The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1910-07-05

final adjustment Of the issues tina
had agitated tie nauon for more than
a half century. and believing that the
election Of Mr.. Lincoln would en-
boIdeD his party TO greater agSressions
upon the constitutional rights OF the
Southern states, he at length. with
many a heartarhe. yielded To the inc
Vltable and joined his people in the es-
ADJUSTMENT Of q separate civil govern
ment.
on January 20. in a letter to his spe-
cial friend. ex-President Franklin
Pierce. he nus expressed the grief OF
his patriotic heart,
-! have often, and sadly, turned my
times through which we have been pass
ING, and now | come To the hard task of
h anne rb; to you that the hour is 1t
the United States. for The independence
ana union of which my father bled, and
TO emulate the example he set for my
guidance"
AS Mr.. Blane justly said of l. G.. c.
Lamar, so Will history say Of Jefferson
Davis:
stood firmly by his State in ac-
cordance with the political creed in which
he was reared but looked back with
tender regret to the Union whose destiny
he had wished to share. and under the pro-
lection Of whose broader nationality he
had hoped to live and die"
And so consistent was his entire
Nbii q 7 anu 50 OOIlSDi(uoOS Tx
unstained purity of his motives. that
when nearing the close of his ~eventful
life he could challenge the world and
triumphantly say:
evidence that I did all in my power to
prevent the war; that / did not nothing
to prseipitate conisSien; that | did not
vised my friends that l preferred not
to fill it
Long after Yancey and Rhett and
Toombs and others had thrown hest
fancy to the winds. Mr.. Davis still
wrought with all his great ability and
Influence to preserve the Union. He
favored and earnestly advocated the
'Crittenden resolutions," on condition
that the Republican members of the
peace commission would accept them.
Had they not s~tubbornly refused,-and
they did it on the advice of Mr.. Lin
coln,-war would have been averted
and the dissolution of the Union pre-
vented, or postponed. All the un-
doubted facts go to prove that Jeffcr-
son Davis, at the peril of sacrificing
the confid ence of his people, exhaust
ed all consistent with sa-
cred honor and the rights Of the States
to stay the fatal ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF
the Union.
Jefferson Davis's farwell to the
United States Senate. in which he had
so long lowered as a commanding fig
ure, and where he had rendered hts
country such distinguished service,
was one Of the most dramatic and me-
mOrable scenes in the life Of that his
toric Der. Mississippi, by solemn
ordinance, and in the exercise Of her
sovereign right, had severed her rela-
ton with the Union, and he. as her
representative. must make official an
l.ouncement Of the fact, surrender his
high commission, and return home to
await the further orders Of his devoted
people. 1t was a supreme mo-
ment, a Hateful hour in our
country's history. The hush of
death fell upon the chamber
when jefferson Davis arose. The
trusted leader and authoritative voice
of the South was about to speak, and
an anxious nation was eager to hear.
Every Senator was in his seat, mem
bers Of the House stood In every avail
able place, and the galleries were
thronged with those whose faces ex-
pressed the alternating hopes and
fears Of their patriotic hearts. The
fate of the nation seemed to hang
upon that awful hour.
Pale, sad of countenance, weak IN
body from patriotic grief and loss Of
Sleep, evidently under the strain of
sacred and Suppressed emotion, and
yet with the calmness Of fixed deter
| mination and settled conviction, the
majestic Senator Of Mississippi stood,
hesitatant for q moment, in painful
silence. The natural melancholy in
his face had :, deeper tinge, as if the
shadow OF his country's sorrow had
been cast Upon it" His good wife.
who essed the fatal scene, and
felt the oppressive burden that almost
crushed the brave heart Of her great
husband. said that had he been bend
ing over his bleeding father, needless
ly slain by his countrynen, he could
not have been more inconsOlable."
A fivSt thara yEac q Ctiont trny,nr in
his speech, but as he proceeded his
voice It's full flute-like tones.
and rang through the chamber with
it's old-tinle clearness and confident
strength. But there was in it no note
Of defiance, and he spoke no word Of
bitterness or ~reproach. He was listen
ed to III profound silence. Hearts were
TOO sad FOR words and hands too heavy