Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1862-03-07
G6afeocrate Affairs.
INAUGURAL or PRESIDENT DAVIS.


The following is published by the pa
pers generally as the Inaugural Address
of President DAVIS, delivered on the 22d
ultimo, in Richmond, on the occasion OF
his Inauguration as President of the
Southern Confederacy:
FELbow-CITIzENs On this the birth
day of the man most identified with the
establishment of American Independence
and beneath the monument erectede to
commemorate his heroic virtues and those
of his compatriots, we have assembled
to aSbor Hpto existence the permanent
government Of the Confederate States.
Through this instrumentality, under the
favor of Divine Providence, we hope to
pcrpetuate the principles of our revolu-
tionary fathers. The day, the memory
and the purpose seem fifty associated.
1t is with mingled feelings of humil-
ity and pride that | appear to take, in
the presence of the people and before
high Heaven, the oath prescribed as a
qualification for the exalted station to
which the unanimous voice of the people
has called mo. Deeply sensible of all
that is implied by this manifestation of
the peoples confidence, l am yet more
profoundly impressed by the vast respon-
sibility of the office, and humbly feel my
own unwortbiness.
In return for their kindness | can only
offer assurances Of the gratitude with
which it is received, and can but pledge
jealous devotion of every faculty to the
service of those who have chosen me as
their chief magistrate.
When long course of class legisla-
ton, directed not to the general welfare,
but to the aggrandizement of the north
ern section of the Union, eliminated in
a warfare on the domestic institutions of
the Southern States-when the dogmas
of sectional party, substituted for the
provisions of the constitutional compact,
threatened to destroy the sovereign rights
of the States, six of those States, with
drawing from the Union, confedorated
together to exercise the RICH; and perform
the duty of instituting a government
which would better secure the liberties
for the preservation Of which that Union
was established
Whatexcrcf hope some may have en-.
tertained that returning sense of justice
would remove the danger with which our
rights were threatened, and render il
possible to preserve the Union of the
Constitution, must have been dispelled
BY the malignity and barbarity of the
Northern States in the prosecution of the
existing war. The confidence of the
most hopeful among US must have been
destroyed by the disregard they have re-
Gently exhibited for all the -bonored
bulwarks of civil and religious liberty
Bastiles filled with prisoners, arrested
without civil process of indictment duly
found; the writ of habeas corpus sus-
pended by Executive mandate; a State
Legislature controlled by the imprison-
ment Of members whose avowed princi-
Piles suggested to the Federal Executive
that there might be another added to the
list of seeded States; elections held M
der threats Of a military power; civil
officers, peaceful citizens and gentle wo-
men incarcegated for opinions sake, pro-
claimed the incapacity of our late asso-
ciates to administer government as free,
liberal and humane as that established
for our common use.
For proof of the sincerity of our pur-
pose to maintain our ancient Institutions,
we may point to the constitution Of the
Confederacy and the laws enacted under
it, as well as to the fact that through all
tho necessities Of an unequal struggle
there has been no act on our part to i'm
pair personal liberty or the freedom Of
speech, Of thought or Of the press The
courts have been open, the judicial func-
tons fully executed, and every right Of
the peaceful citizen maintained as secure
ly as if war of invasion had not dis
turbed the land.
The people of the States now confed-
Grated became convinced that the row