The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1903-09-16
Jefferson Davis Last Political
Speech.

In A Quiet Observers Column in
the Pittsburg Gazette is reprinted the
following item from somebody's scrap
book. It originally appeared in The
Chronicle and will be read with in
terst.
It was in 1885," said Mississippi
congressman to Henry Venable of the
Augusta (Ga.l Chronicle, that the
congressional convention Of the Sew
enth district met in Mississippi City
and nominated. Thomas R. Stockdale.
Some i'll feeling had been engender-
ed. and we thought the best thing to
do would be to invite Mr.. Davis, who
was visiting in town, to address the
convention.
1t was scene never to be forgotten.
The tall, quaint form, clad in black
broad cloth, as erect as a soldier on
parade, proceeded down the hall to
the rostrum, pausing to exchange
greetings with some personal friends.
Silence pervades the hall. Mr.. Davis
turns, as he does so long red ray Of
the setting sun falls athwart him,
and rests about head silver white,
but now tinged with the crimson glow
of the dying sun. It was suggestive ;
the sun soon to fade into the black
ness of night; the incarnation OF the
Confederacy soon to pass away from
earth forever. As this thought flashed
through my mind I was startled by a
sound of the eloquentlv resonant voice
that had rendered Mr.. Davis famous,
but through which now ran a note
of mournful pathos. As nearly as l
can recall it, he said:
"Mr. Chairman and Fellow Citizens :
Ab, pardon me, the laws Of the Unit
ed States no longer permit me to de-
sienate you as fellow citizens, but am
thankful that I may address you as my
friends. feel no regret that stand
before you this afternoon, man with
out country, for my ambition lies
buried in the grave of the Confederacy.
Aye, the grave of the Confederacy
here has been consigned not only my
ambition, but the dogmas upon which
that government was based. The faces
I see before me are those of young
men; had I not known this | would
not have appeared before you. Men
in whose hands the destinies Of our
Southland lie, for love Of her, l break
nv silence, to speak to you a few
words of respectful admonition. The
past is dead, let it bury its dead, its
hopes and it's aspirations; before you
lies the future. A future full Of golden
promise future full Of recompeDse
for honorable endeavor; future Of ex-
panding national glory, before which
all the world shall stand amazed. Let
me beseech you to lay aside all rancor,
all bitter sectional feeling, and to take
YOUR places in the ranks OF those who
will bring about a consummation
devoutly to be wished-a reunited
country
"Mr. Davis continued in this strain
for half an hour or more. Every word
he uttered admonished the burial Of
sectional feeling, and loyalty to the
union. His speech was fitting con-
clusion to the proceedings OF that con
vention, for Col. Stockdale, the
nominee, was native of Pennsylvania.
sThis, - continued the gentleman,
was the last public utterance of Mr..
Davis. In December of the next year
he died. The speech impressed itself
on the minds of the members Of that
convention, all of whom will attest
the truth of my statement. Its effect
was to temper the feelings Of those
who heard it toward the North, and 1T
was to that extent one of the elements
that has produced the conditions OF
today.