Oration on the Life and Character of Henry Winter Davis | Page 2

Washington. Combining within himself the better qualities of the
soldier, sage, statesman, and patriot, alike brave, wise, discreet, and
incorruptible, the common consent of mankind has awarded him the
incomparable title of Father of his Country. Among all nations and in
every clime the richest treasures of language have been exhausted in
the effort to transmit to posterity a faithful record of his deeds. For him
unfading laurels are secure, so long as letters shall survive and history
shall continue to be the guide and teacher of civilized men. The whole
human race has become the self-appointed guardian of his fame, and
the name of Washington will be ever held, over all the earth, to be
synonymous with the highest perfection attainable in public or private
life, and coeternal with that immortal love to which reason and
revelation have together toiled to elevate human aspirations--the love of
liberty, restrained and guarded by law.
But in the presence of the Omnipotent how insignificant is the proudest

and the noblest of men! Even Washington, who alone of his kind could
fill that comprehensive epitome of General Henry Lee, so often on our
lips, "First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his
countrymen," was allowed no exemption from the common lot of
mortals. In the sixty-eighth year of his age he, too, paid the debt of
nature.
The dread announcement of his demise sped over the land like a
pestilence, burdening the very air with mourning, and carrying
inexpressible sorrow to every household and every heart. The course of
legislation was stopped in mid career to give expression to the grief of
Congress, and by resolution, approved January 6, 1800, the 22d of
February of that year was devoted to national humiliation and
lamentation. This is, then, as well a day of sorrow as a day of rejoicing.
More recent calamities also remind us that death is universal king. Just
ten days ago our great historian pronounced in this hall an impartial
judgment upon the earthly career of him who, as savior of his country,
will be counted as the compeer of Washington. Scarce have the orator's
lingering tones been mellowed into silence, scarce has the glowing
page whereon his words were traced lost the impress of his passing
hand, yet we are again called into the presence of the Inexorable to
crown one more illustrious victim with sacrificial flowers. Having
taken up his lifeless body, as beautiful as the dead Absalom, and laid it
in the tomb with becoming solemnity, we have assembled in the sight
of the world to do deserved honor to the name and memory of HENRY
WINTER DAVIS, a native of Annapolis, in the State of Maryland, but
always proudly claiming to be no less than a citizen of the United
States of America.
We have not convened in obedience to any formal custom, requiring us
to assume an empty show of bereavement, in order that we may appear
respectful to the departed. We who knew HENRY WINTER DAVIS
are not content to clothe ourselves in the outward garb of grief, and call
the semblance of mourning a fitting tribute to the gifted orator and
statesman, so suddenly snatched from our midst in the full glory of his
mental and bodily strength. We would do more than "bear about the

mockery of woe." Prompted by a genuine affection, we desire to ignore
all idle and merely conventional ceremonies, and permit our stricken
hearts to speak their spontaneous sorrow.
Here, then, where he sat for eight years as a Representative of the
people; where friends have trooped about him, and admiring crowds
have paid homage to his genius; where grave legislators have yielded
themselves willing captives to his eloquence, and his wise counsel has
moulded, in no small degree, the law of a great nation, let us, in dealing
with what he has left us, verify the saying of Bacon, "Death openeth the
good fame and extinguished envy." Remembering that he was a man of
like passions and equally fallible with ourselves, let us review his life
in a spirit of generous candor, applaud what is good, and try to profit by
it; and if we find aught of ill, let us, so far as justice and truth will
permit, cover it with the vail of charity and bury it out of sight forever.
So may our survivors do for us.
The subject of this address was born on the 16th of August, 1817.
His father, Rev. Henry Lyon Davis, of the Protestant Episcopal church,
was president of St. John's College at Annapolis, Maryland, and rector
of St. Ann's parish. He was of imposing person, and great dignity and
force of character. He was, moreover, a man of genius, and of varied
and profound learning, eminently