Benson J. Lossing, Pictorial Field Book of the Civil War. Volume 1.

[108] the instrument to the people, read it, and then said, “The Ordinance of Secession has been signed and ratified, and I proclaim the State of South Carolina an Independent Commonwealth.” He then handed it to the Secretary of State, to be placed for preservation in the archives of South Carolina, at Columbia. A great shout of exultation went up from the multitude, and at a little after nine o'clock the Convention adjourned until the next day. The audience then despoiled the two Palmetto-trees at the platform of their foliage, every leaf of which was borne away as a memorial of the occasion.

The question immediately arose in the Convention, after the passage of the Ordinance of Secession, “How does this affect the public officers in this State?” It was an important question. There was no precedent on record. All felt that the question must be immediately answered, or there would be chaos. An ordinance was offered which provided for the continuance in office, and the discharge of the duties of their respective stations, of collectors of customs, postmasters, and other officers of the United States Government within the limits of South Carolina, as agents of that State alone, until the Legislature, or other competent body, should provide otherwise. This elicited debate. Judge Magrath wished immediate action, for, to his understanding, there was then no collector of a port or a postmaster in all South Carolina. The authority of every officer in that State, appointed by the National Government, was extinguished by the Ordinance of Secession; and he was for making provisional arrangements for carrying on government in the lone Commonwealth.

Mr. Gregg believed that, with the passage of the Ordinance of Secession, all the laws of Congress, in South Carolina, fell to the ground instantly. “There is now,” he said, “no law on the subject of the collection of duties in South Carolina, now that we have accomplished the work of forty years.” --“The Congress of the United States is no longer our Government,” said Mr. Hayne. “The Legislature,” he contended, was competent to declare “what laws of the United States should be continued, and what not.” --“All the revenue and postal laws,” repeated Mr. Gregg, “fell to the ground on the passage of the Ordinance of Secession.” Mr. Cheves declared, to avoid inconvenience to the people, temporary arrangements must be adopted for carrying on the Government. “An immense chasm,” he said, “has been made in law.” Mr. Miles said that they must prevent confusion and anarchy in the derangement of governmental affairs, and that “things must for the present remain in status quo, or confusion will arise.”

Mr. Mazyck agreed with Cheves and others,: that the duties of collectors and postmasters in South Carolina were extinguished. He was favorable to an abandonment of a public postal system altogether, and giving the business into private hands. Mr. Calhoun said, “We have pulled the temple down that has been built for three-quarters of a century. We must now clear the rubbish away, and construct another. We are now houseless and homeless. We must secure ourselves from storms.” Chancellor Dunkin said, that the functions of all officers might “go on as before. There is nothing in the ordinance to affect the dignity, honor, or welfare of the State of South Carolina. We must keep the wheels of government in motion.” He thought the ordinance had not entirely “abrogated the Constitution of the United ”