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remedy and safety is that we shall stand by | the Constitution as our fathers made it, obey the laws as they are passed, while they stand the proper test and sustain the decisions of the Supreme Court and the constituted authorities.

Speech of Hon. Jefferson Davis, Senator from Mississippi,

On retiring from the United States Senate. Delivered in

the Senate Chamber January 21, 1861.

themselves and when the people of the States have so acted as to convince us that they will not regard our constitutional rights, then, and then for the first time, arises the doctrine of secession in its practical application.

Secession belongs to a different class of remedies. It is to be justified upon the basis that the States are sovereign. There was a time when none denied it. I hope the time may come again when a better comprehension of the theory of our government and the inalienable 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 whomsoever.

A great man who now reposes with his fathers and who has been often arraigned for a want of fealty to the Union advocated the doctrine of Nullification because it preserved the Union. It was because of his deep-seated attachment to the Union, his determination to find some remedy for existI rise, Mr. President, for the purpose of ing ills short of the severance of the ties announcing to the Senate that I have satis- which bound South Carolina to the other factory evidence that the State of Missis-States, that Mr. Calhoun advocated the sippi, by a solemn ordinance of her people doctrine of nullification, which he proin convention assembled, has declared her claimed to be peaceful, to be within the separation from the United States. Under limits of State power, not to disturb the these circumstances, of course my func- Union, but only to be a means of bringing tions are terminated here. It has seemed the agent before the tribunal of the States to me proper, however, that I should appear for their judgment. 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 go into argument; and my physical condition would not permit me to do so if it were otherwise, and yet it seems to become me to say something on the part of the State I here represent, on an occasion so solemn as this. It is known to Senators who have served 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, if I had not believed there was justifiable cause; if I had thought that Mississippi was acting without sufficient provocation, or without an existing necessity, I should still, under my theory of the government, because of my allegiance to the State of which I am a citizen, have been bound by her action. I, however, may be permitted to say that I do think she has justifiable cause and I approve of her act. I conferred with her people before that act was taken, counseled them then that if the state of things which they apprehended should exist when the convention met, they should take the action which they have now adopted.

The

I therefore say I concur in the action of the people of Mississippi, believing it to be necessary and proper, and should have been bound by their action if my belief had been otherwise; and this brings me at the important point which I wish, on this last occasion, to present to the Senate. It is by this confounding of nullification and secession that the name of a great man whose ashes now mingle with his mother earth, has been invoked to justify coercion against a seceding state. phrase "to execute the laws" 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 UniI hope none who hear me will confound ted States, and upon the people of the Unithis expression of mine with the advocacy ted States. They have no relation with of the right of a State to remain in the any foreign country. It is a perversion of Union and to disregard its constitutional terms, at least it is a great misapprehension obligations by the nullification of the law. of the case, which cites that expression for Such is not my theory. Nullification and application to a State which has withdrawn secession so often confounded are indeed from the Union. You may make war on antagonistic principles. Nullification is a a foreign State. If it be the purpose of remedy which it is sought to apply within gentlemen they may make war against a the Union and against the agents of the State which has withdrawn from the States. It is only to be justified when the Union; but there are no laws of the Uniagent has violated his constitutional obli- ted States to be executed within the limits gation, and a State, assuming to judge for of a Seceded State. A State finding heritself denies the right of the agent thus to self in the condition in which Mississippi act and appeals to the other States of the has judged she is; in which her safety reUnion for a decision; but when the States | quires that she should provide for the

maintenance of her rights out of the Union, | deavored to do just what the North has surrenders all the benefits, (and they are known to be many) deprives herself of the advantages, (they are known to be great) severs all the ties of affection (and they are close and enduring) which have bound her to the Union; and thus divesting herself of every benefit, taking upon herself every burden, she claims to be exempt from any power to execute the laws of the United States within her limits.

been endeavoring of late to do-to stir up insurrection among our slaves? Had the Declaration announced that the negroes were free and equal how was it the Prince was to be arraigned for stirring up insurrection among them? And how was this to be enumerated among the high crimes which caused the colonies to sever their connection with the mother country? When our constitution was formed, the same idea was rendered more palpable, for there we find provision made for that very class of persons as property; they were not put upon the footing of equality with white men-not even upon that of paupers and convicts, but so far as representation was concerned, were discriminated against as a lower caste only to be represented in a numerical proportion of three-fifths.

Then, Senators, we recur to the compact which binds us together; we recur to the principles upon which our government was founded; and when you deny them, and when you deny to us, the right to withdraw from a government which thus prevented, threatens to be destructive of our rights, we but tread in the path of our fathers when we proclaim our independence, and take the hazard. This is done not in hostility to others, not to injure any section of the country, not even for our own pecuniary benefit, but from the high and solemn motive of defending and protecting the rights we inherited, and which it is our sacred duty to transmit unshorn to our children.

I well remember an occasion when Massachusetts was arraigned before the Bar of the Senate, and when then the doctrine of coercion was rife, and to be applied against her because of the rescue of a fugitive slave in Boston. My opinion then was the same as it is now. Not in the spirit of egotism, but to show that I am not influenced in my opinion because the case is my own, I refer to that time and that occasion as containing the opinion which I then entertained and on which my present conduct is based. I then said, if Massachusetts, following her through a stated line of conduct, chooses to take the last step which separates her from the Union, it is her right to go, and I will neither vote one dollar nor one man to coerce her back; but will say to her, "God speed," in memory of the kind associations which once existed between her and the other States. It has been a conviction of pressing necessity, it has been a belief that we are to be deprived in the Union, of the rights which our fathers bequeathed to us, which has brought Mississippi into her present decision. She has heard proclaimed the theory that all men are created free and equal, and this made the basis of an attack on her social institutions; and the sacred Declaration of Independence has been invoked to maintain the position of the equality of the races. That Declaration of Independence is to be construed by the circumstances and purposes for which it was made. The communities were declaring their independence; the people of those communities were asserting that no man was born-to use the language of Mr. Jefferson-booted and spurred to ride over the rest of mankind; that men were created equal-meaning the men of the political community; that there was no divine right to rule; that no man inherited the right to govern; that there were no classes by which power and place descended to families, but that all stations were equally within the grasp of each member of the body politic. These were the great principles they announced; these were the purposes for which they made their declaration; these were the ends to which their In the course of my service here, assoenunciation was directed. They have no ciated at different times with a great variety reference to the slave; else, how happened of Senators, I see now around me some it that among the items of arraignment with whom I have served long; there have made against George III. was that he en-been points of collision, but whatever of

I find in myself, perhaps, a type of the general feeling of my constituents towards yours. I am sure I feel no hostility to you, Senators from the North. I am sure there is not one of you, whatever sharp discussion there may have been between us, to whom I cannot now say, in the presence of my God, "I wish you well," and such, I am sure, is the feeling of the people whom I represent towards those whom you represent. I therefore feel that I but express their desire when I say I hope, and they hope for peaceful relations with you, though we must part. They may be mutually beneficial to us in the future as they have been in the past, if you so will it. The reverse may bring disaster on every portion of the country; and if you will have it thus, we will invoke the God of our fathers, who delivered them from the power of the lion, to protect us from the ravages of the bear, and thus, putting our trust in God, and to our firm hearts and strong arms we will vindicate the right as best we may.

offense there has been to me I leave here; I carry with me no hostile remembrance. Whatever offense I have given which has not been redressed, or for which satisfaction has not been demanded, I have, Senators, in this hour of our parting, to offer you an apology for any harm which, in the heat of discussion, I have inflicted. I go hence unencumbered of any injury received, and having discharged the duty of making the only reparation in my power for any injury offered.

Mr. President and Senators, having made the announcement which the occasion seemed to me to require, it only remains for me to bid you a final adieu.

Speech of the Hon. Henry Wilson of Massa

chusetts

other test-trusting in God, trusting in the people-willing to stand or fall by our principles. Through four years of blood we maintained those principles; we broke down the rebellion, restored a broken Union, and vindicated the authority and power of the nation. In that struggle Indiana played a glorious part in the field, and her voice in the councils of the nation had great and deserved influence. [Cheers.]

Now, gentlemen, measured by the high standard of fidelity to country, of patriotism, the great political party to which we belong to-day was as true to the country in war as it had been in peace-true to the country every time, and on all occasions.

Not only true to the country, but the Republican party was true to liberty. It struck the fetters from the bondman, and elevated four and a half millions of men from chattelhood to manhood; gave them

In the canvass against Horace Greeley at Richmond, Ind., civil rights, gave them political rights, and

August 3, 1872.

AN ABSTRACT.. Gentlemen, standing here to-day, in this presence, among these liberty-loving, patriotic men and women of Wayne county, I want to call your attention for a few moments to what we have struggled for in the past.

Nearly forty years ago, when the slave power dominated the country-when the dark shadow of human slavery fell upon us all here in the North-there arose a body of conscientious men and women who proclaimed the doctrine that emancipation was the duty of the master and the right of the slave; they proclaimed it to be a duty to let the oppressed go free. Rewards were offered-they were denounced, mobbed-violence pervaded the land. Yet these faithful ones maintained with fidelity, against all odds, the sublime creed of human liberty. The struggle, commencing forty years ago against the assumptions and dominations of the slave-power, went on from one step to another-the slave power went right on to the conquest of the country-promises were broken, without regard to constitutions or laws of the human race. The work went on till the people, in their majesty, in 1860, went to the ballot-box and made Abraham Lincoln President of the United States. [Cheers.] Then came a great trial; that trial was whether we should do battle for the principles of eternal right, and maintain the cause of liberty, or surrender; whether we would be true to our principles or false. We stood firm-stood by the sacred cause-and then the slave power plunged the country into a godless rebellion.

Then came another trial, testing the manhood, the courage, the sublime fidelity of the lovers of liberty in the country. We met that test as we had met every

gave them part and parcel of the power of the country. [Applause.]

Now, gentlemen, here to-day, I point to this record-this great record-and say to you, that, measured by the standard of patriotism-one of the greatest and grandest standards by which to measure public men, political organizations or nations-measured by that standard which the whole world recognizes, the Republican party of the United States stands before the world with none to accuse it of want of fidelity to country. [Cheers.] Measured by the standard of liberty, equal, universal, impartial liberty-liberty to all races, all colors and all nationalities-the Republican party stands to-day before the country pre-eminently the party of universal liberty. [Loud cheers.] Measured by the standard of humanity-that humanity that stoops down and lifts up the poor and lowly, the oppressed and the castaways, the poor, struggling sons and daughters of toil and misfortune-measured by that standard, the Republican party stands before this country to-day without a peer in our history, or in the history of any other people. [Renewed and general applause.] We have gone further, embraced more, lifted up lowlier men, carried them to a higher elevation, labored amid obloquy and reproach to lift up the despised and lowly nations of the earth than any political organization that the sun ever shone upon.

And then, gentlemen, tested by the support of all the great ideas that tend to lift up humanity, to pull none down, to lift all up, to carry the country upward and forward, ever toward God, the Republican party of the country has been, and now is, to-day, in advance of any political organization the world knows.

Gentlemen, I am not here to maintain

that this great party, with its three and a half millions of voters, tested and tried as it has been during twelve years-I am not here to say that it has made no mistakes. We have committed errors; we could not always see what the right was; we failed sometimes; but, gentlemen, take our record—take it as it stands-it is a bright and glorious record, that any man, or set of men, may be proud of. We have stood, and we stand to-day, on the side of man, and on the side of the ideas God has given us in His Holy Word. [Applause.] There has not been a day since by the labors, the prayers and the sacrifices of the old anti-slavery men and women of the country, from 1830 to 1855-during twenty-five years-I say to you, gentlemen, here, today, that this party, the product of these prayers, and these sacrifices, and these efforts with all its faults-has been true to patriotism, true to liberty, true to justice, true to humanity, true to Christian civilization. [Cheers.]

I say to you here to-day, that all along during this time, the Democratic party carried the banners of slavery. Whenever the slave power desired anything they got it. They wielded the entire power of the nation, until, in their arrogance, when we elected Abraham Lincoln, they plunged the country into the fire and blood of the greatest civil war recorded in history. After the war all the measures inaugurated for emancipation-to make the country free-to lift an emancipated race up-to give them instruction and make them citizens-to give them civil rights and make them voters-to put them on an equality with the rest of the people-to every one of that series of thirty or forty measures the Democratic party gave their President unqualified and united opposition. Well, now, we have been accustomed to say that they were mistaken, misinformed, that they were honest that they believed what they did; but, gentlemen, if they have believed what they have said, that they have acted according to their convictions from 1832 to 1872-a period of forty years-can they be honest, to-day, in indorsing the Cincinnati platform-in supporting Horace Greeley? ["No, no!"]

Why, we have read of sudden and miraculous conversions. We read of St. Paul's conversion, of the light that shone around him, but I ask you, in the history of the human family have you ever known three millions of men-three millions of great sinners for forty years-[laughter]-three millions of men, all convicted, all converted, and all changed in the twinkling of an eye. [Renewed laughter.] Why, gentlemen, if it is so, for one I will lift up my eyes and my heart to God, that those sinners, that this great political party that has been for forty years, every time and all

the time, on every question and on all questions pertaining to the human race and the rights of the colored race, on the wrong side on the side of injustice, oppression and inhumanity on the side that has been against man, and against God's holy word; I say, gentlemen, that I will lift up my heart in gratitude to God that these men have suddenly repented.

Why, I have been accustomed to think that the greatest victory the Republican party would ever be called upon to winand I knew it would win it, because the Republican party, as Napoleon said of his armies, are accustomed to sleep on the field of victory. The Republican partythat always won-always ought to win, because it is on the right side; and when it is defeated, it only falls back to gather strength to advance again. [Applause.] I did suppose that the greatest task it would ever have, greater than putting down the rebellion, greater than emancipating four millions of men, greater than lifting them up to civil rights-greater than all its grand deeds would be the conviction and conversion of the Democratic party of the United States. [Laughter and cheers.] Just as we are going into a Presidential election-when it was certain that if the Republican party said and affirmed, said by its members, said altogether, that its ideas, its principles, its policy, its measures, were stronger than were the political organization of the Democrats. I say, just as we are going into the contest, when it was certain that we would break down and crush out its ideas, and take its flags and disband it, and out of the wreck we would gather hundreds of thousands of changed and converted men, the best part of the body-just at that time some of our men are so anxious to embrace somebody that has always been wrong that they start out at once in a wild hunt to clasp hands with our enemies and to save the Democratic party from absolute annihilation. [Laughter. To do what they want us is to disband. Well, gentlemen, I suppose there are some here to-day that belonged to the grand old Army of the Potomac. If when Lee had retreated on Richmond, and Phil. Sheridan sent back to Grant that if he pushed things he would capture the army-if, instead of sending back to Sheridan, as Grant did, "Push things," he had said to him, "Let us disband the Army of the Potomac; don't hurt the feelings of these retreating men; let us clasp hands with them," what would have been the result? I suppose there are some of you here to-day that followed Sherman-that were with him in his terrible march from Chattanooga to Atlanta-with him in that great march from Atlanta to the sea-what would you have thought of him if, when you came in sight of the Atlantic ocean,

you had had orders to disband before the banners of the rebellion had disappeared from the Southern heavens?

I tell you, to-day, this movement of a portion of our forces is this and nothing more. I would as soon have disbanded that Army of the Potomac after Sheridan's ride through the valley of the Shenandoah, or when Sherman had reached the sea, as to disband the Republican party to-day. The time has not come. [Loud and continued applause.]

Speech of Senator Oliver P. Morton, of
Indiana,

On the National Idea, at Providence, R. I.

The distinguished orator was introduced by Senator Anthony, and made an extended speech, from which we take the more pertinent paragraphs:

From this proposition two corollaries have been adduced from time to time, and I must say with great force of logic. The first is that this Union is composed of sovereign and independent States who have I am not making a mere partisan appeal simply entered into a compact for particuto you. I believe in this Republican party, lar purposes, and the government is mereand, if I know myself, rather than see it ly their agent; that any State has the right defeated to-day-rather than see the gov- to withdraw from the Union at pleasure, ernment pass out of its hands-I would or whenever in its judgment the terms of sacrifice anything on earth in my posses- the compact have been violated, or the insion, even life itself. [Loud applause] Iterests of the State require its withdrawal. have seen brave and good men-patriotic, liberty-loving, God-fearing men-I have seen them die for the cause of the country for the ideas we profess, and I tell you to-day, with all the faults of the Republican party-and it has had faults and has made some mistakes-I say to you that I believe upon my conscience its defeat would be a disaster to the country, and would be a stain upon our record. It would bring upon us-we might say what we pleased, our enemies would claim it, and the world would record it-that this great, patriotic, liberty-loving Republican party of the United States, after all its great labors and great history, had been weighed in the balances and found wanting, and condemned by the American people.

The second is that each State has the right to nullify any law of Congress which, in the judgment of the State, is in violation of the compact by which the government was formed. This doctrine has been the evil genius of the country from the foundation of our government. It may be said to be the devil in our political system. It has been our danger from the first. It is the rock in the straits, and we fear that the end is not yet. Now what can we oppose to this doctrine? We oppose what we call "the national idea." We assume that this government was formed by the governments of the United States in their aggregate and in their primary capacity. We assume that, instead of there being thirty-seven nations, there is but one; instead of there being thirty-seven soverWell, gentlemen, I choose, if it is to fall, eignties, there is but one sovereignty. We to fall with it. I became an anti-slavery assume that the States are not sovereign, man in 1835. In 1836 I tied myself, but that they are integral and subordinate pledged myself, to do all I could to over-parts of one great country. I may be asked throw the slave power of my country. the question here, "Are there no State During all these years I have never given rights? Would you override the States? a vote, uttered a word, or written a line Would you obliterate State lines?" I anthat I did not suppose tended to this result. swer, "No." I answer that this doctrine I invoke you old anti-slavery men here to- is the only doctrine that can preserve the day and I know I am speaking to men peace of this nation and preserve the rights who have been engaged in the cause-I of the States. I answer that there is a vast implore you men who have been true in body of State rights guaranteed and sethe past, no matter what the men or their cured by the Constitution of the United natures are, to stand with the grand organi-States, by the same Constitution that zation of the Republican party-be true to created and upholds the government of the its cause and fight its battles-if we are United States; that these State rights have defeated, let us accept the defeat as best the same guarantee that the rights of the we may; if we are victorious, let us make National Government have, equally enour future more glorious than the past. If titled to the protection of the Supreme we fail, let us have the proud consciousness Court, springing out of the same instruthat we have been faithful to our princi-ment, and that one set of rights are just as ples, true to our convictions; that we go down with our flag flying-that we go down trusting in God that our country may become, what we have striven to make it, the foremost nation on the globe. [Immense applause.]

sacred as the other. Some confound the idea of State sovereignty and State rights as being one and the same thing. Others seem to suppose that State rights are only consistent with State sovereignty, and cannot exist except upon the theory of State Sovereignty; while I assume that State rights are consistent with National sover

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