are the heroes of the South-toasted, fêted, worshipped. Under a reorganization on the basis of the white population, the South will be more united and powerful than when she drew the sword. .

No State Government has ever been organized which ostracized a majority or any great mass of the people. When slavery existed, slaves were merged in the master. But the right of the State to ostracize a great mass of free negroes has never been recognized. When negroes become free, they become a part of the People of the nation, and to ostracize them is to sanction a principal fatal to American free government. We need

the votes of all the colored people. It is numbers, not intelligence, that count at the ballot-box. Let Congress pass an amendment to the Constitution consecrating forever the mass of the people as the basis of the republican government; when this shall have received the assent of three-fourths of those now represented in Congress, let Congress instantly proclaim it as the fundamental law of the land-valid and binding as the Constitution itself, of which they will thus have made it a part; under which they sit; of which no State caprice, no question of political parties, nothing in the future, except the triumph of slavery over free institutions, can ever shake or call in question. Then all the principles of the Declaration of Independence will be executed; this Government will rest on the right of individual liberty, and the right of every man to bear a share in the government of the country whose laws he obeys, and whose bayonet, in the hour of danger, he bears. And the personal freedom which the dark children of the republic have won by our blood and theirs will not be a vain mockery, exposed to violation at the caprice. of their masters, enthroned in the Legislature, on the Bench, and in the Executive Chamber, but, secured by the arms they hold, and the ballot they cast, will be Liberty guarded by power.-Oration at Chicago, July 4, 1865.

DAVIS, JEFFERSON, President of the Confederate States of America, was born in Christian County, Ky., June 3, 1808; died at New Orleans, December 6, 1889. Shortly after his birth his father removed to Wilkinson County, Miss. The son entered Transylvania College, Kentucky, but in 1824 was appointed a cadet in the Military Academy at West Point, where he was graduated in 1828. He remained in the army until 1835, serving on the frontiers, when, having married the daughter of Colonel Zachary Taylor, afterward General and President of the United States, he resigned his commission and became a cotton-planter in Mississippi. In 1844 he was elected a Representative in Congress. The war with Mexico having broken out, Mr. Davis was elected Colonel of the First Mississippi Regiment of Volunteers. Resigning his seat in Congress, he overtook his regiment at New Orleans, and led it to reinforce General Taylor on the Rio Grande. He was actively engaged in the capture of Monterey, in September, 1846, and was severely wounded at the battle of Buena Vista, February 23, 1847. In August, 1847, he was appointed by the Governor of Mississippi to fill a vacancy in the Senate of the United States for the term expiring March 4, 1851, and was thereafter elected for the next Senatorial term of six years. He was made Chairman

of the Committee on Military Affairs; but in September he accepted the Democratic nomination for Governor of Mississippi, and resigned his seat in the Senate. He was defeated by a very small majority by Mr. Foote, the "Union" candidate for Governor. He remained in retirement until 1853, when he became Secretary of War in the Cabinet of Mr. Pierce. He administered the duties of this position with great ability until the inauguration of Mr. Buchanan in 1857. He was then again elected Senator in Congress for the term ending March 4, 1863, and became the acknowledged leader of the Democratic Party in the Sen

ate.

The State of Mississippi formally seceded from the Union, January 9, 1861, and on the 21st Mr. Davis made his farewell speech in the Senate. In February a Congress, composed of delegates from the States which had already seceded, convened at Montgomery, Ala., and framed a Provisional Government, Mr. Davis being chosen President and Mr. Alexander H. Stephens Vice-President. On May 20th, Virginia having entered the Confederacy, the seat of government was transferred to Richmond. A Presidential election was held in November throughout the Confederacy; Mr. Davis was elected President and Mr. Stephens Vice-President for the term of six years. Mr. Davis was inaugurated February 22, 1862. The Confederate Government virtually came to an end by the surrender of the armies commanded by Generals Lee and Johnston in April, 1865. Mr. Davis, however, believed that the contest might