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MEMORIAL ADDRESSES 
 
 LIFE AND 
 
 GARRETT DAVIS, 
 
 (A SENATOR FROM KENTUCKY,) 
 
 DELIVERED IN THE 
 
 SENATE AND WOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 
 
 U. S, 
 i 
 
 FORTY- SECOND CONGRESS, THIRD SESSION, 
 DECEMBER 18, 1872. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF CONGRESS. 
 
 WASHINGTON: 
 GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 
 
 I873- 
 
GARRETT DAVIS. 
 
 PROCEEDINGS IN THE SENATE. 
 
 REMARKS BY MR. STEVENSON, OF KENTUCKY. 
 
 Mr. PRESIDENT: I rise to announce an event which will be received 
 by the Senate, I am sure, with profound regret and the sincerest sorrow. 
 
 Hon. GARRETT DAVIS, late a Senator from the Commonwealth of 
 Kentucky, in the Congress of the United States, is no more! Upon 
 the 22d of September last, at his own home near Paris, Kentucky, he 
 passed quietly away, cheered by the presence of his sorrowing children 
 and surrounded by devoted personal friends. 
 
 It is sad to realize that his long life of faithful public service is 
 ended. We grieve that those earnest, fearless utterances in the sup 
 port of whatever he deemed right, those fierce and impassioned de 
 nunciations of whatever he believed to be wrong, so often heard in 
 this Chamber, are hushed forever. 
 
 Although the rapidly declining health of the departed Senator dur 
 ing our last session rendered the sad event which we are now called 
 upon to deplore not improbable, still every heart in the Chamber is 
 deeply touched by its reality. Full of years and full of honors, GAR 
 RETT DAVIS has passed away. All that is left to us is the memory of 
 his virtues and the remembrance of his exalted patriotism. 
 
 This is not the place, nor the present the time, for any eulogium or 
 lengthened sketch of the life and public services of my late colleague 
 and friend. And yet, Mr. President, my sad trust would seem to me 
 
4 REMARKS BY MR. STEVENSON ON THE 
 
 but half discharged, were I to omit all reference to some of the salient 
 and striking traits which marked his life. 
 
 GARRETT DAVIS was a native of Kentucky. He was born in Mount 
 Sterling on the loth of September, 1801. His father and mother 
 emigrated from Montgomery County, Maryland, to the county of the 
 same name in Kentucky. His mother was a Miss Garrett, a family 
 still well and widely known in Maryland, and it was from his mother s 
 family that he derived his own baptismal name. His father was a 
 man of marked character. To energy and industry, he added strong 
 will and great personal popularity. He was for many years the 
 sheriff of his adopted county, and represented it several times in the 
 lower branch of the General Assembly of Kentucky. The strongly 
 marked character of the parents was deeply impressed upon their 
 children. Mr. DAVIS was one of three brothers. The brilliant talents 
 of two of them, Amos and Singleton Davis, long since dead, are still 
 remembered in Kentucky, while the long and distinguished public 
 service of him whom we to-day mourn, is imperishably interwoven 
 with the public annals of an entire country. 
 
 Mr. DAVIS enjoyed the advantages of what we know in Kentucky 
 as a common country school. At the early period when his father 
 left Maryland to find a new home in the wild and sparsely settled 
 portion of Kentucky where he settled, the means of instruction were 
 extremely limited. Mr. DAVIS applied himself diligently, and soon 
 acquired a good English education, with some knowledge of the Latin 
 and Greek languages. At an early age he determined to study law. 
 With a view of practical knowledge he sought employment as a 
 deputy in the circuit court clerk s office of Montgomery County. In 
 1823 he removed to Bourbon County, where he continued to prose 
 cute his legal studies, and at the same time to write in the circuit 
 court clerk s office of that county. About the year 1824 he com 
 menced the practice of his profession at Paris, and to it he conse 
 crated the earlier years of life with enthusiastic devotion. 
 
LIFE AND CHARACTER OF GARRETT DAVIS. 5 
 
 In 1825 he married the daughter of Robert Trimble, a distin 
 guished jurist, who became subsequently a judge of the Supreme 
 Court of the United States. This accomplished woman died in 
 Washington in 1842, leaving a son and two daughters, who survive 
 their father. In 1845 Mr. DAVIS married the widow of Thomas 
 Elliott, a prominent lawyer at the Paris bar. She died in October, 
 1868, leaving one son, who is living. 
 
 Mr. DAVIS was indefatigable and laborious in his legal studies. 
 "Such industry produced its fruits." His business increased, and he 
 rapidly rose to a high position at a bar which then numbered some 
 of the most prominent lawyers in the Commonwealth. He regarded 
 the law as the noblest science of intellectual triumph. He loved the 
 administration of justice. It challenged his admiration and stimulated 
 his professional aspirations. All who have encountered him as an 
 opponent in the trial of an important cause, as it has been my experi 
 ence occasionally to have done, will bear willing testimony to his high 
 qualities as an able and strong lawyer. His last argument but one 
 in the Supreme Court of the United States, in the reported case of 
 Missouri vs. Kentucky, is a lasting memorial of his legal learning and 
 professional power. Had his whole life been devoted exclusively to 
 professional labor, none who knew him could doubt, that he would 
 have reached the summit of professional eminence, and have become 
 an acknowledged leader before any court. 
 
 Mr. DAVIS took an active and prominent part in the political con 
 tests of Kentucky from his earliest manhood. Always an ardent 
 Whig, and frequently the selected standard-bearer of his party in its 
 most excited struggles, his clarion voice rang throughout the Com 
 monwealth in defense of the principles of that patriotic and gallant 
 organization. He was the trusted and tried friend of Henry Clay, 
 and enjoyed, to a pre-eminent degree, his confidence and regard. 
 
 He represented Bourbon County in the lower branch of the Gen 
 eral Assembly of Kentucky for many years. Always conservative in 
 
6 REMARKS BY MR. STEVENSON ON THE 
 
 his views, he took a prominent and successful part in shaping the 
 legislation of the State. For eight consecutive years, he was chosen 
 over able and distinguished competitors, by the electors of the Ash 
 land district, their representative to the House of Representatives of 
 the United States, and then voluntarily retired. The debates in that 
 body during that period attest his power and strength as a ready and 
 skillful debater. 
 
 He was nominated as lieutenant-governor on the gubernatorial 
 ticket with John J. Crittenden, but at his earnest request was excused 
 by the convention. 
 
 In 1 86 1, amid perils and dangers of a revolutionary struggle, he 
 was elected as an old-line Union Whig, to succeed John C. Breck- 
 inridge in the Senate of the United States. He was the strong op 
 ponent of secession, and was at the period of his election an earnest 
 advocate for the rigid prosecution of the war to restore the Union. 
 
 In 1867 he was re-elected to the Senate, a proud tribute to his 
 fidelity and zeal in upholding the honor and guarding the interests of 
 his State. Had he lived, his senatorial term would have expired on 
 the 3d of March, 1873. 
 
 Mr. DAVIS and myself, until some time after the commencement of 
 the late war, had been always political opponents. We had both 
 been reared in opposing political schools, and differed widely in our 
 views as to the powers and policy of the Federal Government. Still 
 we were warm friends. I became associated with him in the public serv 
 ice for the first time in October, 1849. He, my present colleague, and 
 myself met as members of the convention which framed and adopted 
 the present constitution of Kentucky. It was at that period, in a 
 daily intercourse of several months, that I formed an opinion of 
 GARRETT DAVIS which I have never had occasion to change. I 
 thought then, as I think now, that he was a strong and in many re 
 spects a most remarkable man. His character was cast in a mould 
 of striking antagonisms. Its strong element rested in that moral 
 
LIFE AND CHARACTER OF GARRETT DAVIS. *J 
 
 power, which brought to its aid a concentrated will and a conscious 
 rectitude that challenged and alike defied opposition. His heart knew 
 no fear. Popular opinion had no terror for him in the advocacy of 
 measures he believed to be right. 
 
 I recall a striking incident: During the session of our constitutional 
 convention, Mr. DAVIS, at that time a sincere advocate of the princi 
 ples of a then existing political organization, known as the American 
 party, introduced into that body a series of resolutions, proposing, by 
 constitutional enactments, to exclude from the right to hold office, in 
 the future, all Roman Catholics, and requiring on the part of all 
 foreign-born citizens a residence of twenty-one years as a prerequi 
 site on their part to the enjoyment of the right of suffrage. 
 
 The resolutions were opposed with singular unanimity by four- 
 fifths of the convention, and by none more sternly than by myself. 
 I know, or rather I have good reason to believe, that many party 
 friends of Mr. DAVIS went to him privately and urged their with 
 drawal. They insisted that his advocacy and vote for the proposed 
 measures would not only lead to his downfall, but bring down the 
 party with him. He replied, that he knew no party call when his 
 duty commanded him to serve his State by the enactment of meas 
 ures he believed to be right. For several days he stood almost 
 alone, as the earnest, bold, and fearless advocate of his resolutions, 
 repelling every assault, and supporting them with a zeal I have rarely 
 seen surpassed. Out of the body, composed of one hundred mem 
 bers, my recollection now is, that his proposition received, on the call 
 of the ayes and noes, but seven votes besides his own. Still he be 
 lieved himself right, and his spirit never quailed before any majority. 
 
 Senators, another high quality of the dead statesman was, his innate 
 desire to be right in all that he said and in all that he did in this Cham 
 ber. Pride and self-consistency always gave way, by prompt acknowl 
 edgment, whenever he believed himself wrong in speech or vote. 
 
 I have before me a striking illustration: On the i8th day of May, 
 
8 REMARKS BY MR. STEVENSON ON THE 
 
 1871, while we were discussing a violation of the rules of the 
 Senate by an improper promulgation of the then recently negotiated 
 treaty with Great Britain, Mr. DAVIS took an active part, as you all 
 remember, in that debate. He made an able and lengthy speech 
 on some of the questions involved. A few days afterward he came 
 to my chair and said, " I wish to see you." We retired into the 
 cloak-room, as I remember, when he said, " Do you think my argu 
 ment consistent and sound ?" I said, " I do not." Said he, " I do 
 not, either." And what, sir, did he do? I read from the Globe 
 what then occurred: 
 
 "Mr. DAVIS, of Kentucky. Mr. President: In the remarks that I 
 submitted to the Senate some time since, I assumed the position that 
 if a Senator received from the State Department or from any other 
 source a copy of the treaty, and after the Senate had received the 
 treaty from the Executive, communicated that State Department 
 copy, it would not be a violation of the secrecy of the Senate. I 
 have further considered that position, and I am satisfied that it is 
 erroneous, and I finally withdraw from it." [Congressional Globe, 
 part 2, Forty -second Congress, first session, page 876.] 
 
 The traits in Mr. DAVIS S character made a strong impress on 
 friends and foes alike. He was positive, bold, and impassioned. He 
 could do nothing by halves. Often, very often, erroneous, he did in 
 justice occasionally both to friends and foes. He possessed, however, 
 that higher, godlike attribute, a generous magnanimity to acknowledge 
 his wrong and publicly to make a ready and prompt amende, 
 
 Senators, for almost twelve years he was your constant associate 
 in this Chamber. His service for a greater portion of that time was 
 in a very small political minority. Constitutional questions, novel 
 and startling in their character, deemed dangerous to constitutional 
 liberty, have during his term been discussed and adopted._ Was 
 GARRETT DAVIS ever silent when duty prompted him to speak? 
 Did he ever quail before the power of an overwhelming political 
 majority in this Senate-Chamber? Amid your bitterest party con- 
 
LIFE AND CHARACTER OF GARRETT DAVIS. 9 
 
 tests of the past, was his honesty ever impeached, or his spotless 
 purity of character ever questioned? 
 
 His bold and fearless denunciations of contemplated usurpations 
 may have offended you; his constant and unceasing appeals to the 
 Constitution may have wearied you; sharp and bitter words, uttered 
 by him in the heat of debate, may have wounded you; but is there 
 one Senator in this Chamber who will not willingly, in despite of 
 the past, say that GARRETT DAVIS was a pure, fearless, honest 
 patriot? What higher tribute could human ambition desire? What 
 higher praise could human statesmanship deserve ? 
 
 My late honored and lamented colleague sleeps amid the blue- 
 grass of his own native Commonwealth, in sight of his home, by the 
 side of loved ones who have gone before him. Senators, soon, one 
 by one, each of us will successively follow him through that dark 
 valley through whose gloom he has now passed. 
 
 Should not this impressive scene admonish us of our mortality ? 
 Shall it not check the acerbity of feeling which sometimes, amid the 
 excitement of our debates, escapes us ? I trust it may awaken in the 
 heart of each and all of us greater respect for those who feel them 
 selves constrained, upon public questions upon which we are called 
 on to act, to differ from one another. Sad dispensations are 
 hourly bringing their instructive lesson, that we must soon pass 
 away. "The paths of glory lead but to the grave." No honors, no 
 distinction, no wealth can stay the power of death. 
 
 But yesterday, amid the excitement of an excited political presi 
 dential contest, the image of one man was before all eyes, and his 
 name was lisped on every tongue. Full of hope, full of expectation, 
 his heart beat high for presidential honors. Where is he now ? Like 
 my departed colleague, he sleeps in a new-made grave, and all that 
 was mortal of Horace Greeley mingles with its kindred dust. So it 
 has been ; so it is ; so it will ever be, until the " sea and graves give 
 up their dead." 
 
IO REMARKS BY MR. VICKERS ON THE 
 
 But there is a brighter home beyond the grave, prepared and ready 
 for all who trust in God, and who are willing to accept the mediation 
 of His Son. There the loved ones who have passed over the river, 
 shall be re-united in a communion never to be broken, and all that 
 communion will be love. 
 
 I beg leave, Mr. President, in conclusion, to offer the following 
 resolutions : 
 
 Resolved, That the Senate has learned with feelings of profound 
 regret that Hon. GARRETT DAVIS, late a Senator in the Congress of 
 the United States from the Commonwealth of Kentucky, departed 
 this life at his residence near Paris, in that State, on 22d September, 
 1872, during the recess of this body. 
 
 Resolved, That in the death of Mr. DAVIS the country has lost a 
 citizen eminent for his public and private virtues, a statesman of the 
 purest patriotism, a Senator of ability and worth, and that his death 
 is deplored by the whole country. 
 
 Resolved, That, as a testimonial of our respect for the memory of 
 the deceased, the members and officers of the Senate will wear the 
 usual badge of mourning for thirty days. 
 
 Resolved, That the proceedings of Congress upon the announce 
 ment of the death of Hon. GARRETT DAVIS be communicated by the 
 Secretary to the family of the deceased. 
 
 Resolved, That, as a further mark of respect for the memory of the 
 deceased, the Senate do now adjourn. 
 
 REMARKS BY ^VLn. DICKERS, OF ^MARYLAND. 
 
 Mr. PRESIDENT : This occasion is one of melancholy interest to us, 
 who in our feeble way attempt to pay the tribute of our homage to 
 the character, worth, and services of a distinguished member of 
 this body, who but recently graced one of our seats and held pleasant 
 converse with us. 
 
LIFE AND CHARACTER OF GARRETT DAVIS. I I 
 
 When I entered the Senate, I met the friendly greeting of the sage 
 of Kentucky, a gallant State, which he delighted to honor, and whose 
 interest and fame it was his pleasure to protect and promote. I list 
 ened with growing interest to the debates of Senators, and especially 
 to those of Hon. GARRETT DAVIS, the contemporary and devoted friend 
 of the immortal Clay. His long public service, dignified bearing, 
 and venerable appearance attracted me, and impressed me with the 
 opinion that he would have done honor to the Roman senate in 
 the palmy days of that republic. To say that I lament his death is 
 but faintly to express the emotions of my heart. We have lost a 
 most illustrious and honorable member, a sincere friend, a sound 
 lawyer, an able statesman, the courteous and accomplished gentle 
 man. 
 
 For more than a year some of us thought that we perceived a 
 degree of failing health and decline in our deceased associate. 
 We watched the progress of time upon him with much feeling and 
 anxiety. When violently attacked by disease, before the termination 
 of the last session of the Senate, our fears were aroused for his safety, 
 and we sought the morning reports of his condition with solicitude 
 and hope. We rejoiced when he was able to return to his beloved 
 State, and when we subsequently learned that the genial influences 
 and associations of home and friends had restored him to much 
 stronger and almost renewed health ; but when, in September, the 
 telegraph informed us of his death, we were shocked at the announce 
 ment. Although we knew that the fatal messenger must at some 
 period come to him, as he will soon appear to us, yet we hoped that 
 his arrow would longer remain in his quiver and his visit be delayed. 
 
 Mr. DAVIS was a true man, and a type of the nobler attributes of 
 his race ; a link that bound the glories of the past of our country with 
 the melancholy memories of the present. He was virtuous from a love 
 of virtue, and, acting on the maxim that nothing was impossible 
 to industry, he was always at the place of duty, which is the post of 
 
12 REMARKS BY MR. VICKERS ON THE 
 
 honor. He attained his high distinctions in the service and councils 
 of his country by the practice of the cardinal virtues, which consti 
 tute the road to elevation and to fame. 
 
 "Honor is 
 
 Virtue s allowed ascent : honor that clasps 
 All perfect justice in her arms ; that craves 
 No more respect than what she gives ; that does 
 Nothing but what she ll suffer." 
 
 In temperament he was quick, ardent, magnanimous ; sincere and 
 frank in his professions, honest in his convictions, and uncompromis 
 ing in principle. He was made of the sterner stuff which forms the 
 elements of character of the honest, the fearless, and the good. Duty 
 was to him the sublimest and dearest object of life; all the aspirations 
 of his heart and the severest study and labor of his life were to per 
 form his duty with ability and fidelity. It would have been as easy 
 to retard the sun in its course, as to swerve him from the faithful dis 
 charge of his public trust. Neither flattery nor censure could affect 
 him; and he was insensible to fear, except that of a failure to serve 
 his country and her cause with the efficiency and success which he 
 desired. Stern and inflexible in the pursuit and defense of what he 
 believed to be right, he was untiring in his efforts to accomplish it. 
 His health was no doubt impaired by his indefatigable habits of 
 study and preparation for the weighty responsibilities of an American 
 Senator. Office was no sinecure or place of ease to him, and his 
 examples of diligence, toil, and perseverance merit our highest enco 
 mium and imitation. 
 
 If there ever was a man devoted to the true principles of the Con 
 stitution and the rights of the citizen, he was that man. We all re 
 member with what fervency, with what physical and mental efforts he 
 entered on that arena, and with what eloquence he stirred our souls 
 and enlisted our feelings in the cause of constitutional liberty and 
 the principles of republican government. He possessed the true 
 principles of oratory; for, when imbued and agitated with a subject 
 
LIFE AND CHARACTER OF GARRETT DAVIS. 1 3 
 
 and fired by its importance and objects, he spoke with impassioned 
 force, kindling the powers of the mind and heart to a pathos, energy, 
 and boldness which aroused and animated the feelings and admira 
 tion of his hearers. Some of his perorations were specimens of pure 
 and enthusiastic eloquence that would honor any American forum. 
 While he accorded all necessary powers to the Federal Government, 
 he maintained with zeal the reserved rights of the States. He had 
 read, studied, and observed much ; had mastered the legitimate ex 
 positions of the Constitution ; had drank deep at the fountain ; and 
 if he had an idol upon earth, it was the Constitution as interpreted 
 by the fathers and administered in its original spirit and purity. 
 
 Mr. DAVIS had filled various places of trust in his native State be 
 fore he was introduced into the Halls of Congress: he had been 
 elected four times to the House and twice to the Senate ; he had ac 
 quired extensive experience in public affairs and the legislation of his 
 country, which was aided by his practice as an able attorney in the 
 State and Federal courts. 
 
 Aristides was not more just, nor governed by more lofty views of 
 moral rectitude. He was frank and firm in what he believed to be 
 right, and would not 
 
 " Have flattered Neptune for his trident, 
 Or Jove for his power to thunder." 
 
 I once spoke to him about the probable animadversions of the 
 press upon a speech which he had made, when he replied, substan 
 tially, that he cared not for publications, as he had determined to do 
 his duty irrespective of censure or applause a noble sentiment, 
 worthy of the most eminent patriotism, and which could only come 
 from the most exalted sense of conscious integrity of purpose. He 
 was unlike some men of celebrity, who appear greater in distant per 
 spective, which hides their weaknesses and failings from public view, 
 but when brought into proximity with their admirers detract from the 
 enchantment of the picture and its impress upon the imagination. 
 
 But Mr. DAVIS S mental and moral proportions will suffer no dimi- 
 
14 REMARKS BY MR. CAMERON ON THE 
 
 nution when brought into close and familiar connection. He was a 
 strong man in will and intellect; and with a mind enriched by the 
 fruits of learning and experience, he never compromised his dignity 
 nor lessened the prestige which his reputation had secured. He was 
 a man of solid character and attainments, and of refined tastes and 
 habits. 
 
 The loss of such a one at any time must be severely felt; but at 
 this period of our history, when we are almost in a transition state 
 from war to peace, and engaged in the great work of restoration, the 
 loss is more sensible and intense. We shall miss him in council, in 
 debate, in the social circle, in personal intercourse, and in friendly 
 relations. Cicero said, "The life of the dead is placed in the mem 
 ory of the living." We cherish a pride that we knew Mr. DAVIS so 
 well; that he served his country faithfully; that no taint ever attached 
 to his name while living, and that no stain can ever disfigure the 
 bright escutcheon of his memory now he has gone. But his sun has 
 set not in the effulgence of noonday life, but in the evening calm 
 and stillness, when "coming events" signal their approach, and the 
 luminous yet soft and mellow tints are thrown in beauteous rays upon 
 the reflecting sky. 
 
 A renowned hero, when about to take his departure from earth, 
 said, "Let us cross the river and rest under the shadows of the 
 trees." May we not hope that our deceased friend has safely passed 
 the river of life, and found a resting-place among the trees of Para 
 dise, where golden fruits are gathered and enjoyed? 
 
 We who survive, and on whom great responsibilities rest, should 
 learn the solemn lesson which this day and this event teach us. 
 
 REMARKS BY ^VLR. PAMERON, OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 Mr. PRESIDENT : The tributes paid to-day to the memory of the 
 departed Senator from Kentucky awaken in my heart peculiar mem- 
 
LIFE AND CHARACTER OF GARRETT DAVIS. 15 
 
 cries. More than thirty years ago I was informed that a lady, trav 
 eling in the cars, had been taken suddenly ill while passing through 
 the village in which I then lived. She was taken to the inn, where 
 she was forced to remain for weeks, and during that time my family 
 ministered to her comfort until her recovery was complete. The 
 lady was Mrs. Garrett Davis. " And from that time dates an inti 
 mate friendship between Mr. DAVIS and myself, which nothing ever 
 impaired in the slightest degree while he lived. During the long 
 years which have passed over me since then, I learned to know and 
 love the generous, warm-hearted gentleman, the honest and faithful 
 friend, whose death we now deplore. Few men have died leaving 
 behind them less bitterness or less cause for unpleasant recollections. 
 He was a warm friend and an open foe; and these two qualities rate 
 highly in my estimation. 
 
 Of Mr. DAVIS S public life only one thing can be justly said : He 
 was always true to his convictions, and bold in their advocacy. In 
 his earlier years he was a friend and disciple of Henry Clay, and for 
 many years the State which gave him birth honored itself by electing 
 him to the House of Representatives, where he played an honorable 
 part in the duties of his position, and at last he was transferred to 
 this body to represent his native State. 
 
 When the conspiracy to overthrow our Government developed, his 
 patriotism blazed forth, and he at once took up arms to maintain the 
 authority of the laws and to preserve the Union he revered ; and it 
 was only when the great revolution of emancipation came face to 
 face with the country that he cooled in his reverence and love of the 
 Federal power. Many of us regretted, and still regret, that he did 
 not see his way clear to support that just and great measure. But 
 our regret was mingled with sympathy for one whose education and 
 surroundings made it next to impossible for him to see clearly through 
 the mist and darkness of early prejudice and early training. Even 
 in his opposition, however, the nature and virtues of the man shone 
 
l6 REMARKS BY MR. THURMAN ON THE 
 
 clearly. Being convinced that the emancipation of the slaves was 
 wrong, he opposed it, and all legislation flowing from it, with an 
 honest intensity which made those who regretted his course admire 
 his straightforward, manly conduct, and while many disagreed with 
 him all respected him. He was a frank, free-hearted gentleman, 
 fulfilling all the duties of life with conscientious fidelity, and leaving 
 behind him the fame of an industrious public servant and a thor 
 oughly honest man. 
 
 With a heart full of sorrow for the friend of my earlier days, and 
 the colleague of my age, I have felt it to be my duty to mingle a few 
 rugged but honest words in his honor and to his memory. 
 
 REMARKS BY MR. THURMAN, OF OHIO. 
 
 Mr. PRESIDENT: I knew Mr. DAVIS well. My acquaintance with 
 him commenced twenty-seven years ago, when we were members of 
 the House of Representatives. He was a man of uncommon force 
 of mind, earnestness of purpose, industry, purity, and courage. He 
 had very lofty sentiments of honor, virtue, and patriotism, and he 
 strove to approach, as nearly as possible, to his high ideal. Of a 
 quick and nervous temperament, he sometimes, in the heat of speech, 
 gave offense; but no man that I ever knew was more ready than he 
 to make reparation when he saw that he had erred. He never meant 
 to be unjust, and it was only necessary to convince him that he had 
 been, to draw from him the amplest atonement. He was a ready 
 and powerful debater, speaking frequently, from the fullness of a well- 
 stored mind, in order to discharge what he deemed to be his duty, 
 and never to gratify a feeling of personal vanity ; and few men, 
 however well informed, ever listened to him without deriving instruc 
 tion from what he said. He had a profound love for his country and 
 for the original Constitution. His admiration of that instrument was 
 
LIFE AND CHARACTER OF GARKETT DAVIS. I 7 
 
 almost without limit. He considered it the wisest constitution of 
 government ever ordained, and he never could regard what he 
 thought a violation of it without real pain and suffering. 
 
 At the bar he occupied a prominent place. Next to constitutional 
 law, the common law seemed to me to be his favorite study ; and he 
 possessed in a high degree the qualities that make the successful 
 practitioner. By his death the country has lost an able and experi 
 enced statesman, the law a learned and industrious advocate, and a 
 large circle of acquaintances a true and valued friend. 
 
 REMARKS BY yViR. ^UMNER, OF ^MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Mr. PRESIDENT: I was a member of the Senate when, in 1861, our 
 departed Senator entered it, and I was to the end the daily witness 
 of his laborious service. Standing now at his funeral, it is easy to 
 forget the differences between us and remember those things in which 
 he was an example to all. 
 
 Death has its companionship. In its recent autumn harvest were 
 GARRETT DAVIS, William H. Seward, and Horace Greeley. Seward 
 was the precise contemporary of DAVIS, each beginning life with the 
 century and dying within a few days of each other. Always alike 
 in constancy of labor, they were for a larger part of this period asso 
 ciated in political sentiment as active members of the old Whig party. 
 But the terrible question of slavery rose to divide them. How com 
 pletely they were on opposite sides I need not say. Horace Greeley 
 was ten years the junior, but he was the colleague and peer of GARRETT 
 DAVIS in devotion to Henry Clay. In the whole country, among all 
 whose enthusiastic support he aroused, there was no one who upheld 
 the Kentucky statesman with more chivalrous devotion than these 
 two. Here they were alike, and in the record of life this signal fidel 
 ity cannot be forgotten. It was to the honor of Henry Clay that he 
 
l8 REMARKS BY MR. SUMNER ON THE 
 
 inspired this sentiment in such men, and it was to their honor that 
 they maintained it so truly. Kindred to truth is fidelity. 
 
 At his death, GARRETT DAVIS was our congressional senior, having 
 entered the other House as early as 1839, after previous service of six 
 years in the legislature of Kentucky. For eight years he sat as Rep 
 resentative, and then, after an interval of thirteen years, he was for 
 nearly twelve years Senator. During this long period he was con 
 spicuous before the country, dwelling constantly in the public eye. 
 How well he stood the gaze, whether of friend or foe, belongs to his 
 good name. 
 
 All who knew him in the Senate will bear witness to his wonderful 
 industry, his perfect probity, and the personal purity of his life. No 
 differences of opinion can obscure the fame of these qualities or keep 
 them from being a delight to his friends and an example to his coun 
 try. Nor can any of us forget how, amid peculiar trials, he was 
 courageous in devotion to the National Union. No pressure, no 
 appeal, no temptation, could sway him in this patriotic allegiance. 
 That fidelity which belonged to his nature shone here as elsewhere. 
 He was no holiday Senator, cultivating pleasure rather than duty, and 
 he was above all suspicion in personal conduct. Calumny could not 
 reach him. Nothing is so fierce and unreasoning as the enmities 
 engendered by political antagonists; but even these never questioned 
 that he was at all times incorruptible and pure. Let this be spoken 
 in his honor; let it be written on his monument. Nor can the State 
 that gave him to the national service and trusted him so long fail to 
 remember with pride that he was always an honest man. 
 
 With this completeness of integrity there was a certain wild inde 
 pendence and intensity of nature which made him unaccommodating 
 and irrepressible. Faithful, constant, devoted, indefatigable, implac 
 able, he knew not how to capitulate. Dr. Johnson, who liked " a 
 good hater," would have welcomed him into this questionable fellow 
 ship. Here I cannot doubt. Better far the opposite character, and 
 
LIFE AND CHARACTER OF GARRETT DAVIS. IQ 
 
 even the errors that may come from it. Kindred to hate is prejudice, 
 which was too often active in him, seeming at times, especially where 
 we differed from him, to take the place of reason. On nothing was 
 this so marked as slavery. Here his convictions were undisguised ; 
 nor did they yield to argument or the logic of events. How much 
 of valuable time, learned research, and intellectual effort he bestowed 
 in support of this dying cause, the chronicles of the Senate attest. 
 Ho\v often have we listened with pain to this advocacy, regretting 
 deeply that the gifts he possessed, and especially his sterling character, 
 were enlisted where our sympathies could not go. And yet I cannot 
 doubt that others would testify, as I now do, that never on these 
 occasions, when the soul was tried in its depths, did any fail to recog 
 nize the simplicity and integrity of his nature. Had he been less hon 
 est I should have felt his speeches less. Happily that great con 
 troversy is ended ; nor do I say anything but the strict truth when I 
 add that now we bury him who spoke last for slavery. 
 
 Time is teacher and reconciler; nor is it easy for any candid 
 nature to preserve a constant austerity of judgment toward persons. 
 As evening approaches, the meridian heats lose their intensity. While 
 abiding firmly in the truth as we saw it, there may be charity and 
 consideration for those who did not see it as we saw it. A French 
 statesman yet living, whose name is indissolubly connected with the 
 highest literature, as well as some of the most important events of 
 his age, teaches how with the passage of life the judgment is softened 
 toward others. "The more," says M. Guizot, "I have penetrated 
 into an understanding and experience of things, of men, and of my 
 self, the more I have perceived at the same time my general convic 
 tions strengthen and my personal impressions become calm and mild. 
 Equity, I will not say toleration for the faith of others, in religion or 
 politics, has come to take place and grow by the side of tranquillity 
 in my own faith. It is youth, with its natural ignorance and passion 
 ate prejudices, which renders us exclusive and biting in our judgments 
 
2O REMARKS BY MR. BAYARD ON THE 
 
 of others. In proportion as I quit myself, and as time sweeps me far 
 from our combats, I enter without difficulty into a serene and pleasant 
 appreciation of ideas and sentiments which do not belong to me." 
 Even if not adopting these words completely, all will confess their 
 beauty. 
 
 Here let me be frank. Nothing could make any speech for 
 slavery tolerable to me ; but when I think how much opinions are 
 determined by the influences about us, so that a change of birth and 
 education might have made the abolitionist a partisan of slavery and 
 the partisan of slavery an abolitionist, I feel that, while always unre 
 lenting toward the wrong, we cannot be insensible to individual merits. 
 In this spirit I offer a sincere tribute to a departed Senator who, amid 
 the perturbations of the times, trod his way with independent step, 
 and won even from opponents the palm of character. 
 
 REMARKS BY MR. BAYARD, OF DELAWARE. 
 
 Mr. PRESIDENT: My personal associations with our late friend, the 
 deceased Senator from Kentucky, date but a comparatively few years 
 back ; and in view of the just eulogy, and full, interesting, and dis 
 criminating sketch of his career by his distinguished colleague, to 
 which we have just listened, approved as it has been alike by those 
 who were his party allies and opponents in this Chamber, I might 
 well hesitate to detain the Senate by any reference to the short period 
 covered by my personal acquaintance. But that period, although 
 short, has been full of occurrences deeply significant and important 
 in the history of our country, and the part borne by Mr. DAVIS so 
 useful to his fellow-countrymen as well as honorable to his name 
 and memory, that I conceive it proper upon this sad occasion to 
 make brief mention of it. 
 
LIFE AND CHARACTER OF GARRETT DAVIS. Z I 
 
 No period in the political history of the United States has been 
 more pregnant with the spirit of transition and change (not to say 
 revolution) than the past four years; and measures of the gravest 
 and most far-reaching influence, in the theory and practice of our 
 system of government, have been under consideration, and, for better 
 or for worse, incorporated with our institutions. Not upon this occa 
 sion, sir, do I propose to discuss the benefit, or the contrary, to this 
 Union of States, or their people, of these profound alterations in our 
 political structure. Behind the veil of the future and in the verdict 
 of a later generation must be found the truer answer. But when the 
 actors of the period to which I have referred come to be reviewed, 
 and the several responsibilities of each to be considered and adjudged, 
 I am among those who believe that the fame of GARRETT DAVIS, of 
 Kentucky, will gain an increased luster when the record of his earnest, 
 able, unflinching, and so often eloquent efforts in this Chamber, in 
 favor of fixing and retaining constitutional limitations upon govern 
 mental powers, shall be read and appreciated. 
 
 Mr. DAVIS was an experienced statesman, an able constitutional 
 and common lawyer, and high as was his intellectual rank, still higher 
 was his moral grade of thought and action. He loved truth for her 
 own sweet sake, and the personal intrepidity which so characterized 
 the man never permitted him to wander from her paths. His good 
 faith was kept alike with friend and foe, and so clear was he in 
 office as to be not only uncharged with moral delinquency, but even 
 by his worst foe unsuspected. 
 
 Who would willingly forget the high and genial courtesy which 
 so marked his friendly intercourse ? And however prompt was his 
 recognition and immediate his response to anything that savored of 
 defiance, equally ready was he to yield to the softer touches of recon 
 ciliation. 
 
 Mr. DAVIS S intellectual vigor was constantly outrunning his phys 
 ical powers, and sitting at his side in the Senate-Chamber I was fre- 
 
22 REMARKS BY MR. TRUMBULL ON THE 
 
 quently made aware of the painful conditions under which his duties 
 were performed. His was 
 
 "A fiery soul, which, working out its way, 
 Fretted the pigmy body to decay, 
 And o er-informed the tenement of clay." 
 
 And, now, Mr. President, in the hurried march of events in this 
 Chamber, the scene of busy government, is it not well that we should 
 pause, and reflect how far the moral life of a man exceeds in its in 
 fluence and its importance his highest mental results, and that in our 
 struggles here this great truth should not be forgotten -post funera 
 virtus ? 
 
 REMARKS BY MR. TRUMBULL, OF JLLINOIS 
 
 Mr. PRESIDENT : This is the twenty-second time since I have been 
 a member that the Senate has suspended its ordinary business to pay 
 a tribute of respect to a deceased brother; and of the fifty-eight 
 Senators in this body when I entered it, more than half have gone 
 to their final account. 
 
 Admonished by these frequently occurring events that our mortal 
 feet have almost reached the brink where all distinctions cease and 
 human aspirations are at an end, how vain, illusory, and insignifi 
 cant appear the ambitions, and rivalries, and positions of this tran 
 sitory state! If the hour devoted to a consideration of the life and 
 character of our deceased associate shall serve to mollify the strifes 
 and animosities so often engendered in this Chamber, and the better 
 to fit us to walk the path he has so recently trod, it will not have 
 been misspent. 
 
 My first acquaintance with Mr. DAVIS began when he entered the 
 Senate, at the commencement of the late civil war. He came here 
 
LIFE AND CHARACTER OF GARRETT DAVIS. 23 
 
 an ardent Union man. We had none more so among us. As the 
 war progressed he became dissatisfied with some of the measures 
 adopted in its prosecution, and though he never faltered in devotion 
 to his country, his course was not always in harmony with those 
 controlling its affairs. He was a man of earnest convictions and 
 fearless in their expression. There was a time near the close of the 
 war, and soon after, when, dissatisfied with some of the measures of 
 the Government, he occupied much time in expressing his oppo 
 sition, and was sometimes regarded as tedious by some of those 
 favoring the measures he assailed; but who can blame him for giv 
 ing full expression to his views in those troublous and trying times, 
 when the wisest and most patriotic might be pardoned for mistakes ? 
 It is too soon, even now, to determine whether impartial history may 
 not discover that the measures adopted were not always the best 
 which could have been devised to close up the wounds inflicted by a 
 great civil war and restore among all our people that harmony and 
 social intercourse without which liberty and life itself are scarcely 
 worth possessing. During the later years of his service in the Senate 
 Mr.- DAVIS spoke less frequently and more concisely. His knowledge 
 of public affairs and of the history of the Government was second 
 to that of no one in the Senate, and no man could listen to him 
 without instruction and profit. Although he had attained his three 
 score years when I first knew him, he retained all the fire and vigor 
 of youth. In the discharge of what he conceived to be public duty 
 he was bold, fearless, and aggressive. In private intercourse he was 
 courteous, gentle, and obliging. In committee and in the transac 
 tion of the ordinary business of the Senate, he was eminently fair 
 and just. 
 
 To sum up his character, he was a man of ardent temperament, 
 of a high sense of honor, of earnest convictions, which he fearlessly 
 proclaimed, of great and varied information, a true friend to his 
 country, and an honest man. 
 
REMARKS BY MR. MACHEN ON THE 
 
 REMARKS BY yVLR. ^AACHEN, OF J^ENTUCKY. 
 
 Mr. PRESIDENT: The insatiate demands of the great enemy of the 
 human family are continually presenting occasions for sadness, sor 
 row, and mourning. No condition in life can evade them. All 
 that live must sooner or later die. No panoply with which we may 
 envelop ourselves will shield us from his piercing shaft. Dust must 
 return again to dust, and the evidences of vigorous, buoyant life ex 
 hibited to-day in this honorable body will be exchanged at no very 
 distant date, personally and collectively, for the pallid cerements of 
 the grave. 
 
 Hon. GARRETT DAVIS was doomed as all others are. He separated 
 from you last summer in feeble health, but a return to his own native 
 hills and wide-spreading lawns, covered with the most beautiful ver 
 dure upon which the eye of man has ever rested, gave promise that 
 soon he would again enjoy the physical energy and health of which 
 he had been so suddenly deprived in your midst. Again he appeared 
 at the bar, his favorite forum for intellectual combat, but it was 
 only to realize that the enemy had been foiled and not defeated. 
 Nature gave way, and on the 226. day of September last he fell an 
 illustrious victim of the merciless destroyer s power. 
 
 He died with all his intellectual faculties in noon-tide refulgence, 
 and from which emanated no dim or uncertain light. Had not death 
 interposed, his voice would to-day have been heard in this Hall 
 sounding the notes of constitutional liberty, and the sunlight of his 
 brilliant genius would have shone on the legislative deliberations of 
 the closing session of the Forty-second Congress. 
 
 I do not propose, Mr. President, to attempt a lengthened eulogy 
 of Mr. DAVIS. It was not my privilege to have had, at any time, 
 familiar personal acquaintance with him. Politically for most of our 
 lives we had belonged to contending parties widely separated geo 
 graphically, more widely politically he an old-line Whig and I a 
 Democrat; he a conspicuous member of the party in the days when 
 
LIFE AND CHARACTER OF GARRETT DAVIS. 25 
 
 the brilliant genius of the illustrious Clay marked out the pathway of 
 that long-honored party, and I but a private in the ranks of that 
 grand old army marshaled by the no less illustrious Jackson. 
 
 For the first time we were brought personally together in the con 
 stitutional convention of Kentucky, in 1849. That body had been 
 chosen not so much from general political associations as for the ac 
 complishment of certain reforms in our organic law, and although the 
 State was then decidedly Whig, a majority of that body was Demo 
 cratic. While general politics had not decided the character of the 
 convention, it in the nature of things resulted that they did to some 
 extent control our associations ; and hence I was not even then very 
 familiar with Mr. DAVIS. He had for many years been a member of 
 Congress, and in the discussions of the day, both in that body and 
 on the stump, which were frequently animated, and even of a very 
 angry character, had borne his full part. In my limited sphere I 
 had also taken some part in local discussions, and animadversions 
 upon antagonists were common. This had not prepared me to re 
 gard Mr. DAVIS with an impartial judgment, and we had scarcely 
 indulged the ordinary courtesies of acquaintance until an occasion 
 presented, as I conceived, a better illustration of the spirit of the man 
 than the political arena had furnished. I was then, as at present, 
 unknown to fame, but a subject of interest being under consideration 
 in the convention, took occasion to join in the debate, and upon the 
 conclusion of my remarks Mr. DAVIS arose from his seat on the op 
 posite side of the hall and approached me with a pleasant smile and 
 extended hand, congratulating me upon the effort just made, and ex 
 pressing a wish to become better acquainted. This incident devel 
 oped, as I thought, a trait of character but seldom shown, and a spirit 
 perhaps more seldom felt by those engaged in the excitements of 
 political life, and I could but feel most sensibly that I had neither 
 known nor justly appreciated the impulses by which he had been 
 moved. 
 
26 REMARKS BY MR. MACHEN ON THE 
 
 Mr. DAVIS was a devoted friend of the great commoner, Henry 
 Clay, was his intimate associate, and shared his confidence to a very 
 great extent; and though not his equal in eloquence, oratory, or 
 genius, (as how few were,) was a strong pillar in the Whig party a 
 man of very decided character, great perspicuity of thought, nervous 
 in expression, but always chaste and generally classic in the choice 
 of weapons used in discussion. As a patriot, looking with undivided 
 attachment upon his country, her cause was his cause, her preserva 
 tion his grand object, and right or wrong she was his country and 
 above all others. In the maintenance of what he conceived to be 
 her interests and for the preservation of the rights of the people un 
 der constitutional government, none were more bold or determined. 
 His zeal in her cause has occasionally led him into political collisions 
 of a very heated and rather intemperate character; and yet in all 
 these the distinctive purpose of constitutional preservation has been 
 clearly and unmistakably marked. 
 
 Soon after the late civil strife had commenced, Mr. DAVIS, by the 
 Legislature of Kentucky, was sent to the Senate of the United States, 
 where the balance of his life was spent. Twice indorsed by his own 
 State once under circumstances of great excitement, and a second 
 time when cool, dispassionate judgment decided upon the worth of 
 his intellectual services to the State and country he died full of 
 years and honors, and, like the mailed warrior of old, with his armor 
 on, and I doubt not to-day is reaping the reward of the Christian 
 soldier made perfect, in the land where the clangor of arms will no 
 more be heard, and the harmony of unbroken peace forever reigns. 
 
 Mr. President, I cannot say that even very often I have thought 
 Mr. DAVIS right in his conclusions as to national policy. We rarely 
 agreed in our views or harmonized in action ; but I can say with 
 perfect freedom and candor that I believe he was actuated by the 
 purest devotion to what he believed to be the interest and welfare of 
 our country, and in this I doubt not I shall have the hearty accord 
 
LIFE AND CHARACTER OF GARRETT DAVIS. 2J 
 
 of all this honorable body with whom he has been so long associated, 
 and by whom he was so much better known than by myself. That 
 he was without faults none will contend, for so to have been would 
 have been above mortality. They were, however, few, and none of 
 venal character. It has been said that 
 
 "The evil that men do lives after them, 
 The good is oft interred with their bones ; " 
 
 but this was pagan philosophy, unenlightened by the benignant reign 
 of Christian charity and civilization. If from any act of Mr. DAVIS 
 evil resulted, that evil is or will soon be forgotten, and his many vir 
 tues will be highly cherished as long as patriotism has an advocate 
 and moral boldness an admirer. 
 
 The Presiding Officer, (Mr. Pomeroy in the chair.) The question 
 is on the adoption of the resolutions. 
 
 The resolutions were unanimously adopted; and the Senate (at 
 two o clock and thirty minutes p. m.) adjourned. 
 
PROCEEDINGS 
 
 IN THE 
 
 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 
 
 A message from the Senate, by Mr. McDonald, its chief clerk, 
 announced that he was directed by the Senate to inform the House of 
 Representatives of the death of Hon. GARRETT DAVIS, late a Senator 
 of the United States from the State of Kentucky, and to communi 
 cate to the House of Representatives the proceedings of the Senate 
 thereon. 
 
 JlEMARKS BY J^fi. R. J3ECK, OF J^ENTUCKY. 
 
 Hon. GARRETT DAVIS, Senator from Kentucky, whose death has 
 been officially announced to the House, died at his home in Paris, 
 Bourbon County, Kentucky, on the 22d day of September, 1872, 
 full of years and of honors. He was born on the loth day of Sep 
 tember, 1 80 1, in Montgomery County, Kentucky. His term of life 
 exceeded the threescore years and ten which ordinarily limit human 
 existence. 
 
 He had filled or been tendered by the people of Kentucky all the 
 high positions and offices they had to bestow. The people of Bour 
 bon elected him for three consecutive terms as their representative 
 in the State Legislature, in the years 1833, 1834, and 1835, and the 
 people of the Ashland district sent him to Congress for four consecutive 
 
LIFE AND CHARACTER OF GARRETT DAVIS. 
 
 2 9 
 
 terms, beginning with the Twenty-sixth and ending with the Twenty- 
 ninth Congress. Before the expiration of his last term he determined 
 to retire to private life, and in view of this resolution informed a friend 
 of the late Governor C. S. Morehead that he would not be a candi 
 date for re-election. After he had made this communication he met 
 Mr. Clay, who inquired of him if he intended to be a candidate, and 
 on being answered in the negative, Mr. Clay bore testimony to his 
 high character by saying, "You have an extensive acquaintance 
 with members of Congress and with men who visit Washington City. 
 The national convention to nominate a candidate for the Presidency 
 will be held next summer ; I have confidence in your fidelity, and 
 would like you to be in Washington City, and a member of Congress, 
 to look after my interests." Mr. DAVIS excused himself to his illus 
 trious friend by telling him of his pledge to Governor Morehead. 
 
 Mr. DAVIS was a member of the constitutional convention of Ken 
 tucky in 1849, and continued in that body until it agreed on and 
 signed the present constitution of the State; but his objection to its 
 principle of a judiciary elected by the popular vote was so decided 
 that he voted against it and refused to sign it. 
 
 He was tendered the nomination of the Whig party for lieutenant- 
 governor by the convention which nominated Mr. Crittenden for 
 governor, and was informally tendered the nomination for governor, 
 which Hon. Charles S. Morehead afterward accepted; but he declined 
 both, though his election was sure if he had made the race for either, 
 as subsequent events proved. 
 
 Mr. DAVIS was first elected to the Senate in 1861, to fill the unex- 
 pired term of General Breckinridge, and was re-elected in 1867 for 
 the term which expires March 4, 1873. 
 
 The simple recital of these facts demonstrates more conclusively 
 than the most eloquent words the confidence his people had in him. 
 He lived and achieved success in an age and at a time when Ken 
 tucky had among her sons many distinguished men. To say nothing 
 
REMARKS BY MR. BECK ON THE 
 
 of those who yet live, Clay, Crittenden, Marshall, the WicklifFes, 
 Morehead, Powell, and a host of others, now no more, were his com 
 peers ; and while it is true that Kentucky has had more persuasive 
 orators, more distinguished jurists, and statesmen of more extended 
 reputation, it is safe to say that he combined in a very high degree all 
 the elements necessary to attain eminence in every position he was 
 called to fill. 
 
 The traits of character which specially endeared Mr. DAVIS to the 
 people of Kentucky, and made him the recipient of the highest 
 honors they could bestow, were his honesty, his truthfulness, and his 
 courage. They felt that no stain of corruption would ever be placed 
 on the escutcheon of the Commonwealth while he could keep it pure 
 and undefiled. They knew that, while he was impetuous and liable to 
 commit errors, he would honestly confess his wrongs and correct his 
 mistakes when he saw them, and they were assured beyond all perad- 
 venture that he would resent, if need be at the sacrifice of life and for 
 tune, any and all insults and indignities to his State or people, no matter 
 where, when, or by whom they were offered. In short, they knew 
 that " all the ends he aimed at were his country s, his God s, and 
 truth s;" and being so assured, they never faltered in their confidence 
 in or devotion to him. 
 
 His faults, follies, or vices, call them what you will, were but vir 
 tues exaggerated. With a quick temper, a strong will, and a clear 
 perception of the right as he saw and understood it, he was impatient 
 of contradiction, and sometimes failed to make allowances for the 
 opinions and conduct of those who differed with him, which a man 
 of more equable temper or less profound convictions would have done. 
 
 The country will not soon forget the zeal with which, in 1862, he 
 prosecuted his resolutions for the expulsion of his colleague, Hon. 
 Lazarus W. Powell, from the Senate of the United States, and his 
 manly apology on the floor of the Senate when he became satisfied 
 that he had done him injustice. Nor will his equally bold defense of 
 
LIFE AND CHARACTER OF GARRETT DAVIS. 
 
 himself, in 1864, when a distinguished Senator sought to have him 
 expelled for resolutions he had offered against the then Administra 
 tion, soon be forgotten, while all who knew him will agree that he 
 was equally sincere, equally true to his own convictions of duty, 
 through all the seeming contradiction of his positions. 
 
 The Legislature of Kentucky paid the highest possible tribute to 
 him by returning him to the Senate of the United States in 1867, 
 though a majority of the members had been his political opponents. 
 Their act was the tribute of brave men to honesty, fidelity, and 
 courage. He was a different man in the eyes of the people of 
 Kentucky and of those who were drawn closely to him, from what 
 he appeared to strangers. To us he stood on the foreground of the 
 picture; by others he was seen only in the dim distance. Conduct 
 which from their stand-point appeared unaccountable, and doubtless 
 sometimes wrong, we knew was prompted by the highest convictions 
 of duty and the keenest sense of honor. Knowing that, the people 
 of Kentucky never refused him any position he desired. 
 
 That Mr. DAVIS was a lawyer of distinguished ability, as well as a 
 statesman profoundly versed in his country s history, all who ever 
 heard him speak or read his speeches know. Few men analyzed 
 intricate questions more clearly or presented them more forcibly. 
 
 I, in common with all who practiced at the bar with him, will never 
 forget the indefatigable industry, zeal, and research which characterized 
 all his efforts. The wonder was, how a man of his delicate frame 
 and nervous organization could endure the herculean labor he per 
 formed. 
 
 I will not take time, as others desire to be heard, to speak of his 
 private life further than to say that he was a model gentleman in his 
 social intercourse. Courteous to all, temperate in all his appetites, 
 unobtrusive, yet kind and genial, his was a life worthy of imitation. 
 
 He died in the midst of a great political struggle, which aroused 
 all the enthusiasm of his nature, and it may be that his labors in the 
 
REMARKS BY MR. ARTHUR ON THE 
 
 cause he espoused shortened his days. But death had no terrors 
 for him if life had to be prolonged at the sacrifice of duty. His 
 remains are among the friends he loved; his grave will be visited 
 with profound respect by the people of Kentucky; and it may be 
 truthfully said of him, as was said by the regent of Scotland at the 
 grave of John Knox, " There lies one who never feared the face of 
 man." 
 
 REMARKS BY MR. ARTHUR, OF KENTUCKY. 
 
 Mr. SPEAKER: Mr. DAVIS was a man of great individuality. He 
 was pre-eminently self-sustaining. He leaned only upon himself. As 
 well in thought as in feeling, he was original, bold, and pronounced. 
 His intellect, his integrity, his courage, and his self-respect were im 
 pregnable. 
 
 Whether in a legal or political forum, he sounded and penetrated 
 his subject with a masculine comprehension; he intuitively pierced 
 its center, and patiently worked his way to the open day upon its 
 border. No obstacles deterred, no opposition embarrassed, no 
 champion alarmed him. His strength, his ardor, his resources, and 
 his intrepidity were greatest when most resisted. 
 
 Fiery, impetuous, and daring on occasions, he was in deliberation 
 luminous, exact, and exhaustive. Though stern and unrelenting as 
 an avenging warrior in confronting and crushing an unworthy antag 
 onist, his was the delicacy and tenderness of woman toward all the 
 world beside. 
 
 His love for his country was comprehensive, fervid, and inextin 
 guishable. Fixed in his mind were all the philosophic events of its 
 discovery, its rise, growth, and progress. Throughout his long and 
 distinguished career he never ceased to be an unwearied, discriminat 
 ing, and enthusiastic student, expounder, and defender of our Federal 
 and State systems. 
 
LIFE AND CHARACTER OF GARRETT DAVIS. 
 
 33 
 
 Than that in which he lived, no era in the circle of American con 
 stitutional government has been more crowded with momentous vicis 
 situdes. Throughout all he was an observer or an actor, and for the 
 most part both. For more than a generation past he had been prom 
 inent among the makers of political history. The arches and columns 
 of this illustrious Capitol are his monumental witnesses. In the line 
 of public duty he beheld rise this amazing structure, and in its Halls, 
 committee-rooms, and corridors, for his country s glory, he day by 
 day spent the vigor of his years. 
 
 He was trained and practiced in at once the highest and severest 
 schools of American statesmanship. The greatest masters of juridical 
 science and deliberative eloquence were his daily companions, and 
 oftentimes his well-matched antagonists. Among the great he grew 
 to the full measure of his stature. 
 
 Co -extensive with the annals of our institutions will live the endur 
 ing evidences of his industry, his learning, his ability, his eloquence, 
 and his patriotism. 
 
 If fervently he loved American institutions, with equal fervency 
 did he love American people. The horizon of his robust affections 
 encircled the whole sisterhood of States, and rose on all sides to the 
 zenith of a Union equal, impartial, and perpetual. 
 
 With all this Mr. DAVIS was every inch a Kentuckian. He excelled 
 in many of the highest attributes, moral and intellectual, of the people 
 of the great Commonwealth which cherished and honored him from 
 his cradle to his grave. In his indomitable spirit, in his stern self- 
 reliance, in his exalted aspirations for honorable fame in the public 
 service, in his tenacity of purpose, in his magnanimity and integrity, he 
 was eminently a representative man of the people of his native State. 
 
 Generous nature, popular devotion, and his own manly heart and 
 unconquerable mind place him forever in line with the great states 
 men and jurists, now no more, whose peer and contemporary he was. 
 Take him all in all, there are few, if any, such men left in our day, 
 
34 
 
 REMARKS BY MR. WOOD ON THE 
 
 and his name and fame will endure, an honorable legacy to all who 
 shall prove worthy to survive him. 
 
 REMARKS BY yvlR. WOOD, OF JJEW YORK. 
 
 Mr. SPEAKER: To me this occasion has melancholy interest. It 
 revives recollections of another period. It recalls memories asso 
 ciated with my early and youthful entrance into the public service. 
 I came here in May, 1841, as a member of the Twenty-seventh 
 Congress, where I first knew GARRETT DAVIS as a Representative from 
 Kentucky. I was frequently associated with him at that time in the 
 discharge of official duty. Though he was many years my senior in 
 age, and of a different political party, we soon became friends and 
 companions. Though comparatively a young man, he was even 
 then a prominent and influential member of this House. His pe 
 culiar personal characteristics were already strongly developed. He 
 was high-toned, independent, impulsive, and frank. Though the 
 great leader of his party, (Henry Clay,) then a Senator, was the sole 
 custodian of the partisan power of his party in Congress, yet Mr. 
 DAVIS frequently refused to carry out even his mandates, or to bow 
 with submission to his will. With him, as a Representative, the 
 conscientious discharge of duty was paramount to every other con 
 sideration. His action was prompted by conviction, and his convic 
 tions were the creations of a well-ordered mind, greatly strength 
 ened by a pure and manly spirit. Throughout life he maintained 
 the same elevated standard. Of comprehensive intellect, of generous 
 impulses, of chivalrous honor, of untarnished private and public life, 
 he has gone down to an honored grave and left to posterity a lovely 
 and bright example. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, I have said that this occasion is of melancholy inter 
 est. I refer not only to the individual loss we have met with in the 
 death of this truly great and good man; not only to the early recol- 
 
LIFE AND CHARACTER OF GARRETT DAVIS. 
 
 35 
 
 lections revived in me personally, connected with my own entree into 
 this House; but also to the fact that one more link is broken of the 
 chain that binds this generation of statesmen to that which has 
 preceded it; that one by one, slowly but surely, those who suc 
 ceeded those who created our Government are being gathered to 
 their fathers. When Mr. DAVIS entered Congress the great leaders of 
 public opinion were Clay, Webster, Calhoun, Benton, and Van Buren. 
 They were the successors to Jefferson, Adams, Jackson, and Taney. 
 The three generations thus personified mark the three epochs of our 
 country, each prolific of the very highest order of patriotism and 
 most transcendent ability. Of that to which Mr. DAVIS belonged in 
 his early career, already but few remain. Here and there we may 
 yet see a flickering light; but 
 
 To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow 
 Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, 
 To the last syllable of recorded time; 
 And all our yesterdays have lighted fools 
 The way to dusty death." 
 
 He is gone. Peace to his ashes! May his example be followed 
 in all that is ennobling to our nature in his purity of heart, his 
 earnest devotion to his country, and in his independent, conscien 
 tious, and manly discharge of every private and public obligation of 
 life. That he was exempt from all the frailties incident to humanity 
 I do not declare, but that he possessed attributes which dignify 
 public stations and endear us to each other I do declare, and chal 
 lenge fearlessly a well-founded denial. 
 
 REMARKS BY MR. POLAND, OF VERMONT. 
 
 Mr. SPEAKER: I will detain the House but a very few minutes on 
 this occasion. I deem it proper to say a few words at this time be 
 cause I suppose I was connected officially with Mr. DAVIS at a later 
 period of his life, perhaps, than was any other member upon this floor. 
 
36 REMARKS BY MR. POLAND ON THE 
 
 My first acquaintance with the late Mr. DAVIS was at the beginning 
 of the Thirty-ninth Congress, when I took the place of Judge Colla- 
 mer in the Senate, and during that Congress I served in the Senate 
 with Mr. DAVIS. There had been a peculiar friendship between him 
 and Judge Collamer, my predecessor in the Senate. They had been 
 associated for a number of years as members of this House, and for 
 a considerable number of years they had been associates in the Sen 
 ate. There was a very warm and ardent friendship between them. 
 On my coming to the Senate to take the place of Judge Collamer, 
 Mr. DAVIS seemed to transfer his friendship for Judge Collamer to 
 myself; and during my period of service there, and from that time 
 to the time of his death, our relations were very friendly indeed. 
 
 After I left the Senate and came to this House we were associated 
 as regents of the Smithsonian Institution, he being one of the regents 
 on the part of the Senate and I one on the part of the House. In 
 that way we were brought into intimate association. 
 
 I had known of Mr. DAVIS as a public man, and of his reputation 
 as such, before I became personally acquainted with him. But my 
 views of the man, my views of his character, were mainly derived 
 from my association with him in the Senate. He seemed one of 
 the most industrious and laborious men in that body, always watch 
 ful and attentive to every duty. He was a man of large attain 
 ments, especially in the law and in the political history of the country. 
 But few men I have ever met were better versed in either of those 
 branches of knowledge. His character was eminently and peculiarly 
 conservative. He was a man who believed earnestly and sincerely 
 in the "wisdom of the fathers." Every proposition for change was 
 distasteful and disagreeable to him, and he came very slowly to the 
 adoption of any new views. 
 
 Mr. DAVIS was a very ardent Union man. No man was more bit 
 terly opposed to secession than he was ; no man was a more warm 
 and devoted friend of the Union. The result of the war, so far as it 
 
[.IKE AND CHARACTER OF GARRETT DAVIS. 37 
 
 resulted in the overthrow of the rebellion, was as agreeable to him as 
 to any other Union man. But the changes in the form of the Gov 
 ernment, the constitutional amendments, the acts of reconstruction, 
 and the other governmental acts which, by the dominant party of 
 the country, were deemed necessary in order to make the Government 
 conform to the altered condition of things, were very disagreeable to 
 him and very repulsive to his notions. During the Thirty-ninth Con 
 gress the most prominent of these measures were before the Senate. 
 Mr. DAVIS and myself were diametrically opposed upon them all. 
 We were educated at different periods, under different civilizations, 
 and our views of what was proper and necessary to be done were 
 utterly diverse. I believe that in every single instance, upon every 
 measure of that sort, my vote was upon the one side and his upon 
 the other. 
 
 I believe then, as I believe now, that Mr. DAVIS was as honest and 
 sincere in his views as I was in mine. I believe he accorded the 
 same sincerity and honesty to me, and our warm personal relations 
 were not in the slightest degree disturbed. But, as I have said, the 
 social and political changes which were the result of the war were 
 very disagreeable to him, and he opposed them bravely and earnestly, 
 and, as I believe, conscientiously, though sustained only by a hope 
 less minority. And so in all public duties (so far as I had any means 
 of observation) that he was called upon to perform, he was as firm 
 and true to his convictions of duty, according to his idea and the light 
 that was in him, as any man I have ever known. 
 
 For purity of purpose, for patriotic devotion to his country, for fol 
 lowing bravely what he believed to be the right, he has set an example 
 that all of us who survive him may well follow. 
 
 REMARKS BY ^VlR. ^DAMS, OF KENTUCKY. 
 Mr. SPEAKER : It is not my purpose to attempt a eulogy upon the 
 
38 REMARKS BY MR. ADAMS ON THE 
 
 life or character of Mr. DAVIS. His name and his fame are forever 
 secure, not only in the hearts of the people of his own State, where 
 he was so well known and so universally beloved, but also in the pub 
 lic estimation of the whole country, in whose councils he served so 
 long and in which he acted so conspicuous a part. And even if 
 such were not the case, his private life and public career have already 
 been referred to in fitting terms by others who have preceded me, and 
 who knew him longer and better than myself. But, sir, I will be par 
 doned for desiring upon this melancholy occasion to pay a last tribute 
 of respect to the memory of one for whom I entertained the pro- 
 foundest respect, for whom I cherished the warmest attachment. 
 
 I had from early boyhood heard much of the public life and emi 
 nent services of Mr. DAVIS, but it was not my good fortune to know 
 him personally until the summer of 1867, when, upon my first en 
 trance into this Hall, I met him here in this city in his official ca 
 pacity as a Senator from the State of Kentucky. From that time 
 forward I became intimately acquainted with Mr. DAVIS, and had 
 evidences of his friendship of which I was glad to be assured while 
 he lived, and which it is a pleasure to recall now that he is gone. 
 
 The lineaments of Mr. DAVIS S character were well marked and 
 clearly defined. Endowed by nature with unusual intellect, pos 
 sessed of indomitable courage and an inflexible and unyielding will, 
 he was a man of intense individuality and wonderful self-reliance. 
 When his opinions were once formed, no opposition could deter, no 
 inducement could swerve him from the path of his duty. Upon all 
 public questions he was decided and emphatic in his convictions. 
 He knew no middle ground; he occupied no equivocal position. 
 In the earnestness with which he advocated what he believed to be 
 right, and the severity with which he denounced what he deemed to 
 be wrong, he never stopped to inquire where his bolts would fall or 
 whom his arrows would pierce. The artifice of the mere politician 
 and the duplicity of the demagogue he utterly and thoroughly de- 
 
LIFE AND CHARACTER OF GARRETT DAVIS. 
 
 39 
 
 spisecl; but he was never unmindful of the courtesy due to those with 
 whom he differed, and whatever of zeal or vehemence he manifested 
 in debate arose entirely from a thorough conviction of the truth and 
 justness of his cause. 
 
 In private life Mr. DAVIS was a kind, gentle, and genial com 
 panion, a true and steadfast friend, an honest and upright man. He 
 had his faults, but they were of the nobler, not the baser kind. There 
 was much in his character to admire, and very little really to con 
 demn. The prominent characteristic of his life, however, which dis 
 tinguished him above all others, and which was one of the secrets of 
 his great success, was his lofty sense of public virtue, his spotless and 
 irreproachable integrity. Against him even the tongue of calumny 
 never dared to whisper a breath of suspicion. Through all his pri 
 vate life and public services there shines the luster of a noble and 
 gifted manhood, a fervent and undying patriotism, a pure and unsul 
 lied name. 
 
 But, Mr. Speaker, he is gone, and in his death his State has lost 
 one of its most illustrious sons, his country one of its purest and 
 ablest statesmen. Such was the man whose virtues we commemo 
 rate and whose loss we are called upon to mourn. 
 
 REMARKS BY MR. ^ANKS, OF MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Mr. SPEAKER: The ancient Commonwealth of Kentucky has an in 
 teresting and memorable record. In the cluster of States which form 
 the Union it constitutes the connecting-link between the republics of 
 the constitutional period and those of our own day that enrich the 
 valleys of the Ohio, Mississippi, and Missouri, and occupy the west 
 ern slopes of the Pacific coast. Kentucky was the first State carved 
 out of the territory of the great West; and if we except the patriotic 
 and prosperous Green Mountain State, which was formed by the 
 
REMARKS BY MR. BANKS ON THE 
 
 division of territory in part occupied or claimed by New York, hers 
 was the first star added to the galaxy that blazed on the banner of 
 the Revolution. She was certainly the eldest daughter of the Mother 
 of States, the predecessor of that grand array of local governments of 
 the interior and the Occident which hereafter may, perhaps, consti 
 tute the strength, wealth, integrity, and virtue of the American Repub 
 lic. In my own immediate neighborhood her traditions are familiar 
 to the common people from the fact that a party of pioneers and 
 hunters who bivouacked a few miles from her frontier settlement, 
 where they received the news of the first fight of the colonists against 
 the army of Great Britain, the igth of April, 1775, at Lexington, in 
 Massachusetts, gave that name to the spot where their camp was 
 planted, now the site of the prosperous and patriotic city of Lexing 
 ton, the oldest, if not the most populous and prosperous, city of the 
 State. The constant repetition of this incident gave them their ideas 
 of the character of its founders, and accustomed them to associate the 
 State and its hardy pioneers with the scenes and the men of the Revo 
 lution. In the war of 1812 Kentucky, flanked on the north and south 
 by Ohio and Tennessee, assumed the position which the Atlantic 
 colonies maintained during the war of independence. Their tradi 
 tions constitute the romance of early American history, and will live 
 in song and story as long as the virtues of the founders and defenders 
 of the country shall be imitated or respected. We should not forget 
 her place in the official history of this House. Her representatives 
 have been chosen for the distinguished chair you now occupy more 
 frequently than those of any other State. And it is not and ought 
 riot to be forgotten that in our most recent and greatest trial she was 
 the most decided of the border States of the South that were relied 
 upon to complete the dissolution of the Union, in rejecting the here 
 sies of secessionists and secession. It could scarcely be expected that 
 a State cradled amid the contests of the Revolution, that cherished 
 the memories of such men as Boone, and Clay, and Crittenden, could 
 
LIFE AND CHARACTER OF GARRETT DAVIS. 4! 
 
 voluntarily exchange the imperishable glories of the Union for the 
 evanescent, provincial, and vulgar triumphs of isolation and annihila 
 tion. 
 
 The most interesting features in the career of the distinguished 
 Senator of Kentucky, whose death is announced by the message from 
 the Senate, is, that while the State he so long and honorably repre 
 sented in the national councils is a connecting-link between the earlier 
 and most recent development of American civilization, he himself, in 
 his varied and long career, presents to our minds a similar connection 
 of the founders of his State and the fathers of the Republic with the 
 men of our own time, who are at this moment charged with the grave 
 responsibilities of local and general administrations of government. 
 
 With one exception, he was the eldest Senator of his time, having 
 been born in the first year of the present century. In the period of 
 life when character commences its formation he might have known 
 the earlier Presidents, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and Jack 
 son, and other distinguished leaders of that period. It is not improb 
 able that in personal intercourse, or by that oral communication in 
 regard to public men which makes tradition of so long life, he may 
 have imbibed much of the spirit of the age, and attuned his aspira 
 tions and convictions in harmony with those of the generation that 
 preceded him. 
 
 Entering Congress in the exciting and stormy period that immedi 
 ately preceded the presidential canvass of 1840, he was the associate 
 and compeer of John Quincy Adams, Joshua R. Giddings, Silas 
 Wright, Fillmore, Caleb Gushing, Judge Clifford, President Buchanan, 
 Benton, Calhoun, Clay, and Webster. " There were giants in those 
 days." At a still later period he entered the Senate as an opponent 
 of secession and the successor of Breckinridge, where he continued 
 his labors with unfaltering fidelity and marvelous industry until the 
 close of the last session of the present Congress. 
 
 It was not my fortune to have formed with him an intimate personal 
 
42 REMARKS BY MR. BANKS ON THE 
 
 acquaintance, though I often exchanged with him the courtesies of 
 the day ; and the very brief period that has elapsed since I was invited 
 by the leader of the delegation in this House that specially mourns 
 his loss to take a part in the ceremonies of this occasion has not 
 afforded me opportunity, amid the pressing current business of the 
 session, to present such an estimate as I could desire, if the opportu 
 nity offered, of his influence upon the legislation of the country. But 
 I venture to mention several qualities of mind and character which, 
 in my judgment, distinguished in no ordinary degree his official life, 
 and justify the confidence and friendship shown to him by the gallant 
 people he represented. Patriotism, fidelity, integrity, industry, and 
 courtesy were the virtues that especially marked his career. I do 
 not permit myself to question for a moment my right to assign to 
 him, as one of the sterling qualities of his character, the virtue of 
 patriotism. By this I mean love of country the whole country; 
 not servility or fidelity merely to dogmas, platforms, or parties. The 
 disciple of Clay and the compatriot of Crittenden, he could not have 
 been otherwise than the unfaltering opponent of secession. 
 
 The counterpart of secession was union. He was for the Union, 
 fearless, constant, and invincible in its defense. Of this sentiment 
 he was the chosen and honored representative of his State. It was 
 devotion to this single sentiment at the opening of his senatorial 
 career in the beginning of the war that constituted true patriotism. 
 It is the custom of our day to regard all those who halt in support 
 of theories and measures of administrations and of parties that break 
 upon us from day to day, and hour to hour, as deficient in loyalty 
 and patriotism. Fidelity to the Government and to republican prin 
 ciples is held to depend upon an unreserved and blind adherence to 
 the shifting necessities of the times, and upon devotion to the preser 
 vation of the Union or the defense of liberty. The maxim of other 
 days and wiser men points to a broader and nobler philosophy : " In 
 essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity." 
 
LIFE AND CHARACTER OF GARRETT DAVIS. 43 
 
 In his time hostility to secession and support of the Union were 
 the essential duties of patriots. In this he gave us unity. In non- 
 essentials we should concede him liberty; and standing now near 
 his grave, we ought in all things to accord him charity. 
 
 But it will be as the friend of Henry Clay that the deceased 
 Senator will be universally remembered. In this character his fidelity 
 has conspicuity and imperishable beauty. Men of the world, or 
 especially those connected with public life, come naturally to distrust 
 the sincerity of men, and to doubt the possibility of fidelity between 
 man and man. But the common people have faith in friendship, and 
 the great Kentucky statesman and his devoted and faithful friend will 
 find a lasting and fond place in their memories. Their friendship does 
 equal honor to both parties. It is the homage of fidelity to nobility. 
 Like mercy, 
 
 " It is twice bless d: 
 
 It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes ; 
 Tis mightiest in the mightiest ; it becomes 
 The throned monarch better than his crown." 
 
 Whoever else may have failed, Mr. Clay found in the now deceased 
 Senator a faithful and devoted friend. It does not imply on the part 
 of the friend inferiority or servility, but rather the higher and nobler 
 qualities of nature. The second place is often the purer and greater 
 in such relations. If there can be no subordinate place except in 
 derogation and dishonor, there can be no friendship. Aut Ccesar ant 
 mtllus, is a maxim anti-democratic and vulgar, fatal to government, 
 fatal to society, fatal to liberty, fatal to civilization. 
 
 No man of our time, I think, has preserved a more scrupulous 
 character for integrity. This essential quality indispensable to legis 
 lators and rulers as in industry or commerce he had in as high degree 
 as any statesman of our history. It was integrity of mind and integ 
 rity of action; and the general homage which has been paid him by 
 the people he represented is a touching and lasting tribute to his 
 memory. 
 
44 
 
 REMARKS BY MR. McHENRY ON THE 
 
 Every speaker upon this occasion has alluded to his unfailing and 
 almost unparalleled industry in the discharge of his official duties. 
 Public duty has rarely had a more persistent and conscientious servant. 
 It may, perhaps, be considered an unimportant trait, but it is the 
 foundation of utility and success. The hot blood of the Southron did 
 not fail to manifest itself, as we know ; but his intercourse with asso 
 ciates and his deportment in debate were distinguished by scrupulous 
 regard for the rights of others and the freedom of discussion. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, in these essential elements of character the deceased 
 Senator was a man whom we might well imitate and may well honor ; 
 and I trust his example and his record will be long remembered by 
 the people of the country as illustrating the career of a distinguished 
 and honorable member of the Congress of the United States. 
 
 REMARKS BY MR. MCHENRY, OF KENTUCKY. 
 
 Mr. SPEAKER: I cannot permit the last sad ceremonies on the 
 death of the distinguished Senator from my State to pass without 
 adding my humble and heart-felt tribute to his memory, and saying 
 a few words in commemoration of his talents and virtues. I shall 
 not, however, attempt to give the history of his life; that has been 
 truthfully given by my colleague, [Mr. Beck.] It is enough for me to 
 say that he lived to the age of threescore and ten, the time allotted 
 to man, and that he died with honors clustering thick around him. 
 
 That he was honest, industrious, faithful, and talented, is well known 
 and recognized by his contemporaries in Congress and his constituents 
 at home; and all can bear witness to the high political integrity and 
 patriotism of his public life. His name and fame will be preserved 
 in the history of Congress, and the records of either House attest his 
 zeal for his State and country, and the indefatigable energy and 
 ability which he manifested on all the great questions which were 
 
LIFE AND CHARACTER OF GARRETT DAVIS. 
 
 45 
 
 presented here during his twenty years in the councils of the nation. 
 He was not ambitious so far as concerned his individual preferment; 
 it was for his country and his State that he struggled for position. 
 That he might add to their welfare, and to the happiness of his people, 
 was the manly and patriotic effort of his life. He was of those whose 
 lot it was 
 
 "The applause of listening senates to command, 
 
 The threats of pain and ruin to despise ; 
 To scatter plenty o er a smiling land, 
 
 And read their history in a nation s eyes." 
 
 He never aspired to a position that the people did not want him 
 to fill, and consequently he never sustained a defeat for any office for 
 which he was a candidate. It was my fortune to have been a mem 
 ber of the Kentucky Legislature each time when he was elected to the 
 Senate, and I can but remember, in his last contest for a seat there, 
 when the indications were that another distinguished gentleman 
 seemed the choice of the political party to which he belonged, he 
 retired from the contest immediately, and declined with so much 
 grace, and with such little show of chagrin or mortification, that a 
 strong feeling of admiration for his manly qualities sprang up in that 
 body and resulted in his triumphant election. 
 
 Mr. DAVIS formed his opinions on political matters with deliberation 
 and honesty of purpose, and adhered to them with great fidelity and 
 tenacity when he believed them to be right. In evidence of this, he 
 was a member of the convention which formed the present constitu- 
 tipn of Kentucky, and was prominent in the debates and deliberations 
 of that body, and many of its provisions are the result of his opinions 
 and influence; but to some of its innovations upon old conservative 
 ideas he was so conscientiously and unalterably opposed that he 
 refused to sign it, and chose to resign his seat in the convention 
 rather than connect his name with an instrument which he could not 
 approve. But, sir, when he ascertained that he was wrong, no pride 
 of opinion, no love of consistency, prevented him from placing him- 
 
46 REMARKS BY MR. McHENRY ON THE 
 
 self in the right, and making the amende honorable if that opinion 
 had done injustice to another. As an example of this, I refer to what 
 is well known in this Capitol, that after having introduced a resolution 
 for the expulsion of his distinguished colleague, Senator Powell, he 
 afterward made a manly retraction in the open Senate, and extended 
 his hand so cordially to the gentleman, to whom he admitted he had 
 done injustice, that they were warm and devoted friends afterward, 
 and co-operated most earnestly for the interest of their native State. 
 
 Mr. DAVIS S devotion to duty, and his energy to accomplish what 
 ever he believed to be for the welfare of his country, were above all 
 personal considerations. During the last session, when he was sud 
 denly stricken with disease, which afterward proved fatal, I was the 
 first of his colleagues who hastened to his bedside. I found him 
 prostrate, with just enough of life for him to feel that the light of this 
 world was fast fading from him; but even in that hour his thoughts 
 turned to his duties as a Senator, and he charged me with a message 
 to his friends in the Senate to get his vote paired off on the amnesty 
 bill then under consideration, and for the passage of which he felt 
 great interest. 
 
 Mr. DAVIS was not a genius, nor were his talents of that brilliant 
 style, nor his eloquence so commanding, as some of his predecessors 
 whose names have become immortal; but he was eminently practical, 
 strong, and forcible in his ideas, with a graceful flow of language 
 which gave much eloquence to his speeches, and made him the peer 
 in debate of any man in the Senate, and his State may well be proud 
 of the rank he held and the record he left behind him. In his pri 
 vate life he was kind, generous, and noble; courteous and dignified 
 in his bearing, seldom offensive, and with a temperament and courage 
 that brooked no insult from others; yet 
 
 "His life was gentle, and the elements 
 So mixed in him, that Nature might stand up 
 And say to all the world, This was a man. " 
 
LIFE AND CHARACTER OF GARRETT DAVIS. 47 
 
 He died among his friends, and his ashes repose in the bosom of 
 his loved Kentucky. The last sad rites have there been held. This 
 is the closing scene. His history is now finished, and shows us much 
 to admire, much to emulate; some things, perhaps, to condemn. 
 Frailty is human. The lives of all are checkered with error. Not 
 many of us will leave so few clouds on our escutcheon. He has 
 fulfilled his mission and accomplished his destiny. 
 
 "Why weep ye, then, for him, who, having run 
 The bound of man s appointed years, at last, 
 Life s blessings all enjoyed, life s labors done, 
 
 Serenely to his final rest has passed ; 
 While the soft memory of his virtues yet 
 Lingers like twilight hues when the bright sun has set? " 
 
 Mr. Speaker, I offer the following resolutions, and move their 
 adoption : 
 
 The Clerk read as follows : 
 
 Resolved, That the House has learned with feelings of profound 
 regret that the Hon. GARRETT DAVIS, late a Senator in the Congress 
 of the United States from the Commonwealth of Kentucky, departed 
 this life at his residence near Paris, in that State, on the 22d of Sep 
 tember, 1872, during the recess of this body. 
 
 Resolved, That in the death of Mr. DAVIS this country has lost a 
 citizen eminent for his public and private virtues, a statesman of the 
 purest patriotism, a Senator of ability and worth, and that his death 
 is deplored by the whole country. 
 
 Resolved, That, as a testimony of our respect for the memory of the 
 deceased, the members and officers of the House will wear the usual 
 badge of mourning for thirty days. 
 
 Resolved, That as a further mark of respect for his memory, the 
 House do now adjourn. 
 
 The resolutions were unanimously adopted. 
 
 And accordingly (at four o clock and twenty minutes p. m.) the 
 House adjourned. 
 

 YD 12390 
 
 
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