the natural order
Of things, essential to the stability Of 90.
ciety. Add to these united forces an
irrepressible conflict over a standing ma.
tional crime, an era that brought to the
front the men of intense and narrow con.
yictions for the defense Of that crime
the men of intellectual grasp and indus
try who could go TO the very foundations
10 search of sopli try to help 1t, and
Jefferson Davies appearance in public
life follows as effect follows cause
The men OF broader moral sympathies
of unselfish devotion to ideals, were left
in the background, while the persever.
ing, pushing, scheming, aristocratic
statesman made his way to the front.
II has been said that Jefferson Davis,
rs Secretary of w r, was really Presi.
dent Of the United States when Frank