Knoxville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1875, 1871-06-07
THE CHIEF OF THE LOST CAUSE.
Taking a TrIumnIlal Tour.

EX-President JEFF. Davis is taking a
grand triumphal tour through the South.
He is everywhere receiving an ovation.
We gave few days ago his speech at Au-
gusta. On the 9th ult., he made another
speech at Atlanta, in response to serenade
of large and enthusiastic crowd. He
spoke as follows:
Looking down upon the honest faces before
him, he experienced peculiar pleasure as he
realized the fact that the complimentary tribute
the part of the people of Georgia. Georgia had
a proud record. Beginitg arih Oglethorpe,
aud gidneing rapidly at the old Colonial times,
the speaker remarked that the principles for
achich Georgia fought IN the tate tcar bet,oee,,
the States mere the same they coRtended for u,
tie RerotatiOn of l776 and u, the toar Of 1872.
lie felt animated aud sustained By tie conric-
ION that Georgia aeould get recOrer her an
cient liberties, and be a great, prosperous and
souerign State. When first he sdD AtlaRta ii
rcas simply an old .feld Of stu56lc. Agai, he
sag 1t just after the Federal army had suept
oUer IL, marking their course By UdndaiiSp,
far bLdcker than anything that had erer stained
thefair fame of TtTeHHe as q soldier. A third
time he saw it, and then the backened ruins
had disappeared the evidences of desolation
had been swept away to make room for the
stately structures which now ornament the
city.
Dwelling at some length upon the enterprise
and energy displayed by the people of Georgia,
under so many adverse circumstances, the
speaker alluded to the important work which
the young men of the State had before them.
He did not propose 10 discuss politics. He had
shaken hands with politics-was done with them
forever. He trusted that every one in the au-
dience would agree with him on that point.
But while he did not care to make n political
speech, he felt that he ought to express one or
two opinions in reference TO the best policy to be
pursued by the South. He referred only to the
present--the future might take care of itself.
He dared not say all that he would. 1t would
be used against the Southern people, and they
would be compelled to bear the responsibility
of his utterances. There was a good deal of
talk about accepting the situotion," but as far
as he icas concerned, he could accept nothing
These miserable phrases about accepting He
situation because oar rights had been submitted
to the drbitrament of the slcord and lost acre
the excuses Of dances aGd coioards. No one had
any right to submit the liberties of tie people to
to the drbitrdnteHt Of the S,cord. The repFeseH-
tattreS Of the Southern people had Herer been az
thorized to do any thing Of the kind. As their
CHIEF ErecutiUe, he had Herer been so authorized,
nor did he ereT claim to be. He did not like to be
understood as advocating resistance. On the
contrary, he counseled submission to existing
laws. He knew very well that the conqueroI
was too powerful to be successfully resisted by
the South. 1t was the duty of Georgia, and OF
the other States, to keep aloof from politics. and
attend to the developement OF their internal re-
sources. This icaS all that could be done al
present. 1t was useless for the South to attempt
to take controlling part in the politics of the
country. As matters now stand such action
would only delaV tie DAY of dettrerdHee He
was firmly convinced, and intended to live and
die believing that Georgia and her sister States
would again be prosperous, free and sorereign
Unless this was again the case the Republic was
a failure. But there were great numbers of free
men in the North who sympathized with us
They would never submit TO be deprived o.
their liberties, and when they felt the danger Al
home they would theE need the aid Of the
South Thus bV quietly holding alOof thu
Sonth could become a political balance of pow
er on this continent. This desired resnlt would
be accomplished by waiting until they were di
vided at the North, and then it would be thu
policy of the South to act with the party hay
ing the best candidate and the best platform