Oration on the Life and Character of Henry Winter Davis

Oration on the Life and
Character of Henry
by John A.
J. Creswell

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Title: Oration on the Life and Character of Henry Winter Davis
Author: John A. J. Creswell
Release Date: July 16, 2007 [EBook #22084]
Language: English
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WINTER DAVIS ***

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ORATION ON THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF HENRY
WINTER DAVIS,
BY
HON. JOHN A. J. CRESWELL.
Delivered in the Hall of the House of Representatives, February 22,
1866.
WASHINGTON: GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 1866.

PREFACE.
The death of Hon. HENRY WINTER DAVIS, for many years a
distinguished Representative of one of the Baltimore congressional
districts, created a deep sensation among those who had been
associated with him in national legislation, and they deemed it fitting to
pay to his memory unusual honors. They adopted resolutions
expressive of their grief, and invited Hon. JOHN A. J. CRESWELL, a
Senator of the United States from the State of Maryland, to deliver an
oration on his life and character, in the hall of the House of
Representatives, on the 22d of February, a day the recurrence of which
ever gives increased warmth to patriotic emotions.
The hall of the House was filled by a distinguished audience to listen to
the oration. Before eleven o'clock the galleries were crowded in every
part. The flags above the Speaker's desk were draped in black, and
other insignia of mourning were exhibited. An excellent portrait of the
late Hon. HENRY WINTER DAVIS was visible through the folds of
the national banner above the Speaker's chair. As on the occasion of the
oration on President LINCOLN by Hon. GEORGE BANCROFT, the
Marine band occupied the ante-room of the reporters' gallery, and

discoursed appropriate music.
At twelve o'clock the senators entered, and the judges of the Supreme
Court, preceded by Chief Justice Chase. Of the Cabinet Secretary
Stanton and Secretary McCulloch were present. After prayer by the
chaplain, the Declaration of Independence was read by Hon. EDWARD
MCPHERSON, Clerk of the House. After the reading of the
Declaration, followed by the playing of a dirge by the band, Hon.
SCHUYLER COLFAX, Speaker of the House of Representatives,
introduced the orator of the day, Hon. J. A. J. CRESWELL.

REMARKS
OF
HON. SCHUYLER COLFAX,
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
Hon. SCHUYLER COLFAX, Speaker of the House of Representatives,
said:
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: The duty has been devolved upon me
of introducing to you the friend and fellow-member, here, of HENRY
WINTER DAVIS, and I shall detain you but a moment from his
address, to which you will listen with saddened interest.
The world always appreciates and honors courage: the courage of
Christianity, which sustained martyrs in the amphitheatre, at the stake,
and on the rack; the courage of Patriotism, which inspired millions in
our own land to realize the historic fable of Curtius, and to fill up with
their own bodies, if need be, the yawning chasm which imperiled the
republic; the courage of Humanity, which is witnessed in the
pest-house and the hospital, at the death-bed of the homeless and the
prison-cell of the convict. But there is a courage of Statesmen, besides;
and nobly was it illustrated by the statesman whose national services
we commemorate to-day. Inflexibly hostile to oppression, whether of

slaves on American soil or of republicans struggling in Mexico against
monarchical invasion, faithful always to principle and liberty,
championing always the cause of the down-trodden, fearless as he was
eloquent in his avowals, he was mourned throughout a continent; and
from the Patapsco to the Gulf the blessings of those who had been
ready to perish followed him to his tomb. It is fitting, therefore, though
dying a private citizen, that the nation should render him such marked
and unusual honors in this hall, the scene of so many of his intellectual
triumphs; and I have great pleasure in introducing to you, as the orator
of the day, Hon. J. A. J. CRESWELL, his colleague in the thirty-eighth
Congress, and now Senator from the State of Maryland.

ORATION
OF
HON. JOHN A. J. CRESWELL.
MY COUNTRYMEN: On the 22d day of February, 1732, God gave to
the world the highest type of humanity, in the person of George