The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1915-06-13
Birthday Of jefferson Davis
Observed by u. D. Of c.

The 10Ith anniversary of the birth OF
Jefferson Davis was fittinsly observed
Tuesday night at largely attended
meeting at Confederate Memorial Hall.
1922 Vermont avenue northwest held I'M
der the auspices of the United DauSh-
tiers of the Confederacy of the District
of Columbia. Claude n. Bennett. former
president of the Southern Society OF
Washington. was the orator and pleas
ing musical program was rendered. Capt.
Fred Beall. Commander Camp. NO. ILL.,
L. &. ", presided.
The exercises were opened with an in
vocation by the Rev. DR.. Randolph IL.
McEim. chaplain of Camp No. III. after
which the Confederate Choir sang my
Old kentucky Home Capt. Beall then
introduced MIR. Bennett. In doing so he
gave short euloGy of Jefferson Davis.
with whom he was personally acquainted.
Mr.. Bennett paid i tribute to the men
and women of the South who were so
we'll typificd by Jefferson Davis-the men
and the women of the South preceding
the war. 1T seems to me-. he said.
that the hardest task that VIC of the
younger generation have to fulfill is to
live worthily of those who came before
u.s." Mr.. Bennett said it was crown
ing distinction of the career of jefferson
loved him most. or rated him most
highly"
1T is a plea sing thing that he has
been eulocized to the limit of possible
human expression by all the great men
who coworked with him. Nor has that
estimate been confined to the South
Even so great a man from Massachu-
sets as Caleb Cushing. in the city of
Boston, in Introducing jefferson Davis.
a he. ~E L.. l.
could command in commencing his char
acter his ability. his great service to the
country in the Senate, in the House and
IN the Cabinet. in which they had served
together Prescott. the historian. speaks
or Mr.. Davis as the most accomplished
man in the United States Senate when
II was filled with giants. Among these
giants were Daniel Webster. Henry Clay,
John c. Calhoun. Thomas II. Benton,
Stephen A. Douglass. Lewis Cass. and
others of like great ability. As an illus
tration Of the esteem In which they arc
held you find in Statuary Hall now rep
resenting their respective States the
statues of clay. of Calhoun. of Webster,
OF Benton. of Cass. and permit me to
say that before many years go by you
Will find standing with them in Statuary
Hall. in bronze. or marble. as he stood
with them in the United States Senate
their peer in Statuary Hall as he was
their peer in the Senate-Jefferson Davis
himself. ! think that | am correct in
saying that the state of Mississippi will
never send a representative to S.atuary
Hall until they can send Jefferson
Davis"
Mr. Bennett said that what stands out
most conSpicuously in the career of JEFF |
ferson Davis is that although the white
hSht OF publicity. the very acid test of |
criticism. beat upon his head for some |
sixty or more years when he was in the |
pubic eye. when the strongest men of |
the greatest country on earth sought to |
ma something against his character |
against his reputation. although they |
turned inside and out his every act they
had not succeeded in finding one single |
dlscreditable act in all his career Com |
pare that record. he said. with the record |
of any of the politicians of the present |
day
MIR. Bennett told of Davis valor dur
ing the Mexican war. saying that "he
did the greatest service for the Stars
and Stripes that was done during that
conflict He told of his career in Con-
Sress and how he was ever willing to
sacrifice his personal ambition for the
good of his party. He told of his career
as Secretary of War and of the many
for which he was respon-
sible in the modes of defense of the
In speaking of his casting his
fortunes with the South at the outbreak
OF the war. Mr., Bennett said it was the
doctrine of his very innermost soul that
there was no power i'm the Federal gov
eminent to coerce sovereign State;
that the Federal government was made
for the States rather than the States
Tor the Federal government In justifi-
alton of Davis course Mr.. Bennett read
an extract from speech made by Abra-
ham Lincoln. while member of the
House. in which he said: ANY people
anywhere. being inclined and having the
power. have the right to raise up and
shake off the existing government and
form new one that suits them better"
Mr.. Bennett referred to the fact that
during the Black Hawk Indian war the
path of allegiance to the United States
was administered to Abraham Lincoln,
as captain of a company, by Jefferson
Davis.
MIR Bennett closed with a strong trib-
ute to the life of jefferson Davis after
The war. "Disfranchised." he said "he
never grew bitter he never grew sullen,
ne never complained he never repined he
never abused other people. He was the
builder of a nation more populous than
he United States was when Washington
At the meeting of the committee NJ