Oration on the Life and Character of Henry Winter Davis | Page 6

the
centre of their chosen circle. He became a prominent member of the
whig party, and was everywhere known as the brilliant orator and
successful controvertist of the Scott campaign of 1852. The whig party,
worn out by its many gallant but unsuccessful battles, was ultimately
gathered to its fathers, and Mr. DAVIS led off in the American
movement. He was elected successively to the thirty-fourth, thirty-fifth,
and thirty-sixth Congresses by the American party from the fourth
district of Maryland. He supported with great ability and zeal Mr.

Fillmore for the Presidency in 1856, and in 1860 accepted John Bell as
the candidate of his party, though he clearly divined and plainly
announced that the great battle was really between Abraham Lincoln,
as the representative of the national sentiment on the one hand, and
secession and disunion, in all their shades and phases, on the other. To
his seat in the thirty-eighth Congress he was elected by the
Unconditional Union party.
Since the adjournment of the thirty-eighth Congress he has been
profoundly concerned in the momentous public questions now pressing
for adjustment, and he did not fail on several fitting occasions to give
his views at length to the public. Nevertheless, he frequently alluded to
his earnest desire to retreat for awhile from the perplexing annoyances
of public life. He had determined upon a long visit to Europe in the
coming spring, and had almost concluded the purchase of a delightful
country-seat, where he hoped to recruit his weary brain for years to
come from the exhaustless riches of nature. When the thirty-ninth
Congress met, and he read of his old companions in the work of
legislation again gathering in their halls and committee-rooms, I think,
for at least a day or two, he felt a longing to be among them. During the
second week of the session he again entered this hall, but only as a
spectator. The greeting he received--so general, spontaneous, and
cordial--from gentlemen on both sides of the House, touched his heart
most sensibly. The crowd that gathered about him was go great that the
party was obliged to retire to one of the larger ante-rooms for fear of
interrupting the public business. A delightful interview among old
friends was the reward. He was charmed with his reception, and
mentioned it to me with intense satisfaction. Little did you, gentlemen,
then think that between you and a beloved friend the curtain that
shrouds eternity was so soon to be interposed. His sickness was of
about a week's duration. Until the morning of the day preceding his
death, his friends never doubted his recovery. Later in the day very
unfavorable symptoms appeared, and all then realized his danger. In the
evening his wife spoke to him of a visit, for one day, which he had
projected, to his old friend, Mrs. S. F. Du Pont, when he replied, in the
last words he ever uttered, "It shows the folly of making plans even for
a day." He continued to fail rapidly in strength until two o'clock on the

afternoon of Saturday, the 30th of December, when HENRY WINTER
DAVIS, in the forty-ninth year of his age, appeared before his God. His
death confirmed the opinion of Sir Thomas Browne, who declared,
"Marshaling all the horrors of death, and contemplating the extremities
thereof, I find not anything therein able to daunt the courage of a man,
much less a well-resolved Christian." He passed away so quietly that
no one knew the moment of his departure. His was--
"A death, life sleep; A gentle wafting to immortal life."
Mr. DAVIS left a widow, Mrs. Nancy Davis, a daughter of John B.
Morris, Esq., of Baltimore, and two little girls, who were the idols of
his heart. He was married a second time on the 26th of January, 1857.
His nearest surviving collateral relation is the Hon. David Davis,
associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, who is his
only cousin-german. To all these afflicted hearts may God be most
gracious.
Thus has the country lost one of the most able, eloquent, and fearless of
its defenders. Called from this life at an age when most men are just
beginning to command the respect and confidence of their fellows, he
has left, nevertheless, a fame as wide as our vast country. He died
nineteen years younger than Washington and eight years younger than
Lincoln. At forty-eight years of age Washington had not seen the
glories of Yorktown even in a vision, nor had Lincoln dreamed of the
presidential chair; and if they had died at that age they would have been
comparatively unknown in history. Doubtless God would have raised
up other leaders, if they had been wanting, to conduct the great
American column, which He has chosen to