The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1861-01-25
FAREWELL SPEECH OF HON. JEFF DAVIS
We have not space for the publication of tn
cf ho GO thar

have to content ourselves with copying that
deliveredby Hon. JEFF Davis 1t contains all
the views delivered by the others
Mr.. Dayis.-I rise, MIR. President for the
purpose of announcing to the Senate that |
have satisfactory evidence that the State of
Mississippi, by solemp ordinance of her peo-
pie in Convention assembled, has declared her
separation from the United States Under
these circumstances, OF course my functions
are terminated here. 1t has seemed to me pro-
per, however, that / should appear in the
Senate to announce that fact to my associates
and l will say but very little more. The oc-
casion does not invite me to go into argument:
and my physical condi tion would not permit
me to do so if it were otherwise and yet it
seems to become me to say something on til @
part of the State L here represent on an occa-
sion SO solemn this.
tits known to Senators who have served with
Inc here, that have for many years advoc ted
as an essen tial attribute of State soyereignty
the right of a State to secede from the Union
Therefore, if had not believed there was JUS
ufidble cause il had thought that MISSISSIPPI
pl was acting without sufficient pro- vOca ton or
without an existing necessity. l should still
under my theory of the Government because OF
my allegiance TO the State of which ain Il citi-
zen, have been bound by her action. Ihowever,
may be permitted TO say that L do think she
has justifiable cause, and l approve Of her act
! conferred with her people before that act
was taken, counselled them then that if the
state Of things which they apprehended
should take the action which they have now
adopted
l hope none who hear me will confound this
expression of mine with the advocacy of
me right of State TO remain in the Union,
and to disregard its cons4tutional obliga-
tions by the notification 4 the law. Such
is not my theory. Nuliificstion and secession,
so often conlounded, are indeed antagonistc
principles Modification is a remedy which
il is sought to apply within the Union ana
against the agent of the States. 1t is only to
be justified when the agent has viola ted his
constitutional obligation, and a State, assum-
ing to Judge Tor itself, denies the right OF the
agent thus to act, and appeals TO the other
States OF the Union for q decision but when
the States themselves, ana when the people
of the States, have acted as TO convince us
that they Will not regard our constitutional
rights, then, and then for the first time, arises
the doctrine OF > cesSion in its practical APP
plication.
4 great man, who now reposes with his
fathers, and who has been often arraigned for
a want of tealty to the Union, advocated the
doctrine of nulIiflcation because IL preserved
the Union. 1t was because OF his deep seated
attachment to the Union his determination
TO find some remedy for existing ills short OF Il
severance of the ties which bound South Car
oina to the other States, that Mr.. Calhoun
adyoca ted the doctrine of notification, which
he proclaimed TO be peaceful; to be within
the limits OF State power, not to disturb the
Union, but only 10 be a means of bringing the
agent before the tribunal of the States for their
judgment.
Secession belongs 10 a different class of rem
edies. 1t is TO be justified upon the basis that
the States are sovereign. There was time
when none denied il. l hope the time may
come again. when better comprehension OF
the theory of our Government, and the inalien-
able rights of the people of the States, will
prevent any one from denying that each State
is Il SOY ereign, and thus may reclaim the grants
which il has made TO any agent whomSoeYer.
| therefore say concur i'll the action OF the
ppDnlp M iS~iSSinJ1i belle 10 he neceS-
sarv and proper, and should have been bound
by their action if my belief had been other
wise; and this brings me to the importlnt
point which l wish, on this last occasion, TO
present to the Senate. ii is by this confound-
ing of nullihcation and secession that the
name of Il great man, whose ashes now lnlnSle
with his mother earth, has been invoked 10
Justify coercion against q seeded state. 1ht
phrase, ''to execute the laws, T." was an EXPIRES
sion which Gen. Jackson applied to the case
OF State refusing to obey the laws wifiIe
yet member of the Union. That is not
the case which Is now presented. Inc laws
are to be executed over the United States,
and upon the people of the United States
They have no relation to any foreign coun-
try. 1t is q perverSOn Of terms, at least ii is
a great misrepresentation OF the case, which
cites that expression for applica tion to a State
which has withdrawn from the Union. You
may make war on q foreign State III II be the
purpose of gentlemen, they may make war
against a State which has Withdrawn from
the Union but there are no laws of the
United States to be executed within the limits
OF q seceied State. A State finding herself
In the condition i'll which mississippi mas
Judged she is, in which her safety requires
that she should provide for the maintenance
of her rights out of the Union, surrenders
all the benefits, (and they are known 10 be
many) deprives herself of the advantages,
fthey are known to be great.l sewers all the
ties OF affection, land they are close and en-
during,) which have bound her to the mon :;
and thus divesting herself OF every benefit,
taking upon herself every burden, she clalins
to be exempt from any power 10 execute ti'
laws of the United States within her limits.
/ we'll remember an occasion when biasst-
chusetts was arraigned before the bar OF the
Senate, and when the doctrine OF coercion was
rife and to be applied against her because OF
the rescue of q fugitive slave in Boston, My
opinion then was the same II Is now. Not
III spirit of egotism, but 10 show that am
not Influenced i'll my opinion because the case
is my own, l refer to that time ana tDaf oc-
casion as containing the opinion which l then
entertained and on which my present conduct
Is based. | then said il Massachusetts, foi-
lowing her through u stated line OF conduci,
chooses TO take the last step which separates
her from the Union, il is her right 10 90, AMI
will neither vote one dollar nor one lnin TO
coerce her back, but viii say TO her, God
speed, in memory OF the Kind associations
which once existed between her and the other
States.
Ii has been a conviction of pressing neces-
sty, il has been belief that we are TO be de-
prived in the Union OF the rights which our
fathers hequeatheu to us, which mas brought
Mississippi into her present decision. She has
heard proclaimed the theory that all men are
created free and equal, and this made the BASIS
of au attack upon her social institutions ana
the sacred Declaration OF independence mas
been invoked to maintain the position OF the
equality of the races. That Declaration OF 1R-
dependence is TO be construed by the circum-
stances and purposes for which 1t was made
The communities We're declaring their in
n no
mites were asserting that no man was born,
TO use the language Of Mr.. Jefferson, booted
and spurred to ride over the rest OF Hlal4-
kind that men We're created equal--nedn-
ing The men of the political community !;
that there was no divine right TO rule: that no
man inherited the right to govern; that 1here
We're no classes by which power and place de-
scenced to families; but that all stations were
equally within the grasp of each member OF
the body polite. These were the great prln-
ciples they announced; these We're the puf-
poses for which they made their declaration;
these were the ends to which their enuncla-
tion was directed They have no reference TO
the slave; else, how happened 1t that among
the items OF arraignment made against George
III was that he endeayored TO de just what
the North has been endeavoring OF late TO do,
to stir up insurrection among our sidEes2-
Had the declaration announced that the ne
proes were free and equal, how was the Prince
to be arragned for stirring up insurrectlon
among them? And how was this 10 be
enumerated among the high crimes which
haused the colonies to sever their connection
with the mother country? When our Consti-
tuition was formed, the same idea was rendered
more palpable, for there we ma provision
made for that very class of persons rs proper
ty; they were not put upon the footing oi
equality with white men--not even upon that
OF paupers and conyicts; but, so far as repre-
seutation was concerned, were disseminated
AGAINST MS n lower caste, only to be represen t.
Ell in the numerical proportion of three iifths.
Then, Senators, we recur to the compact
which binds us together; we recur 10 the
urinciples upon which our Government was
f-.a.I o.,d ,uhan Won deny them and