Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1863-05-26

phraseology of the English race. by the
occasional Introduction of words of which
necessity and the idious of our language
compelled the use There statute Law and
common law were rarely enforced, except
against an oppressed and degraded race
bat the judgments of Lynch Courts were
pronounced with incorruptibIe austerity,
and executed with inexorabIe certainty
and swiftness. Such was the general
tone OF society in Mississippi and the
surrounding country during the first thirty
or forty years of this century; but above
this general level, yet descending occa-
sionally to 1t and resting upon it, was a
small class of planters, who, with q very
few professional men, and merchants of
the more honorable sort, possessed all the
little moral worth aud Intellectual culture
of the region; aud to this Mr. Davis be-
longed. But in such commuuity-a COM
munity whose moral sense was blunted BY
the presence of class whom every mem
Der OF every other class might oppress with
impuuity-even the men whose motives
were just and whose tastes more or less
refined, were obliged to maintain their po-
sition by certain conformity to the social
habits, and a certain assumption of the de-
hant bearing, of the men around them
Few men can live from early youth to ma
ture manhood among desperadoes without
acquiring something of their desperation
at least familiarity with desperate issues
Among such people Jefferson Davis pass
ed his life until he went in 1924 as cadet
to West Point. Thence he graduated with
honor in 1928, aud was, at his own request,
assigned Immediately to active service
with Col Zachary Taylor, afterward Cen
eral aud President, but then engaged in
frontier warfare at the West. On tie rough
and adventurous battlefield of the bor-
ders, the future insurgent leader SO quick
ly distinguished himself that upon the
formation of a new regiment of cavalry he
obtained in it his commission as first
Lieutenant, in which position he did
good service against the Indians, and it is
said, made a warm friend of the Well-known
chief Black Hawk while he was held a
prisoner of war. After seven years of ac-
tive frontier service, Mr. Davis resigned
his commission, and in 1885 became a cot
ton-planter in Mississippi, deVersifyiug the
dull routine of Southern agricultural life
with political studies. When the Democra.
tic party nominated Mr.. Polk for President,
Mr.. Davis canTassed, or ttstumped" the
State on his behalf, was made Presidential
Elector to vote for him, and in Is45 was
elected a member of the House of Repre-
sentatives, where he soon proved himself
in debate an active and energetic supporter
of the measures of his party. He took his
place in the front rank of the extreme ad-
Vocates of Slavery and State sovereignty.
Upon the breaking out of the Mexican war
he was elected Colonel of a Mississippi rife
regiment, aud resigned his seat in Congress
for post of honor in the field. Here he
again distinguished himself by his coolness
and determination, and at the battle of
Bueua Vista rendered such efficient service
of he of
mained throughout the day, though badly
wounded, that Gen. Taylor praised his
conduct highly in his dispatches.-
His term of service having expired,
BE returned home, but was met on his way
by commission as Brigadier- General of
Volunteers, sent to him by President Polk.
Almost any other man would have at once
accepted such an honor. But here was an
opportunity for an exhibition of a sort of
perVerse, pertinacious consistency in push
ing tae doctrine of State sovereignty to the
last extreme, and of giving civil rebuff to
the Government at Washington. Colonel
Davis had been commissioned as a Missis-
sippi volunteer; and although he was in
the service of the United States, under
command of General in the regular army
OF the United States, he was yet not to be
lnsulted as a Mississippian by being made
a General of Brigade by the President of
the United States; so he declined the COM
mission, on the ground that its bestowal
was an infractiOn-well meant and par
douable, perhaps, but still an iufractiou-I
OF the sovereignty of the .'Republic" of
mississippi la poor, struggling, debt.re-
pudiatiug Commonwealth, created by an
act of Congress of the United States. and
sparsely peopled by such emigrants as
could best be spared from the older Com
monwealths of the great nation. But still,
ridiculous as it was, Mr.. Davis made his
point.
One of Nississippfs Senatorial chairs at
Washington being casually vacant in IS47,
Mr. Davis was appointed by the Gov
ernor of the State to fill it; aud this he
did so much to the satisfaction of his con-
stituents that he was twice reelected to
the same position. LIu the Senate chamber
he attained the reputation Of ready, dex-
ferrous, and fearless debater, and a clear
headed energetic man of business. His
views of the superiority of State authority
to that Of the central Government grew
stronger as he grew older. It was the na-
ture of the man that they should. His no.
tiOns of State responsibility for pecuniary
obligaticn were brought into unpleasant
uotoriety during bis Senatorship by the
position which be took in regard to the re-
pudiation of her bonds by Mississippi
This he defended, and his sneer at a the
crocodile tears which had been shed over
ruined creditors" excited sorrow at home
and indignation abroad In 1851 he re-
signed his seat in the Senate TO he uomi-
mated Governor Of Mississippi as the rep
resentative of the party in that State
which held his principles; but, having
been defeated by Henry s. Foote, the can
didate Of the Union party, he retired into
private life for year. In 1852 he cleo
tioneered for Mr.. Pierce, the successful
Presidential candidate of the Democratic
party, who acknowledged his services aud
his capacity by calling him into his Cab
met as Secretary Of War. In his new po-
sition he showed great activity and ener-
gy. He added TO the coast defenses, i'm
nrn-ai The mnnnfacfnre of anna md a.