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 DAVIS— DA VOUD PASHA.

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father remoyed into the state of Mississippi. He ^^raduated from the West Point Military Academy in 1828, and serred with distinction against the TTiffiftniy until 1836, noien he resigned his commission, returned to Mississippi, and mar- ried the daughter of Qen. Taylor, afterwards President of the United States. He became a cotton planter until 1843, when he interested him- self in poHtics as a Democrat, and took a prominent part in the elec- tion of Mr. Polk. He was returned to Congress in 1845, and took part in the debates on the '* tariff," the "Oregon question," "military af- fairs, and upon the " preparations for the Mexican War. Upon the breaking out of this contest, he was elected colonel of the Mississippi regiment of volunteers, when he resigned his seat in Congress, and joined the army of Qen. Taylor on the Bio Grande. He was engaged at the storming of Monterey, and in the battle of Buena Vista. At the close of the war he was offered by President Polk the rank of briga- dier-general of volunteers, but de- clined it. In 1847 he was elected Senator for Mississippi; in 1860 he became Chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs, and was distin- guished by the energy with which he defended slavery, and by his zealous advocacy of State rights. In 1851 he resigned his seat in the Senate to enter upon a canvass for Mr. Franklin Pierce, who on being elected President, appointed Mr. Davis as Secretary at War. He was again elected as Senator in 1858; out the election of Mr. Lin- coln in 1860, and the consequent secession movement, caused him to withdraw. When the movement received shape and form, he was chosen Provisional President of the Confederate States, Feb. 4, 1861, inaugurated Feb. 22, and elected as President for six years in 1862. After the fall of Bichmond, Presi- dent Davis, while endeavouring to make his escape, was captured at

Irwinsville, Georgia, May 10, 1865> and remained a prisoner for two years in Fortress Monroe, awaiting a trial. He was released on bail in the summer of 1867, and all pro- ceedings against him were discon- tinued. After his release he visited Europe, and on his return took up his residence at Memphis, Tennes- see, where he was for a time Presi- dent of a Life Insurance Company. In 1881 he published "The Bise and Fall of the Confederate Go- vernment," in 2 vols.

DAVIS, Sib John FBANCi8,Bart., E.C.B., the eldest son of S. Davis, Esq., of Portland Place, was born in 1795. Entering the public service at an early age, he was attached to Lord Amherst's embassy to Pekin in 1816, and was joint commissioner with the late Lord Napier in 1834, for the purpose of arranging com- mercial and other maUers with China. Fiom 1843 to 1848 he was British Plenipotentiary and Chief Superintendent of British trade in China, and Governor and Com- mander-in-Chief of the Colony of Hong-Kong. He was created a baronet July 9, 1845, and a K.C.B. (civil division), June 12, 1854. Sir John F. Davis, who is a Deputy- Lieutenant of Gloucestershire, is the author of "A Description of China and its Inhabitants," "Sketches of China," "Chinese Bomance," " Chinese Moral Maxims," "Po€seos Sinicce Com- mentarii," " China during the War and since the Peace," and " Chinese Miscellanies." In 1876 he gave to the university of Oxford .£1666, Three per cent. Consols, for the purpose of endowing a scholarship for the encouragement of the study of Chinese. Tnskt university has conferred upon him the honorary d^nree of D.C.L,

DAVISON, Mbs. (flfee Goddabd,

ASABSLLA.)

DAVOUD PASHA, an Ottoman statesman, was born at Constan- tinople in March, 1816. He is a Catholic Armenian— that is, of the