The Savannah morning news., 1903-06-04
IN HONOR OF DAVIS
ANNIVERSARY OF BIRTH OF CON-
FEDERACY'S PRESIDENT
CELEBRATED BY VETERANS.
ADDRESS DELIVERED BY J. r.,
SASSY WAS WELL RECEIVED.


Many Public Buildings Were
Closed and Many Business Houses
Gave HOIiday-CrOsses of Honor
Conferred Upon Veterans-After
MIR. Saussy's Address, Refresh
ments Were Served by the Daugh-
tiers of the COnfederacy.
Yesterday, the natal day of Jefferson
Davis, was generally observed in Sa-
vannah. The schools, the banks and
Court House We're closed, and many
of the business houses gave their en-
ployes a holiday in respect to the mem
DRY of the South's dead President.
The principal exercises of the day
were held at the Confederate Veter-
ans Hall at night. The exercises con-
sisted in the main of an address by
]. r. Saussy, Esq. The crosses of
honor were not formally conferred as
announced they would be. but, owing
TO the uncertainty of the celebration
until the eleventh hour, were presented
by mail.
Those who received crosses were
George c. Freeman. c. S. Hardee,
Samuel B. Palmer and E. c. Pacetti
of the Confederate Veterans Associa-
ton. and w. w. Carter of Camp 91s,
Baxlev.
After the exercises refreshments
were served by the Daughters of the
Confederacy.
Mr.. saussy's Address.
Mr.. Saussy. who was introduced by
Capt. L. G. Young, president of the
Confederate Veterans Association.
explained that he was what might be
termed an orator by proxy, since he
had been selected at the last minute to
read an address delivered by Hon.
Charles NJ. Blackford at the twelfth
annual meeting of the Virginia State
Bar Association, being a paper en-
titled The Trials and Trial of Jeffer-
son Davis" The orator of the oc-
oasion was in good voice and read the
address in a style which well sub
served the strength of the subject mat
ter and added greatly to the interest
which it would otherwise have elected.
Aside from being interesting and in
structive the address was peculiarly
appropriate it being an exposition of
the hardships. sacrifices and indigni-
ties heaped upon Jefferson Davis and
borne by him with Christian tolerance
while imprisoned at Fortress Monroe
and a criticism and denunciation of
the unmiltary and inhuman conduct
of the then Brevet Major Nelson A.
Miles in charge of the fortress, which
melted an upheaval of public sympa-
thy and indignation, respectively.
voiced in the columns of the press in
every section of the country; and fin
ally the trial and release of the South's
sole President.
After reading a graphic account of
the dramatic incidents attendant upon
the triad, the speaker, referring to the
scenes directly after it, concluded:
Davis Trial.
''As the carriage approached the no
tel all sounds ceased, and a deep and
solemn silence fell upon the vast
crowd, less demonstrative than the
yell but more tender in its sympathy.
AS Mr.. Davis stood up in the carriage
preparatory to alighting, a stentorian
voice shouted. Hats off, Virginians,'
and 5000 bare-headed men did homage
TO him who had suffered for them, and
with moistened eye and bated breath
stood silent and still until their repre-
sentative entered the hotel.
THE treatment which the federal
government had imposed upon MIR.
Law - Ad0 AAid0C INN a TIE APP
plause was an attestation of that fact.
Around the court room were thousands
of men who had met danger and suf-
fered loss. Each man felt that Davis
had suffered vicariously for him. II
Davis was a traitor, so was he If
Davis should suffer the penalties of the
law, so should he. This it was which
made the feeling so intense.
A Man of Pure Character.
The Southern people had profound
respect for Mr.. Davis personally be-
cause Of his pure character and intel
lectual abilities, but for him there was
no such deep and abiding devotion as
for Lee and many of the other military
chieftains. Mr.. Davis impersonated
their failure; the generals their bril-
liant success as long dis success was
possible. But when the victors charged
him falsely with crimes abhorrent TO
his nature. put him under ward and
manBcled him as a felon, and then in
dicted him as a traitor, he became
their martyred hero. and history will
90 record him.
This recitation of the Trials and
Trial of Jefferson Davis has not been
prepared with the purpose of stirring
up sectional animosities or reviving
the bitterness of the past" read Mr..
Saussy, in conclusion. Its aim has
history, that its teachings may be TAX
en- TO heart. Between those who fought
bitterness vanished almost with the
smoke of the hostile guns. The lapse
of years has made US one people again
and il is not patriotic or wise to do
anything which may mar the harmony
time has wrought. If the reputation
of individuals shall suffer by turning
a searchlight upon the official acts OF
their past, il is their misfortune, not
the fault of the historian who ham
dies the reflector.
Historians PreIudfced.
The historians on either side Of our
Civil War are naturally warped in
their judgment, and even after so
many years cannot take an unpreju-
diced view of the same facts. however
undisputed. The history of that epoch
in our national life must be written on
the other side Of the Atlantic but
though that is the case, we are not re-
lieyed Of the obligation to seek for the
truth and 10 preserve our researches
for the use of those writer's whose en-
vironments viii enable them TO be i'm
partial. To that end this paper has
been written.
THE other side IN our contest was
never just. in their judgment of Mr.
Davis, nor has IL given him due credit
for either his intellectual or his moral
strength, his courage. his devotion 20
what he regarded right, or his faithful
ness in the discharge of duty This
prejudice. iDfiamed by the natural grief
and Indignation aroused by the muir
der Of President Lincoln made the