The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1878-08-21
THE SPEECH OF EX-PREsIDENT
DAVIS.

slssIppI City, 10th ultimo, to the men,
of the Army of Tennessee, the far and
wide attention which his words received,
/ ike the shadow which pyramid would
cast, stands witness to an eminence
which years of retirement from active
public service have not dwarfed, and
which the malice of the ungenerous has
neither obscured nor furnished.
/ But the echoing of his words has not
/ been truly sounded from all parts We
/ find some journals more bent on attempt
/ ing vain political capital than on giving
/ publicity to the truth; and these, with
out quoting text for their constructions,
seek to create the impression that Mr..
/ Davis has re-opened, as it were, pTacti
Cal hostile issue with the North, when
not sentiment he expressed on the oc-
casion can honestly bear such interpre-
tation. Mr.. Davis spoke as it became a
man to speak who is neither a weakling
nor hypocrite; his observations to the
men of the army of Tennessee, were
| firstly of historic character and pointed to
the events of which his audience had been
valiant part; he cOntented himself with
| a statement of facts; and where he en-
| tered into the general political issues of
the day he spoke with the clear leader
ship ring of one who deservedly posses
ses the reverence and the love of millions
and the respect of all. Not a word
he said could be construed into a chal-
lenge which would be as idle and I'M
called for under existing circumstances
as it would be foreign to the calm, the
patient and far seeing ken of the great
recognized statesman whose speech we
have now review.
That much malice should be pointedly
and on all occasions directed against Mr..
Davis, is matter at first sight of some
difficulty. He was surely no more and
no less of Confederate in kind than the
humblest true soldier who wore the gray;
in degree of ability he is certainly
giant even among men of the tallest sta
ture; in tenacity of conscientiously and
carefully balanced opinions, he is en-
phatically man among men in strength
of political integrity he simpregnable-
and it is in this that he ofend8 against
the age. Politicians dread his influence
because it is such as thorough moral
soundness always commands even in the
darkest days of decentralization. They
respect jefferson Davis but they fear
him; and they fear him because he is
strong and incorruptible-a typical lead
err of our brightest and most hallowed
American memories.
There is yet another reason why Mr..
Davis is at outs with the new dominant
sentiment of the age: He refuses to
learn the modern state-craft lesson that
accomplished facts" abolish rights ; he
will not yield that might creates right
"a tenet of the material, intidel school
that politically rules at Rome and at
Berlin; he does not follow the herd
whom Rt Rev. Lancaster SpaldIng re-
Gently so eloquently denounced as those
who worship before the Juggernaut car
of the hdeous idol-Success." And in
this the soldier statesman and the orator
priest have fundamental warrant in Ca
tholic truth-the truth which Plus Ninth
of sainted memory proclaimed in the
notable Allocution of March Is, 1861 +;
condemning the error of those who ac-
knowledged t'no law in nature but the
right of the strongest.
And this leads us to remark that the
opening passage of Mr.. Davis speech as
epitomized through the Associated Press
contains the possibility of grave misun-
Outstanding, while it is in fact an errone-
Gus report of the language actually used
The dispatch, which we also copied into
our columns, opens with
"The question of the States, right of
secession in 1851 was at least debatable;
but the course pursued by the Federal
Government after the war had ceased was
a vindication of the judgement of those
who held separation to be necessary for
the safety and freedom of the Southern
States"
This might cause some to conf ecture
that Ex-President Davis admitted that
there was doubt as to the States right |
of secession, whereas what he did say was
relevant only 10 the propriety or expedi-
ency of exercising this right in 1861, the
opportuneness of the measure, not the |
truth of the doctrine. Attention has been
called to this point by the gifted Major |
w. I. Walthail, in the Mississippi Sea |
Shore Gazette. Our own mental render !
ing of the passage, which came upon us
in the Associated Press version,
was that Mr. Davis had been previously |
alluding to the opponents of the State
doctrine, and had continued in saying |
that surely in the weakness of their posi-
ton they ought from their own standpoint
to have admitted that "the question of
the States right of secession in 1861 was
at least debatable" What Mr. Davis
really did say, our readers will find on
our first page; as we have thought it en-
inently proper 10 give an extended report
of the utterance of the illustriOus Missis-
sippian, and that which we copy from the
Meridian (Miss) Mercury we have every
reason to suppose to be as tolerably cor
rect as speeches are generally reported
when there is no malicious purpose to
serve.
In connection with these matters an
editorial item which we find in Sundays
Leader leads US to certain reflections.
The Leader says:
''Jeff Davis, it is said, will be a candi-
date from Mississippi for the United
States Senate, trusting to his chances
after election to obtain from Congress
release of his political disabilities In
what other country could such proceed
ing stand any show of success?
Now, we are assured that Mr.. Davis
will never thrust himself upon the people
Of his State for office. If called upon by
Mississippi to serve her, we do not think
he has the right to refuse. He owes his
State duties of citizenship; and his is not
4 character to shirk an undertaking be-
cause it is burdened with personal re-
inconvenience or repug
nances. In another sense again his powers
should not be refused to the entire coun-
try. We are in a perilous condition
olou,antS of aUitafi ou ahoun6 huilderS