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[177] spoken of by the Georgia journalist. It was also presented by Mr. Davis to the Committee of Thirty-three, with the expectation, no doubt, that it would frighten the Northern men into acquiescence with the demands of those of the South. It failed to do so; and on the 22d,
December, 1860.
Toombs, who had lately arrived in Washington, telegraphed an address to the people of Georgia, half true and half untrue, in which he said:--“I came here to secure your constitutional rights, or to demonstrate to you that you can get no guaranties for these rights from your Northern confederates.” He then informed them that the Republicans in the Senate Committee of Thirteen were, to a man, against making any concessions to the South. “That Committee is controlled,” he said, “by Black Republicans — your enemies — who only seek to amuse you with delusive hopes until your election, in order that you may defeat the friends of secession. . . . I now tell you, upon the faith of a true man, that all further looking to the North, for security for your constitutional rights in the Union, ought to be instantly abandoned. It is fraught with nothing but ruin to yourselves and your posterity. Secession by the 4th of March next, should be thundered from the ballot-box by the unanimous voice of Georgia on the 2d day of January next. Such a voice will be your best guaranty for Liberty, security, Tranquillity, and glory.”

This dispatch produced, as it was intended to, a profound sensation in Georgia. “It has unsettled conservatives here,” telegraphed

December 26.
a number of citizens of Atlanta,1 to Messrs. Douglas and Crittenden. “Is there any hope for Southern rights in the Union?” they inquired. “We are for the Union of our fathers,” they said, “if Southern rights can be preserved in it. If not, we are for secession. Can we yet hope the Union will be preserved on this principle? You are looked to in this emergency. Give us your views by dispatch.”

“ We have hopes,” said Douglas and Crittenden, in reply,

December 29.
“that the rights of the South, and of every State and section, may be protected within the Union. Don't give up the ship. Don't despair of the Union.”

To counteract this assurance, Toombs and others sent numerous “sensation dispatches” to Georgia. On the first of January,

1861.
the day before the election was to be held, Toombs telegraphed to an Augusta journal,2 saying:--“The Cabinet is broken up; Mr. Floyd, Secretary of War, and Mr. Thompson, Secretary of the Interior, having resigned.3 A coercive policy has been adopted by the Administration. Mr. Holt, of Kentucky, our bitter foe, has been made Secretary of War. Fort Pulaski

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