This piece is published in honor of Davis’s birthday, June 3.
With unaffected distrust of my ability to meet the
demands of such a great hour as this, I rejoice to be again on the
beautiful campus of my alma mater, and have the opportunity of bringing a
message to the young men of my country. And as this commencement day
chances to be the one-hundredth anniversary of the birth of Jefferson
Davis, the most illustrious citizen whose name ever adorned and enriched
the annals of Mississippi, I have had the temerity to select his Life
and Times as the theme of this hour’s discussion. To paint, with
skillful hand, the full length portrait of that majestic man, or
adequately portray the qualities that gave him greatness and the virtues
that make him immortal, I cannot; but, with you, I can reverently sit
at his feet and listen to a story that will stir within us many a noble
aspiration, and cause us to seek more diligently the old paths of manly
honor and high endeavor. My purpose is not to indulge in extravagant or
indiscriminate eulogy, but, if possible, give a judicial estimate of a
great man who was the most commanding figure in a fierce and eventful
national crisis. It shall be alike removed from unreasoning censure and
unreasonable praise. We need not deify Mr. Davis, or disproportionately
exalt the pedestal on which the Genius of History will surely place him,
in order to show adequate appreciation of his noble character and
splendid genius.
On the other hand, the use of bitter invective and
lurid superlatives about this man of destiny,
may evidence literary ingenuity and partisan malignity, but can never
any more command the respect of patriotic, thoughtful students of our
national history. The days of malignant vituperation are gone, and the
time of judicial interpretation has come. It is not necessary now to
“measure all facts by considerations of latitude and longitude.” The
character and life work of Jefferson Davis were never so diligently and
dispassionately studied as to-day. War-passions have sufficiently
cooled, and war-clouds have so floated forth our national skies that
even the most ardent and sentimental nationalist can study the man and
his times in a clear, white light. A citizen whose moral and religious
ideals were the most exalted, and whose daily conduct was sought to be
modeled after the Man of Galilee, and whose life has in it as little to
explain or apologize for, as any leader in American politics, can never
be caricatured as a monster or condemned as a traitor, and have anybody
really believe it.
More @ The Abbeville Institute
No comments:
Post a Comment