The weekly Mississippian. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1859-1864, 1860-05-30
S p f ECH
HON. JEFFERSON DAVIS.
OF MISSISSIPPI,

AVN J6E Lh0GN JAWS.
OF MISSISSIPPI,
Delivered an the y. S. !Sqiate. on Monday, Nay
Gh 1860.
On his resolutions relative to the rights of
property in the Territories, etc. The re-
solutions S have been already published in our
columns.
Mr.. Davis. Mr.. President, among the many
. blessings for which we are indebted to our
ancestry, is that of transmitting to us a writ
ten constitution a fixed standard to which,
IN the progress Of events, every thing may be
referred and measured. But for this, the
wise men who formed our Government dared
not have hoped for its perpetnity for they
saw floating down the tide of time wreck after
wreck, marking the short life OF every Repub-
klie which lad Pree2lnds thenl.ze-AA 18th thiss
however, to check, torestrain and to direct their
posterity, they might rcasolab y hope the
Government they founded should last forever;
that it should secure the great purposes for
which it was ordained and established that
it would be the shield Of their poste1ity equal
ly in every part of the country, and equally
in all tine to come. 1t was this which main
ly distinguished the formation OF our Govern
ment from those conlederacies or republics
which had preceded it; and this is our hope
to-day. The resolutions which have been
read, and which had the honor to present to
the Senate, are little more than the announce
ment of what hold to be the cl arly ex-
pressed declarations of the constitution itself
10 that fixed standard it is sought, at this
time, when We are drifting far from the initial
point, and when clouds and darkness hover
over us, to bring back the Government. and
to test our condition to-day by the rules which
our fathers laid down for us in the beginning
The differences which exist between diff
ferent portions of the country, the rivalries
and the jealousies of to-day, though differing
In degree, are exactly Of the nature Of those
which preceded the formation of the constitu-
ton. Our fathers were aware of the differeut
interests of the navigating and planting States
as they were then regarded. They sought to
compose those difficulties, and by compensat-
ing privileges from one to the other, to form
Government equal and just in its operations;
and which, like the gentle showers of heaven
should fall twice blessed-blessing him that
gives and him that receives. This mutual
action and reaction between the different in
terests OF the country constituted the bond of
union and the motive of its formation They
constitute IT to-day, il We are sufficiently wise
TO appreciate our interests and sufficiently
faithful to observe oar trust. Indeed with the
extension of territory, with the multiplication
OF interests, with the varieties increasing from
time to time Of the products of this great
country, the bonds which bind the Union to-
gether should have increased RationSly
they have increased, because the free trade
which was established in the beginning has
now become more valuable to the people Of
the United States than their trade with all
the rest Of the world
do not propose to argue questions Of natur-
Gl rights and inherent powers | plant my
sell upon the constitution !; that constitution
which you have all sworn to support that
constitution which you have s0lemnly pledged
yoursat to MAINTAIN while you hold the seat
you now oc"npy in the Senate to which yon
are bound nlts spirit and in its letter not grudg-
ingty, but willingly, to render your obedience
aud support as long as you hold office under
tue Federal Government When the temp
ter entered the garden of Eden and induced
our common mother to offend against the law
which God had given to her through Adam,
he was the first teacher of that higher law
which sets the will Of the individual above the
Solemn rule which he is bound as a part of
every community, to observe. From the
effect OF the introduction Of the teaching of
the higher law III the garden of Eden, and
the fall consequent upon it, came sin into the
world ; and from sin came death and banish-
ment and SuhJugation, rs the punishment of
sln founded upon that first great law which
was given by God to fallen man.
Why, then, shall We talk about natural
rights Who is to define them? Where is
the judge that is to sit over the court to try
natural rights What is the era at which YOU
will fix the date by which you will determine
the breadth, tina length and the depth ofthose
things called the rights Of nature ? Shall it
be after the fall, when the earth was covered
with thornS, and the man had to earn his
bread with the swest of his brow or Shall it
be when there was equality between the sexes,
when be lived IN the garden, when all his
wants were supplied, and when thorns and
thistles were unknown on the face of the
earth Shall it be then? Shall it be afer-
wards Shall it be after the food, whep for
the first sin committed after the waters retired
from the face of the earth, the doom of slave
ry was upon the mongrel descendants of
Ham? II, after the flood, and after that de-
cree, how idle, then, is all this prating about
natural rights as standing above the obliga-
tons OF the constitution ? The constitution
is the law Of every American. It'll the plight
ed faith of our fathers it is the hope of our
posterity. say then, come not to argue
questions outside Of or above the constitution
and to plead the cause of law and order under
the constitution, and to plead it to those who
have sworn to abide by that obligation.
One of the truthful sources, as hold it, of
the errors which prevail in our country, is the
theory that this is Government of one peo-
pie ; that the Government of the United States
was formed by a mass The Government of
the United States is compact between the
sovereign members who formed it and if
there be one feature common to all the colon.
les planted upon the shores of American, it is
| that desire for community Independence. 1t
was for the Puritan the Huguenot, the Ca
| tholic, the Quaker, the Protestant, left the
shores of ELr ,pe, and by the light Of the
| fires Of persecution, which threw shadows to-
| wards the land of America they sought and
found this refuge of civil and religious free
dom. Whilst they existed as separate and
dist net colonies they were not forbearing to-
wards each other. They oppressed opposite
religions. They did not come here with the
enlarged idea of men having no established
religion. The Puritans drove out the Quak-
ers; the Church of England men drove out the
| Catholics. Persecution reigned through the
colonies Of every sect save their own, except
perhaps (and it is a proud example, too) that
of the Catholic Icolonly of Maryland; but the
rule was, persecution. Therefore | say the
common idea, and the only common idea, was
community independence-the right of each
independent people to do as they pleased in
their domestic affairs
The Declaration of Independence was made
by the colonies, each for itself The recog-
milton of their independence was not for the
! colonies united, but for each of the colonies
which had maintained its Independence, and
so. when the constitution was formed the
delegates were not elected by the people en-
aaosse, but came from each one Of the States
and when the constitution was formed, it was
referred, not to the people en- aeasse, but tC
States severally, and seeerally by them rati
fled and approved. But if there be anything
which enf0rces this idea more than another
it is the unequal dates at which it received
this approval From first to last, nearly two
wears and half elapsed and the Government
went into operation something like a year,
believe more than year, before the last rati
fication was made Is it, then, contendet
that, by this ratification and adoption of tht
constitution, the States surrendered that so
vereignty which they had previously gained
Can It be that men who braved the perils o
the ocean, the psivations of the wilderness
who fought the war Of the Revolution, in tn
hour of their success, when all was sunshin
and peace around them, came voluntarily for
ward to lay down that community indepen
dcnce for which they had suffered so muc
and so long? Reason forbids it; but its rea
son did not furnish sufficient answer, the az
ton Of the States themselves forbid it. Th
great State of New York--great then, as sh
is now-maniested her wisdom in not receiV
ing merely that implication which belongs
the occasion, which was accepted by the othe
, States. but she required the positive assertio
of that retention of the sovereignty and powe
over all her affairs, as the condition on whic
( she ratified the constitution itself. | rea
| from Elliott's Debates, page 327. Among h
resolutions of ratification is the following.
"That the powers Of government may
0 reassumed by the people whensoever tsha
4 become necessary to their happiness; that ey
ry power, jurisdiction and right, which is n
" / -. II. II. ~ ~