Democratic Sentinel, Volume 10, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 May 1886 — IN HONOR OF JEFF DAVIS. [ARTICLE]

IN HONOR OF JEFF DAVIS.

Crowds Flock Into Montgomery to Sec and Hear the President of the Contederacy. Wednesday, the 28th of April, says a dispatch from Montgomery, will ever be memorable in the history of Alabama, in that, while calling out ringing oratorical pleas for the erection of a monument to the Confederate dead, the occasion has served for a grand demonstration in commemoration of the secession of Alabama, the establishment of the Confederacy, and the inauguration of Jefferson Davis as its President. Every locality w 7 as represented, and many adjacent towns and villages poured their entire population into the streets. The entire city was gayly decorated, and the City Hall had United States flags fluttering out of every window. More Federal flags floated in Montgomery than at any time since 1860. The private houses and business houses all had a liberal supply of decorations and devices and words of welcome to Mr. Davis. The ex-Presi-dent of the Confederacy was driven in a carriage drawn by four milk-white horses to the State Capitol, which was followed by an immense procession. Arriving at the State House, Mayor Reese introduced the guest to the vast audience. Mr. Davis, leaning on his cane, with tho Federal flag over him and Confederate veterans before him, spoke in a clear, ringing voice, showing the deep intensity of his feelings, but without a tremor or pause, except when interrupted by the shouts of his hearers. He said: My friends, it would be vain if I should attempt to express to you the deep gratification which I feel at this demonstration. But I know that it is not personal, and therefore I feel more deeply gratified, ueeause it fs a sentiment far dearer to me than myself. You have passed through tho terrible ordeal of war which Alabama did not see'k. When she felt her wrongs too grievous for further toleration she sought the peaceful solution. That being denied her thunders of war came ringing over tho land. Then her people roso in their majesty; gray-haired seers and beardless boys eagerly ruslied to the front. It was that war which Christianity alone approved—a holy war for defense. Well do I romember seeing your gentle boys, so small —to use a farmer's phrase—that they might have been called seed-corn, moving on with eager step aud fearless brow to the carnival of death; and I have also looked upon them when their knapsacks and muskets seemed heavier than the boys, and my eyes, partaking of a mother's weakness, filled with tears. Those days have passed. Many of them have found nameless graves ; hut they are not dead. They live in memory and their spirits stand out, the grand reserve of that column which is marching on with unfaltering steps toward tho goal of constitutional liberty. [Applause.] It were in vain if I should attempt, as I have already said, to express my gratitude to you. I am standing now very nearly on the spot whore I stood when I took the oath of office in 1861. Your demonstration now exceeds that which welcomed me then. This shows that the spirit of Southern liberty is not dead. [Long and continued applause.] Then you were full of joyous hopes. You had every prospect of achieving all you desired; and now you are wrapped in tho mantle of regret—and yet that regret only manifests more profoundly, und does not obliterate, the expression of your sentiments. I felt last night as I approached the Exchange Hotel, from the gallery of which your peerless orator, William L. Yancey, introduced me to the citizens of Montgomery, and commended me in language which only his eloquence could yield, and which far exceeded my merit—l felt, I say again, that I was coming to my home —coming to a land win re liberty dies not, and serious sentiments will live forever. I Applause.] I have been promised, my friends, that I should not be called upon to make a speech; and therefore I will only extend to you my heartfelt thanks. God bless you, one and all, old men and boys, and the ladies above all others, who never faltered in our direst need. [Loud and long-continued applause.]