Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1871-06-16
. What JEFF Davis said.


THE following is an extract from the
recent speech made at Augusta, Ga, by
JEFF. Davis:
Let the people of the North take care Of
Themselves You went to war upon the
same question for which your ancestors
and theirs contended In the first revolution
against the Government of Great Britain
1.-The right of commercial independence
or State sovereignty. You secured 1t in
that first war, and State sovereignty must
again be restored, or else the Republic OF
America is failure. Despotisn cannot
be exercised under republican form Of
government, and, my friends, if you can
but wait, all will be we'll. If any of us die
before the day of peace and liberty dawns,
let us die in the faith that it will come at
last. The people Of the North will never
surrender their rights and when they see
the danger at home then they will need
your aid and will come. to you, and then
you will be crowned with victory and tri.
umphant success. Applause. am not
of those who "accept the situation" |
accept nothing. These cant phrases that
we hear so much of about accepting the
situation and about our rights having
been submitted to the arbitrament of the
sword" are but the excuses of towards.
[Applause. admit that that power is so
great that 1t would be folly to resist it, and
therefore am in favor, myself, of being
acquiescent,ka land advise you to the same
course, but l do not admit that our
rights have ever been submitted to the
arbitrament of the sword. Who has the
power to submit our liberties to the arbi-
trament-of battleP You never delegated
that power to your representatives. /, as
your Executive, never claimed IL, and
never, dying or living, will admit it.
Applause. And then, my friends, about
this much talked.of subject of accepting
the situation" You are not called upon
to acknowledge that you have done wrong
unless you feel it. don't believe l did
any wrong, and therefore don't &C
knowledge it. All that a government
has a right to claim from any of its sub
jects is that they will quietly submit to
the law. Liberty of law Is their inherit
ance, and submission to the law as long as
it is such is their duty and their obliga-
ton, and it should be their pride. Now,
my friends, having already said more than
l intended, 1t only remains for me to say
how happy l am to see the evidences of
prosperity that now surround you. The
first time that | saw the place where your
city now stands, it was little more than a
wilderness. When | saw it again l looked
upon the blackened and deserted ruins,
upon the sad wreck of noble fortunes,
| upon desolated heaTthstones and upon
ruined and strickened people. Your city
has been devastated and laid waste by an
act of vandalism darker than aught that
ever disgraced the fame of Turenne. But
look upon it again today, and the traces
of desolation and destruction are no longer
visible; but in their stead magnificent
structures rise upon every hand to mark
the wonderful advance Of improvement,
prosperity and material greatness. l re.
| joice in it. 1t is but the beginning of the
grand era of prosperity that is yet to
come, and / rejoice to see you going on
building your railroads, establishing your
manufactures, inaugurating new enter
prises of commercial profit, building up
your town, improving your lands, and de-
veloping the material resources within
your reach. You will thus go on increas-
ing until you become wealthy and power
ful l say l rejoice in these evidences of
assiduous, earnest labor in things material,
because there is little in this that the for
eign government can interfere with. Per
severe in this direction; wait quietly and
patiently, until the tide turns-as, sooner
or later, turn it willard the day is not far
distant when the sun will shine upon you
a free, independent and sovereign State.