Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 21.djvu/212

 204 Southern Historical Society Papers.

fices made by men and women, stand unsurpassed in the world's history, and, to add to the grandeur, the Confederate soldier, after the restoration of peace and during the transition state, maintained his self-respect, and is honored by every civilized nation under the sun, and by none more than by his gallant adversary who met him on the field of strife.

The memorable seige of Vicksburg will be read by generations to come, and the memories of those who fell in defense and who for forty-seven days held at bay many times their number, and again and again repulsed them, will be perpetuated, and neither blind partisan- ship nor sectional prejudice can cloud the grandeur of the heroic defence.

A TRIBUTE TO DAVIS.

Nearly sixty years have passed since a young man had served his country on its Western frontier, and for eight years was a student and recluse. These years were devoted to the study of history and the science of government, and after careful preparation for a life of action, he leaped into the arena, " Like Pallas, from the brain of Jove full armed." He succeeded to the National House of Representatives, resigned to accept the command of a Mississippi regiment in a foreign land, which added new honors and greener laurels to a Mexican soldier. He was afterward commissioned to the Senate, and later as chief of the War Department of the nation, and again to the Senate, where he was the peer of the oldest and proudest, where he remained until 1861, when, in a speech worthy of its author, he bade the Senate of the United States a final adieu, and in the following autumn was, with great unanimity, chosen President of the Confederate States. Thus your neighbor, countryman and fellow citizen,. Jefferson Davis, became the chief of the Confederate cause, and for four weary years, with less than 600,000 men, battled against 3,000,000, and Vicksburg against like odds made a defence worthy ol the cause and its princi- ples principles that underlie governments, that proclaim the doctrine that freemen have a right to choose their own form of government, and be sustained in their choice by the fundamental law. The forms that sleep in the little mounds upon which our fair countrywomen to-day scatter rare and fragrant flowers, lived when dark clouds over- shadowed the Confederate sky, and they stood firmly and unflinch- ingly by their colors, and died with arms in their hands, facing the enemy, exhibiting a love of liberty, devotion to the cause and a