Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-12-31
JEFFERSON DAVIS'DAYS
IMPARTIAL ESTIMATE OF PRES
IDENT OF coNFEDERACY.
r x. Mcclure in the worlds Events.

Alexander x. Mcclure in the Worlds Events.
I remember Jefferson Davis as a con-
spicuous figure in Washington for nearly
half generation before the civil war. He
possessed none of the genial. good-fellow-
ship qualities which made Blaine the idol
OF millions of people. He was striking
personality; tall. slender, graceful in move
ment and ever courteous in his intercourse
with those about him. He was a graduate
OF West Point. and served in the army from
1873 to 1885. when he resigned and de-
voted himself to a planters life in Missis-
sippi While in the army he became en-
gagged to a daughter of Gen. Taylor, and
railing to get parental approval, an elope-
ment and marriage followed. resulting in
an estrangement between them that was
never broken until after the battle of
Buena Vista, when Davis as colonel of a
regiment of Mississippi volunteers, gave
heroic aid to Taylor in the victory that
made him President of the United States
Davis entered Congress in 1875, but before
the close OF his term volunteered to lead
his Mississippi regiment to join in the army
In Mexico. He thus vacated his seat in the
House, but soon after the close of the war
he was elected to the United States Senate
and entered that body in 1913. In 1850, after
the passage of the compromise measures,
Davis steadily maintained his position, as
state. Mr.. Foote, his associate in the Sen
ate, supported the compromise measures
and resigned his seat in the Senate to
cept the nomination for governor of Mis-
sissippi on the platform of the compromise
measures as the final adjustment of the
slavery dispute. When Foote took the field
Davis was called upon by his friends to
lead them in the contest for governor, and
he also resigned his seat to make the cam
paign against Foote Foote was an elo-
quent, dramatic and popular orator, while
Davis, although vastly greater in intel
lectual force, was simply great disputant,
and Foote was elected by small majority.
No Candidate for Presidency.
When Pierce came into the presidency in
1853 he made Davis Secretary of War. a
position for which he was well fitted and
at the close of his term he re-entered the
Senate. where he remained until January,
1861. The state of Mississippi had joined
to his devotion to state sovereignty, re-
signed his seat in a brief, pathetic and eo-
quent address. The confederate provisional
congress met at Montgomery, Ala and
elected Davis provisional president by a
practically unanimous vote. There was,
however, very active contest for the po-
sition, although Davis was not an agrees
sive candidate. When l had a protracted
interview with him at his home in Missis-
sippi in 1880, he stated that he had no
knowledge of the purpose to make him pro-
v1slonal president of the confederacy. He
was on his way to Montgomery when he
received notice Of his election. He in
formed me that he sincerely regretted it
as his great ambition was to command the
confederate army. Howell Cobb of
Georgia was very earnestly pressed for the
presidency. but he had accepted the COM
promise measures in 1885, and as Davis
was very earnest supporter Of state SOW
Notwithstanding the earnest efforts made
by Cobb to win the position.
had casuaf acquaintance with Mr..
Davis before our civil war. For fully a
decade before the fraternal strife began he
was one Of the most prominent figures and
actors at the national capital. One of his
distinguished characteristics was his severe
dignity of manner both on the floor Of the
Senate and in personal intercourse with his
friends No member of the Senate was
more highly respected by his fellow sena-
tors. He was man Of sincere and earnest
convictions and all accorded to him the
credit of being thoroughly honest and earn
est in all that he said and did. He was one
of the ablest of the southern senator's and
often participated in debate, but he was a
stranger to all the arts of the demagogue,
and his senatorial. like all his other ad-
dresses, We're marked by uniform dignity
and courtesy.
Davis Not Secessionist
Davis was not a secessionist; ON the con-
trary he sincerely deplored the severance
OF the Union and repeatedly expressed him
self against it's dissolution but he most
ably and firmly supported the sovereignty
of the state as paramount to the sovereign
ty of the Union in all matters relating to
the interests of the people of a state. He
did not urge the secession of Mississippi
after the election of Lincoln, and he occu-
pied his seat in the Senate until Mississippi
formally seeded from the Union, when in
obedience to his convictions and teachings
he obeyed the command of what he recog-
nized as the sovereign power and resigned
his seat in the Senate. He was surrounded
by blatant fire-eaters who were studiously
infiaming the south and offending the north
by demanding secession in utter defiance
Of the national government. Davis was
never guilty of any such expression, but
when his state comma nded him to sever his
relations with the national government he
obeyed because he believed that his first
and only allegiance was to Mississippi.
While there were men In the Senate who
commanded a much larger measure of per-
sonal affection from their associates than
did Davis, member Of the body COM
manded larger measure of personal re-
spect.
In 1880, some fifteen years after the war,
l visited Jefferson Davis at Buvoir, pleas
ant but unpretentious residence on the
banks of the gulf that had been given him
by some Mississippi friends a permanent
home. He received me with generous cour-
tesy and spent most Of the day with him.
I was surprised to find him in excellent
physical condition when 1 had expected to
meet with an embittered, despairing old
man who had staked everything the
confederacy and had lost When assured
that no publicity would be given to any
view he might express without his distinct
approval he discussed every feature Of the
war that 1 suggested to him with perfect
frankness and in the course of the CONVEX
sation learned for the first time the fear
full force of state sovereignty as accepted
by the southern confederacy.
Curios From Galapagos.
From the San Francisco Bulletin.
The California Academy of Sciences once