Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1858-07-28

Nv Southern home upon thy breast,
Beneath the mountain PINE
From the Trenton American
HON. JEFFERSON DAVIS.
OF almost all the public men of the South, the
name of this gentleman has been coupled by North
ern fanatics with extreme ideas in regard to the
tional differences which have, from time to time,
agitated the country. He has been called nulifier,
disunionist and re-eater, SO earnestly and SO often,
that most people had sc: him down as the Jupiter
Tonans Of the Pierce Administration, and the most
terrible and dangerous man in the Senate. But it
was admitted that he was generous and brave
man; and behold, he has proved his bravery by
marching with bis wife and children bag and bag
gage into the very centre OF nggerdom, and the
whole country is astounded by the report of
speech made by "Jeff. Davis" in Portland, Maine,
breathing the most benevolent and enlarged spirit
of nationally. In order that readers may judge
of the temper of this terrible man, so dreaded and
hated by abotonists, we have copied hereunder
part of his speech, which We recommend to their
perusal:
Extract from the Speech Of Hon. Jefferson DaUis,
at Portland, Me-, July 9, 1858.
Such in very general terms, is the rich political
legacy which our fathers bequeathed to US. Shall
preserve and transmit it to posterity? Yes yes,
the heart responds, and the judgment answers, the
task is easily performed 1t but requires that each
should attend to that which most concerns him. and
on which alone he has rightful power to decide and
to act That each should adhere to the terms of
written compact and that all should cooperate for
that which interest, duty and honor demand. For
the general affairs of our coutry, both foreign and
domestic, have a national Executive and a
tional Legislature. Representatives and Senators
chosen by Districts and by States but their acts
effect the whole country, and their obligations
to the whole people. He who, holding either seat,
would confne his investigations to the mere inter-
ests of his immediate constituents would be derelct
-l~s,n l,k-. ~v,l 10 H. -,
hostility to any section, would be morally unfit for
the station and surely unsafe depository, if not
. treacherous guardian, OF the inheritances with
which are blessed.
No one more than myself recognizes the binding
force of the allegiance which the citizen to the
State of his citizenship; but that State, being par
ty to our compact member of our Union, fealty
to the federal Constitution is not in opposition to,
but flows from the allegiance due to of the Unit
ed States. Washington was not less Virgnian
when he commanded at Boston; nor did Gates
Greene weaken the bonds which bound them to
their several States by their campaigns inthe South.
In proportion a citizen loves his State, will he
strive to honor her by preserving her and fame
free from the tarnsh of having failed to observe her
obligations and fulfil her duties to her sister States.
Each page of our history is illustrated by the names
and the deeds OF those who have well understood
and discharged the obligation. Have we so degen-
Grated that We can longer emulate their virtues?
Have the purposes for which Union was formed
lost their value? Has patriotism ceased to be
virtue and is narrow sectionalism no longer to be
counted a crime? Shall the North not rejoice that
the progress of agriculture in the South has
given to her great staple the controlling influence of
the commerce of the world and put manufacturing
nations under bonds to keep the peace with the
United States? Shall the South not exalt in the
fact that the industry and persevering intelligence
OF the North has placed her mechanical skill in the
front ranks Of the civilized world-that our mother
country, whose naughty minister some eighty odd
years ago declared that not hob nail should be
made in the colonies which are now the United
States, was brought some four years ago to recog-
nize our pre-eminence by sending commission to
examine our workshops, and our machinery, to per.
feet their own manufacture of the arms requisite
for their defence? Do not our whole people, int.
rior and seaboard, North, South, East and West,
alike feel proud of the hardihood, the enterprise
the skill, and the courage of the Yankee sailor, who
has borne our flag far the ocean bears its foam
and caused the name and the character of the Unit
ed States to be known ard respected wherever there
is wealth enough to WOO commerce. and intelligence
enough to honor merit? So long preserve
and appreciate the achievements of jefferson and
Adams of Franklin and Madison, of Hamilton, of
Hancock, and of Rutledge, men who Iabored for the
whole country, and lived for mankind, We cannot
sink to the petty strife which would sap the founda
tons and destroy the political fabric fathers
erected and bequeathed as an inheritance to our
prosperity forever
Since the formation of the Constitution vast ex.
tension Of territory and the varied relations arising
therefrom, have presented problems which could
not have been forseen. It is just cause for admit
ration-even wonder, that the provisions of the
fundamental law should have been found so fully
adequate to all the wants of Government new in its
organization and new in many of its principles on
which it was founded. Whatever fears NAV have
once existed to the consequence of territorial ex
pansion, must give way before the evidence which
the past affords. The General Government strictly
confined to its delegated functions and the States
left in the undisturbed exercise of all else we have
theory and practice which fits our Government Of
lmmeasurable domain, and might, under millennium
OF nations, embrace mankind.
From the slope of the Atlantic our population,
with ceaseless tide, has poured into the wide and
iestie valley OF the Mississippi with eddying whirl
mas passed to the coast of the Pacific; from the
west and the East the tides are rushing towards
eacn other-and the mind is carried to the day
when all the cultivable land will be inhabited and
the American people will sigh for more wilderness
to conquer.
It would be to trespass on your kindness and viz.
late the prophecies Of the occasion, were to det.n
the vast concourse which stands before me nv en-
tering on the discussion of controverted TOPICS O,
by further INDUCING in the expression Of such reAec
ions g circumstances suggest
came to your city in quest of health and repose
FROM the moment entered it you have showeret
upcntme kindness and hospitality. Though nv ex
tei'suce mas taught me to anticipates good rathe
.nan evh from my fellow man, it had not prepared
~ 20 expect such unremitting attention as has her,
'seo bestowed. have been jocularly asked in 70