The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-07-18
JEFFERSON DAVIS ON SECESSION

"
yicksburg will endorse the coarse comments
of the vlcksburg Herald on the recent elo-
ouent and most noble address Of jefferson
Davis at Mississippi City. In that speech
Mr.. Davis said nothing which might not have
been uttered In Maine or New Hampshire, or
in any other State of the Union. He counseled
obedience to the laws and devotion to the
constitution Of our fathers; he expressed q
naughty scorn Of the system Of ward politics
which has been nationalized and which con-
stitutes the craftsmanship of the present
day, and ne expressed THE Hope -rhieh -re
trust animates the breast Of every honest man
I'm America, that way will be found by
which the original character of this govern
ment may be restored, and the higher states
manship Of the past once more brought to the
front.
We are glad that Mr. Davis also touched
upon the question OF secession. The views he
entertained during his long and event
full public career he entertains now. The
same views were entertained by the trainers
of the constitution, and Massachusetts, half
O century ago, we believe was the first State
which threatened to practically enforce them.
II the doctrines advanced by Mr.. Davis are,
as the vicksburg Herald says, detestable and
destructive-devilish iogmas, devised by am
bilious leaders, and which ought to be spit
upon by every prominent man In the South
they we're none the less the dogmas Of the
men who framed the constitution, and who
for upwards of q century all Americans have
been taught to love and reverence.
We have no respect for the counsel of men
who hold that the bayonet and the bullet de-
termine the nature of constitutions and settle
questions of right, or the wisdom or unwis-
dom Of great political principles. In the his
tory of the world it has oftener been the case
that the sword has destroyed good govern
ment and subverted the liberties Of the peo-
ole than that free institutions have been sus-
tanned by military force. II the doctrine be
true that the sword settled any disputed
principle In our constitution, then must
we cOnCede that reconstruction, with all its
shame, and oppression, and robbery, and crime
and malevolence, was right, just and patriotic,
and In entire accord with American institu-
tions. If we concede that the success of the
Union arms changed the principles of the con-
stitution we are forced also to c0nCede that the
success of the Great Fraud In 1877 has legal
lied the employment Of perjury, forgery and
revolution in the election Of President.
We decline to concede these pernicious and
destructive propositions. The constitution
means in 1878 just what 1t meant when 1t was
adopted by the States, and just what 1t meant
in 1860. In 1860 MIR. Davis believed in the
doctrine of secession. Nearly all the leading
Ilnr tc In bn LODI
with his views. The public man who believes
in q principle or a policy and shrinks from
carrying 1t into practice when q public ext
gency arises which demands its application, Is
simply q coward. But the Northern people,
and we are panied to say, many Southern
men and journals who have sunk to the low
moral plane Of the politics of to-day, are at
tempting to reverse this Judgment and brand
as traitors those men who c0nSCientiously at
tempted at all risks to carry out the principles
they had advocated in the Union and believed
In all their lives. 1t is bitter lie to say that
such men were traitors or rebels. The simple
truth is, that the men who upheld the right
Of secession, and then joined in to crush those
who attempted to carry it out, were towards.
Mr.. Davis is q man of firm convictions, and
he believes now what he has always beieved,
and believing which he risked everything to
maintain. We and thousands Of others think
with him.
That the doctrine of secession led to the
war is false. II the doctrine of seces-
sion had never been dreamed of the war
would have come, and not q drop less of
heroic blood would have been spilled. The
South did not go to war for secession any
more than the English cut off King Charles
head and the French overthrow Louis XVI for
revolution. The South believed that her
rights and interests were about to be at
tackled by the North, and her people resOrted
to secession to protect themselves, and the
attempt of the North to force them to sub
nit TO what they believed to be ruin
led to war. II we had never heard of
secession we would have had the same war,
because we would have resorted to revoIu-
ton to protect our rights and interests
against the aggression of the North
Destroy the doctrine of secession, and
we still have the right Of revolution; deny that
and you deny the right of the people to resist
usurpation, tyranny or fraud-yOu legitima-
tie despotism.
To denOunce and "spit upon" the doctrine
Of secession, to use the language Of the Vicks-
burg paper, will not render this Union one bit
more secure than 1t would be If the doctrine
were canonized as the highest right Of the
States. Wrong and oppression brought or
the war, and wrong and oppression
will bring on another war, whether We
admit the doctrine of secession or not
pt Ppi1rX aroo bo bf
country with revolution if the resumption
act were repealed. The fires of revolution are
now smouldering all over the West. and the
people are in temper to rise against the bond
holders and capitalists, who they believe are
depressing them. Let the miserable pollti
clans and newspapers that are bowling
against jeff Davis, and secession, and South,
ern rebels, look to their own hearthstones
Corrupt legislation and the arrogance of thu
money power are tanning flame which, If IL
once breaks out, will leave the rebellion in the
shade. Crying down secession and abusing