The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-06

both sections of the Union. and abroad their names have gone down the aisles of time, linked into one. | In the autumn after his marriage, Mir. Davis was elected to Congress by a handsome majority; promptly taking Ia prominent stand and gaining quick | recognition for vigor and eloquence in championing the. ultra pro-slavery and States rights wing of the Democracy. | Hearing his maiden speech in the House. John c. Calhoun said:
 Keep a watch on that young man; he will be heard fromr'
 In 1s46. the Mexican War brought the regiment of Mississippi Rifles; soon attached to General Taylors Ar my of the Rio Grande. There it gave 1 such good account of itself and it's commander as to warrant special mention, in orders; for Monterey and Davis splendid charge at Buena Vista -in which he was severaly wounded brought another flattering report to Washington; whether, or not his first father-in-law's personal feelings had changed.
 In the session of 1s47, Mir. Davis first took his seat as Senator of the United States; having been appointed by Governor Albert Gallatin Brown to succeed Hon. Jesse Speight. who died
  isiature elected him to fill the unex- pired term; but. in 1851. he resigned to eacept the nomination for Governor of Missjssippi. when he was defeated by that archmanipulator. Henry S. Foote, who ran on the Union ticket. But he remained a power in politics and was especially active in the election of President Pierce. who made him Sec- retary, of War. in March. 1853. At the close of his term in the cabinet, he was again, elected to the Senate and again became the leader of the ultra Southern party. It was at this time that he made his famous Faneuil Hall speech on the rights of the States and the powers of the central government. Then. January of 1861 Jefferson Davis made his farewell speech in the Sem ate, withdrew from that body and went to Mississippi to carry his home peo- pie into the incubating Confectionery.
 At the birth of the new nation he was popularly Accepted as its chief. There were--as was inevitable in an infant coalition of the dispecta mem bra of an old one-cliques. cabals and oflce greed. At Montgomery other candidates were spoken of. Alexander H. Stephens was often mentioned. Toombs was talked of; and what was known as the South Carolina clique"9 --in which were Louis T. wigfall,
 
 and others--advocated Howell Cobb, late of Buchanan cabinet. But MT. Da- wis was unanimously chosen provis- ionai president and was inaugurated with wild acclaim, at the capitol, on February IS, 1881. When the perma- nent government went into power. he was reelected without opposition; and was inauguratd at the Washington statute, in the Richmond capitol grounds, on February 22. 1882.
 At this time. Mir. Davis was the idol of the people and almost equally of the army. This is no time and place even did limits permit-to dissect the bickerings, jealousies and spites that fomented unjust judgment of this man and of his motives. Some of them are contentious that can never be settled: all of them had best be buried in his grave, to lie untouched forever by eith- CT prying, itching or loving hands. The bitterness of the past has lost it's pungency; the respect and good will and love of second thought have re- placed that. Today. and I honestly be- lieve, even through that North which once hated and 1onged to hang ghim- the verdict of the world is that here is a just man who has gone to sleep.
 Neither is there space, were there | need, to rehearse the long and bitter 1 search of the unhorsed knight for an- | other saddle. Released from prison, | after durance too-vIIe and needless not | to raise national blush at it's | memory, he went abroad, returned and | made president of an unsuccessful in- | surance company. the debts of which | he assumed and struggled for years | to pay, by hard. if congenial, labor at | his Beauvior home. The result of this |