and secession. Nullification
was a remedy inside of the Union; secession a remedy outside. He
expressed himself as against the theory of nullification, and
explained that, so far from being identified with secession, the
two are antagonistic principles. Mr. Calhoun's mistake, according
to Mr. Davis, was in trying to "nullify" the laws of the Union
while continuing a member of it. He intimated that President
Jackson would never have attempted to "execute the laws" in South
Carolina as he did against the nullifiers in 1832, if the State
had seceded, and that therefore his great example could not be
quoted in favor of "coercion." It is not believed that Mr. Davis
had the slightest authority for this aspersion upon the memory of
Jackson. It seems rather to have been a disingenuous and unwarranted
statement of the kind so plentifully used at the time for the
purpose of "firing the Southern heart."

There had been an impression in the country that Mr. Davis was
among the most reluctant of those who engaged in the secession
movement; but in his speech he declared that he had conferred with
the people of Mississippi before the step was taken, and counseled
them to the course which they had adopted. This declaration was
a great surprise to Northern Democrats, among whom Mr. Davis had
many friends. For several years he had been growing in favor with
a powerful element in the Democracy of the free States, and, but
for the exasperating quarrel of 1860, he might have been selected
as the Presidential candidate of his party. No man gave up more
than Mr. Davis in joining the revolt against the Union. In his
farewell words to the Senate, there was a tone of moderation and
dignity not unmixed with regretful and tender emotions. There was
also apparent a spirit of confidence and defiance. He evidently
had full faith that he was going forth to victory and to power.

Mr. Toombs of Georgia did not take formal leave, but on the 7th of
January delivered a speech which, though addressed to the Senate
of the United States, was apparently intended to influence public
sentiment in Georgia, where there was an uncomfortable halting in
the progress of secession. The speech had special interest, not
alone from Mr. Toombs's well-known ability, but because it was the
only presentation of the conditions on which the scheme of Disunion
might be arrested, and the Cotton States held fast in their loyalty
to the government,--conditions whic