The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1909-09-29
JEFFERSON DAVIS
A JUST TRIBUTE PAID HIM BY A
NORTHERN PAPER.
Comment on the New Haven Regis.
ter's Generous Reply to The News
and Courier's Challenge.

Ter generous reply u IHe Nohe
and Courier's Challenge.
A short time ago it was a%nnounc-
ed that the State of Mississippi was
preparing to present a statute Of JET
ferson Davis to the Statuary Hall in
Washington as one of the great Mis-
sissippians entitled to a place in that
Temple of Fame. says the New Or
leans States. Some of the news
papers of the South. however, ex-
pressed the opinion that this step
should come from Kentucky, the
native State of both Jefferson and
Abraham Lincoln, which. 1t was said,
contemplated presenting together
the statutes of her two most illus
trious sons. In commenting on the
| project to give the President Of the
| Southern C~onfederacy a place In Stat
uary Hall, The Charleston News and
| Courier took occasion to express sur
prise at the silence of the Rochester,
n. Y, Democrat and Chronicle and
also the fact that it had failed to
| say something very ugly about the
matter.
The remarks of The News and
| Courier were in the nature of a chal-
lenge, which has been accepted by
the New Haven Register with the
declaration that there Is something
to say about Jefferson Davis and his
| admission to the National Temple
| Of Fame, and it should be said. 1T
is high time, the Register asserts.
| that 1.-The mist which Ger half a cen-
fury has distorted the North's view
| of this son of the South should be
| cleared away" and that the man who
in his day suffered more than any
other Southerner for the cause In
which he believed, should cease to
be reckoned a coward and a traitor
and esteemed for what he was--a
brave, true Southern gentleman
To this statement the New Haven
Register adds the following eloquent
tribute to Mr.. Davis:
But the South will never cease
to admire and honor the man OF
iron nerve, of dauntless courage, OF
| ceaseless loyalty, of unsullied honor,
Of tireless energy, of peerless chiv-
| airy, who suffered and dared and
| all but died for the cause he loved
and lost. Of that host Of true men
who gave their best and their. all
| for the Confederacy because in their
| deepest hearts they believed they
were doing right. none were more
| sincere than he. OF that multitude
who lined up for the struggle against
| their brothers Of the North. none
was Drawer and none was nobler,
| His sacrifice was as extreme as 1t
was sincere, and his treatment by
| the victors after the crash came was
| sore medicine for a heart that was
breaking.
ut is a century and a year since
Jefferson Davis was born. 1t lis
| near to half a century since his cause
was lost. 1t is twenty years since
his death. What better time could
there be to signify, by the placing
| of his statute in the Nations Capitol,
that in the blood OF brothers shed
the Union Is forever cemented on
a foundation that standeth sure.
There let his presentment stand.
erect, noble. commanding, impress
sive, as he stood in the days when
he was master Of the destinies of
half a nation. Let it there remind
the South that it was mistaken and
| the North that 1t misunderstood. Let
it picture a martyr to a cause that
though lost, was not wholly In vain.
since it taught brothers to appreci-
ate a relationship they were in dang
er of forgetting"
twenty-five years ago it would
have been dangerous for a New
England newspaper to pay such a
tribute to the memory of the great
martyr of the Lost Cause, and 1t
indicates what tremendous strides
have been taken toward a complete
ly reunited country in little more
than a couple of decades. We are
in perfect agreement with the state
ment Of The News and Courier that
nothing finer than that has been
done on either side Of the old line
of sectional feeling and sectional dis
trust" 1t will be vastly pleasing to
the people of the South, because 1t
was so unexpected and so magnii-
Gently generous and patriotic. But
there is a lesson to be learned from
the tribute. and that is the honest
hearted people of New England are
today approaching the noble charac-
ter and great worth of Jefferson da-
Wis. and they have the manly cour-
age to do him the justice which hiss
been SO long denied him by those
who possess neither the sense of risht
nor the sense of justice.