- [11] events at Norfolk, 395. -- burning of the Gosport Navy Yard, 396. -- advantages gained by the insurgents, 398. -- false pretenses of the conspirators, 399. -- secessionists in Washington, 400. -- Massachusetts troops called for, 401. -- response of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, 402. -- arming in Connecticut and New Jersey, 403. -- Pennsylvanians marching for the Capital, 404. -- riotous movements in Baltimore, 405. -- the first defenders of the Capital, 406.
The reception of Alexander H. Stephens by the Convention of Virginia politicians, the authorities of the State, and the excited populace in Richmond, gave him instant assurances of the success of his mission. He saw the “Confederate flag” waving everywhere, and heard no complaint because of the usurpation. He perceived that in Virginia, as in the Gulf States, the heel of the usurper was firmly planted on the necks of the loyal people, and that despotism was substantially triumphant. His soul was filled with gladness, and he addressed the Virginians with the eloquence and earnestness of a man whose heart was in his work. “The fires of patriotism,” he said, “I have seen blazing brightly all along my track, from Montgomery to the very gates of your city, and they are enkindling here with greater brilliancy and fervor. That constitutional liberty which we vainly sought for while in the old Union, we have found, and fully enjoy in our new one. . . . What had you, the friends of liberty, to hope for while under Lincoln? Nothing. Beginning in usurpation, where will he end? He will quit Washington as ignominiously as he entered it, and God's will will have been accomplished. Madness and folly rule at Washington, but Providence is with us, and will bless us to the end. The people of Virginia and the States of the South are one in interest, in feeling, in institutions, and in hope; and why should they not be one in Government? Every son of the South, from the Potomac to the Rio Grande, should rally beneath the same banner. The conflict may be terrible, but the victory will be ours. It remains for you to say whether you will share our triumphs.” 1 Stephens, as we have observed, was in Richmond for the purpose of negotiating a treaty for the admission of Virginia into the “Southern Confederacy.” The Convention appointed Ex-President John Tyler, William Ballard Preston, S. McD. Moore; James P. Holcombe, James C. Bruce, and Lewis E. Harvie, Commissioners to treat with him. They entered upon the business at once, and on the 24th of April agreed to and signed a “Convention ”
