From the inception of this controversy until its close Mr. Davis was fully committed to the policy of Mr. Buchanan, and his position was in perfect harmony with that of all the leading statesmen of the South. Less prominent, perhaps, in debate, from his constant ill-health during the first session, than at any other period of his public life, he was still zealous and influential.
An interesting incident of the session was a discussion between Mr. Davis and Mr. Fessenden, of Maine, a Senator second only to Mr. Seward among Abolition leaders, in point of intellect, and behind none in his truculent animosity to Southern institutions. Reviewing the message of Mr. Buchanan with great severity, Fessenden took occasion to discuss elaborately the slavery question, with all its incidental issues. Mr. Davis replied, not at great length, but with much force and spirit. The discussion terminated with the following colloquy, which is interesting chiefly in its personal allusions:
“Mr. Fessenden. ... Sir, I have avowed no disunion sentiments on this floor—neither here nor elsewhere. Can the honorable gentleman from Mississippi say as much?
“Mr. Davis. Yes.
“Mr. Fessenden. I am glad to hear it, then.
“Mr. Davis. Yes. I have long sought for a respectable man who would allege the contrary.
“Mr. Fessenden. I make no allegation. I asked if he could say as much. I am glad to hear him say so, because I must say to him that the newspapers have represented him as making a speech in Mississippi, in which he said he came into General Pierce’s cabinet a disunion man. If he never made it, very well.
“Mr. Davis. I will thank you to produce that newspaper.
“Mr. Fessenden. I can not produce it, but I can produce an extract from it in another paper.
“Mr. Davis. An extract! then that falsifies the text.