The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1902-08-31

| southern states TO remain In the Union.
He was member of the committee Of
| the Senate to whom was referred the
| famous 'Crittenden compromise and
avowed himself willing to accept that or
any other plan that the opposing factions
could agree upon, and that promised any
| reasonable hope of success Having failed
in that, when his State seeded he re-
signed his seat in the Senate on January
2st. 1851. and his farewell address will
go down in history as the most famous
ever delivered III that body.
Mr.. Davis's Farewell.
Mr.. Davis said: rise. Mr.. President.
for the purpose of announcing to the Sem
ate that have satisfactory evidence that
the State of Mississippi. by a solemn or.
dinance Of her people, in convention as
sembled, has declared her separation
from the United States. Under these cir
cumstances. of course. my functions are
terminated here. 1t has seemed to me
proper, however, that I should appear
in the Senate to announce that fact to
my associates, and I will say but very
| little more. The occasion does not invite
| me to 60 into argument: and my phys
ical condition would not permit me to
do SO, II otherwise; and yet 1t seems to
become me to say something on the part
| Of State here represent, on an occa-
sion SO solemn as this.
1t 10 known to Senators who have serv-
ed with me here. that I have, for many
years, advocated, as an essential attribute
of State sovereignty, the right of a State
to secede from the Union. Therefore, IL
| I had not believed there was justifiable
cause II I had thought that Mississippi
was acting without sufficient provocation,
| or without an existing necessity, should
still. under my theory of the Government
because Of my allegiance to the State of
which ! am citizen, have been bound
by her action. I. however may be per-
| United to say that I do think she has
justihable cause. and l approve of her
act. I conferred with her people before
that act was taken, counseled them then
that II the state of things which they
apprehended should exist when the con-
vention met. they should take the action
which they have now adopted.
hope none who hear me will confound
this expression Of mine with the advo-
cacy Of the right of a State to remain in
the Union. and to disregard its consti-
tutional obligations by the notification
or the law. Such Is not my theory. Null
lhcation and secession, so often con-
founded. are, indeed, antagonistic prin-
ciples. Modification is remedy which
1t 10 sought to apply within the Union,
and against the agent of the States. It is
violated his constitutional obligations.
and State, assuming to judge for itself.
denies the right of the agent thus to
act, and appeals to the other States of
the Union for decision; but when the
States Themselves and when the people of
the States, have so acted as to convince
us that they will not regard our constitu-
tional rights, then, and then for the first
time, arises the doctrine Of secession in
its practical application. A great man
who now reposes with his fathers, and
who has often been arraigned for a want
OF fealty to the Union. advocated the doc
trine Of notification because it preserved
the Union. It was because of his deep
seated attachment to the Union-his de-
termination to find some remedy for ex-
listing ills short of a severance of the ties
which bound South Carolina to the other
States. that Mr.. Calhoun advocated the
doctrine Of notification. which he pro-
claimed to be within the limits of State
power. not to disturb the Union, but only
to be a means of bringing the agent be-
fore the tribunal of the States for their
judgment.
Secession belongs to different class of
remedies 1t is to be justified upon the
basis that the States are sovereign. There
was time when none denied it, [ hone
the time may come again, when a better
comprehension of the theory of our Gov
eminent, and the inalienabie rights of
the people of the States, will prevent any
one from denying that each State is a
sovereign, and thus may reclaim the
grants which it has made to any agent
whomsoeyer.
l, therefore. say I concur In the action
OF the people of Mississippi, believing
1t to be necessary and proper, and should
have been bound by theic action If my
belief had been otherwise; and this
brings me to the important point which
l wish, on this last occasion, to present
to the Senate. 1t is by this confounding of
nullffication and secession that the name
OF great man, whose ashes now min
gle with his mother earth, has been
evoked to Justify coercion against a Sc
ceded State. The phrase ito execute the
law was an expression which
General Jackson applied to the case of a
State refusing to obey the laws while yet a
member of the Union. That is not the
case which is now presented The laws
are to be executed over the United States.
and upon the people of the United States.
They have no relation to any foreign
country. 1t is a perversion of terms-at
least it is a great misapprehension Of
the case-which cites that expression for
application to a State which has with
drawn from the Union. You may make
war on foreign State. II 1t be the pur-
pose of gentlemen, they make war against
State which has withdrawn from the
Union; but there are no laws of the
United States to be executed within the
limits of a seeded State. A State, find
Ing herself in the condition In which Mis-
sissippi has judged she is-in which her
safety requires that she should provide
for the maintenance of her rights out
of the Union-surrenders all the benefits
land they are known to many, deprives
herself Of the advantages land they are
known to be great, sewers all the ties of
anection land they are close and endur-
lng), which have bound her to the Union;
and thus divesting herself of every ben
efit. taking upon herself every burden. she
claims to be exempt from any power to
execute the laws of the United States
within her limits.
will remember an occasion when Mas
sachusetts was arraigned before the bar
of the Senate, and when the doctrine of
coercion was rife, and to be applied
against her. because of the rescue of
fugitive slave in Boston. My opinion then
was the same that 1t is now. Not in a
spirit OF egotism. but to show that l
am not Influenced in my opinion because
the case is my own, refer to that time
and that occasion. as containing the |
opinion which L then entertained and
on which my present conduct is based |
then said that IL Massachusetts,. follow |
ing her through a stated line of conduct |
choose to take the last step which sep |
arates her from the Union. 1t is her |
right to go. and 1 will neither vote one |