No Word Magician

I was looking back over a book I have about Jefferson Davis today, entitled: "Jefferson Davis and the World's Tribute to His Memory-Memorial Volume 1890", by John William Jones, who wrote Christ in the Camp, and came across a few lines that I wanted to share. I came across a speech given to the General Assembly of Virginia on January 25, 1890 by Senator John W. Daniel. Mr. Daniel goes on to talk about the character of Jefferson Davis and the man of principle that he was. With so many things going on in Washington and even here in Kentucky, and after another speech last night that makes you scratch your head at what was just said... I thought these few lines to be helpful and so needed now in this Country again. Yet always remembering that it is Christ who is our perfect example of a King that rules justly.

John W. Daniel writes of Jefferson Davis:

"Sternly did he stand for principle. He was no courtier, no flatterer, no word magician, no time-server, no demagogue unless that word shakes from it the contaminations of its abuse and return to its pristine meaning- a leader of the people. Like King David's was his command, 'There shall no deceitful man dwell in my house.' A pure and lofty spirit breathed through his every utterance, which, like the Parian stone, revealed in its polish the fineness of the grain. I can recall no public man who, in the midst of such shifting and perplexing scenes of strife, maintained so firmly the consistency of his principles, and who, despite the shower of darts that hurtled around his head, triumphed so completely over every dishonoring imputation."

"He was always ready to follow his principles to their logical conclusion, to become at any sacrifice their champion; to face defeat in their defense, and to die, if need be, rather than disguise or recant them."

On receiving a commission as brigadier-general by President Polk for his actions in the Mexican War, Daniel writes: "But he had taught the doctrine that the State, and not the Federal government, was the true constitutional fountain of such an honor, and from another hand he would not bend his knightly brow to receive it."

"It was fortunate for the South, for America, and for humanity that at the head of the South in war was a true type of its honor, character, and history- a man whose clear rectitude preserved every complication from impeachment of bad faith; a patriot whose love of law and liberty were paramount to all expediencies; a commander whose moderation and firmness could restrain, and whose lofty passion and courage could inspire; a publicist whose intellectual powers and attainments made him the peer of any statesman who has championed the rights of commonwealths in debate, or stood at the helm when the ship of State encountered the tempest of civil commotion. In the tremendous storm which has scarce yet subsided Jefferson Davis never once forgot that he was a constitutional President under the limits of the fundamental law of the Confederate republic."