nineteenth century worthy of a better fate, but chastised by
God for the sins of their forefathers. Let the ruins of the
Republic remain to testify to the latest generations our greatness
and our heroism. And let Liberty, crownless and childless, sit upon
these ruins, crying aloud in a sad wail to the nations of the
world, 'I nursed and brought up children and they have rebelled
against me.'"

Mr. DAVIS'S most striking characteristics were his devotion to principle
and his indomitable courage. There never was a moment when he could be
truthfully charged with trimming or insincerity. His views were always
clearly avowed and fearlessly maintained. He hated slavery, and he did
not attempt to conceal it. He remembered the lessons of his youth, and
his heart rebelled against the injustice of the system. His antipathy
was deeply grounded in his convictions, and he could not be dissuaded,
nor frightened, nor driven from expressing it.

He was not a great captain, nor a mighty ruler; he was only one of the
people, but, nevertheless, a hero. Born under the flag of a nation which
claimed for its cardinal principle of government, that all men are
created free, yet held in abject slavery four millions of human beings;
which erected altars to the living God, yet denied to creatures, formed
in the image of God and charged with the custody of immortal souls, the
common rights of humanity; he declared that the hateful inconsistency
should cease to defile the prayers of Christians and stultify the
advocates of freedom. No dreamer was he, no mere theorist, but a worker,
and a strong one, who did well the work committed to him. He entered
upon his self-imposed task when surrounded by slaves and slave-owners.
He stood face to face with the iniquitous superstition, and to their
teeth defied its worshipers. To make proselytes he had to conquer
prejudices, correct traditions, elevate duty above interest, and induce
men who had been the propagandists of slavery to become its destroyers.
Think you his work was easy? Count the long years of his unequal strife;
gather from the winds, which scattered them, the curses of his foes;
suffer under all the annoyances and insults which malice and falsehood
can invent, and you will then understand how much of heart and hope, of
courage and self-relying zeal, were required to make him what he was,
and to qualify him to do what he did. And what did he? When the rough
hand of w