Page:The World's Famous Orations Volume 9.djvu/213

 JEFFERSON DAVIS ON WITHDRAWING FROM THE UNION ^ (1361) Born in 1808, died in 1889; graduated from West Point !n ISSflt elected to Congress in 1845; served in the Mexican War in 1845-47; elected United States Senator in 1847; Secretary of War in 185.3; United States Senator again in 1857; resigned as Senator in 1861; President of the Confederacy in 1861-65; arrested in May, 1865, and imprisoned until 1867; amnestied in 1868. I RISE, Mr. President, for the purpose of announcing to the Senate that I have satisfac- tory evidence that the State of Mississippi, by a solemn ordinance of her people in convention assembled, has declared her separation from the United States. Under these circumstances, of course my functions are terminated here. It has seemed to me proper, however, that I should appear 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 other- wise; and yet it seems to become me to say something on the part of the State I here repre- sent, on an occasion so solemn as this. It is known to senators who have served with » Delivered In the United States Senate to a crowded audience oa January 21, 1861. 203