istocracy, the political masters of their section, and
long the dominant force in the nation; a theorist, wedded to the dogma
of State sovereignty, and convinced of the superiority of Southern
civilization; the self-confident and self-asserting temper bred by such
conditions--here was a union of forces that would push its cause against
all opposition, at the cost if need be of disunion, of war, of all
obstacles and all perils.

By a natural exaggeration, at a later time the President of the
Confederacy was regarded at the North as the very embodiment of its
cause. To the unmeasured hostility on this account was added the
opprobrium of deeds in which he had no part. He was charged for a time
with complicity in the murder of Lincoln. He was branded with
responsibility for the miseries in Andersonville and the other
prison-pens in the war,--but without a particle of evidence. Admiration
was yielded by the North to Stonewall Jackson even in his life-time;
there was early recognition of Lee's magnanimous acceptance of defeat;
but the bitterest odium was long visited upon Davis. It was heightened
by the tenacity with which his intense nature clung to "the lost cause"
as a sentiment, after the reality was hopelessly buried. The South
itself gave its highest favor to Lee, its most effective defender, and a
man of singularly impressive character; while Davis's mistakes of
administration, and his reserved and over-sensitive temper chilled a
little the recognition of his disinterested and loyal service. But in
the retrospect of history he stands out as an honorable and pathetic
figure. The single warping influence of his whole career was the mistake
he shared with millions of his countrymen,--the acceptance and
exaltation of slavery. He was faithful to his convictions; he was free
from covetousness and meanness; and in his personality there were high
and fine elements of manhood. "A very intense man and a very lovable
man" was the judgment of one who was his intimate associate through the
war.

"Love of power was so much weaker in him than love of his theories that
when Congress passed laws enlarging his prerogatives he wrote long
messages declining them on constitutional grounds." A friend described
him as "a game-cock--with just a little strut." Said one who stood in
close relations with him: "He was so sensitive to criticism and even to
questioning that I have passed months of intimate official association
with him without ve