A Tribute to Jefferson Davis page 4

A Tribute to Jefferson Davis

The theory of the right of a State to secede had almost universally been accepted up to the year 1861. Even at that time the New York Tribune says: "If the cotton States wish to withdraw from the Union, they should be allowed to do so," and that Any attempt to compel them to remain by force would be contrary to the principles of the Declaration of Independence and to the fundamental ideas upon which human liberty is based. If the Declaration of Independence justified the secession from the British Empire of three million subjects in 1776, it was not seen why it should not justify the secession of five million Southerners from the Union in 1861." Again: Sooner than compromise with the South and abandon the Chicago platform" they would "let the Union slide." Now on the other side, Mr. Davis has been accused by some writers of having been anxious to dismember the Union. Although he always believed in the right of secession, he considered it an extreme measure, one to be resorted to only where all else had failed.

We have seen how he struggled for a compromise, and so modest were his views that in the conference in which the Governor, the Legislature of Mississippi, her Senators and Representatives in Congress took part. Mr. Davis stood alone in opposing any separate State action. At that time people thought him "too slow," if not really opposed to secession altogether.

He, on his part, did not think the issue should be precipitated as long as there was any chance for a peaceable settlement of the question. The majority of this State Convention, however, opposed him, and he then said he would abide by whatever action the Convention representing the sovereignty of the State of Mississippi might think proper to take. In a letter to Franklin Pierce, January 20,1861, Mr. Davis says: "Civil war has only horror for me, but whatever circumstances may demand shall be met as a duty and I trust be so discharged that you will not be ashamed of our former connection or cease to be my friend."

In his "Farewell to the Senate," he said, in speaking of the secession of Mississippi: “I do think she has justifiable cause and I approve of her act." Also he remarks: "Nullification and secession, so often confounded, are indeed antagonistic principles. Mr. Calhoun advocated nullification because it preserved the Union. Secession belongs to a different class of remedies and is justified upon the basis that the States are sovereign. You may make war on a foreign State, but there are no laws of the United States to be executed within the limits of a seceded State." He closes his address by saying: "I am sure I feel no hostility toward you, Senators from the North, and I hope for peaceable relations with you though we must part."

On January 24th, after delivering his "Farewell," Mr. Davis returned to Mississippi as Major General and Commander-in-chief of the volunteer forces of that State, and while organizing these forces the Provisional Congress at Montgomery unanimously elected him President of the Confederate States. He had expressed himself as preferring to serve in the army, but he at once sacrificed his own personal preference and took the helm of State. He was inaugurated at Montgomery on February 18, 1861. In his inaugural address he said: "You will see many errors to forgive, many deficiencies to tolerate, but you shall not find in me either a want of zeal or fidelity to the cause that is to me highest in hope and of most enduring affection."

After his inauguration he proceeded at once to form his Cabinet. This, he said, was an easy matter for him, as he was bound only by a consideration for the public welfare, having no political rivalries to satisfy. The result was that no member of his Cabinet bore any close personal relationship to him, and, in fact, two of them he had never known previous to this official connection.

No one not intimately acquainted with the history of the several executive departments of the Confederate Government can ever appreciate the Herculean task that these men had undertaken. It was certainly a case of making bricks without straw.

The magnitude of the undertaking was unprecedented in history, and the spirit and ability with which its directors entered upon their duty is nothing short of marvelous. In the organization of the army, too, there were many obstacles to be overcome.

The Southern people are characteristically an individual people. It was a hard lesson to teach them that a disciplined army must not be made of men who had surrendered their freedom of will. Then again our soldiers were citizens, and as such exerted a powerful political influence by their communication with their respective homes.

At the beginning of hostilities arms were the greatest need felt. Men volunteered in large numbers, but the Government could not properly equip them for service, and finally there were State rivalries and jealousies to be propitiated in the organizations of brigades and the assignment of officers.

When we consider these difficulties, together with the wonderful energy and ingenuity displayed in the construction of powder mills, the building of arsenals and the boring and changing of guns, we stand back abashed at the temerity of these men. Each one grows more heroic, and we begin to understand how deep and strong must have been their love for constitutional liberty when they dared grapple with such difficulties for its sake. This building up of a nation in a day reads like a fairy tale, and we realize with justifiable pride that this fair South of ours held in her midst sons who would have been a glory to any nation and any time. Thrice happy are we, Daughters of the Confederacy, in being able to claim them for our own.

And the leader of all these vast enterprises, the man to whom they all turned for guidance and support, never once shirked the responsibility that fell to him. Weighed down by care, distressed by adverse criticism and dissatisfaction at home, he still adhered to the guiding principle of his life and duty always found him responding to her call.

In November, 1861, Mr. Davis was elected President of the permanent Government of the Confederate States, and was inaugurated at Richmond, Va., February 22, 1862. His Cabinet was the same under the permanent Government as under the provisional.