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

“ [163] reject the terms that a united South will agree upon. If accepted, well and good; if rejected, a united South can win all its rights, in or out of the Union.” The Co-operationists, swayed by reason rather than by passion, counseled waiting for an overt act of wrong on the part of the incoming Administration, before raising the resisting arm. This counsel the Hotspurs denounced as cowardly in thought and disastrous in practice; and one of their poets, with bitter irony, put submissive words into their mouths, calculated to stir up the passions of the people. He said:--

We are waiting till Abe Lincoln grasps the purse and grasps the sword,
And is sending down upon us all his Abolition horde;
Waiting till our friends are murdered, and our towns and cities sacked
And “poor Sambo” gets his freedom-waiting for the “overt act.”
Waiting till our fields of cotton, cane, and rice, and waving grain,
All are desolate and lonely, 'neath King Cuffee's stupid reign;
Till our sisters, wives, and daughters are compelled to his embrace;
Yes, we're waiting, only waiting, for this horrible disgrace.

The Convention met on the 7th of January, at Jackson, the State capital, a town of about two thousand five hundred inhabitants. It was found that only about one-third of the members were “Co-operationists.” This gave the “Secessionists” entire confidence, and made them exceedingly arrogant in speech and manner. Efforts were made by the “Co-operationists” to postpone action, but these were put down by decided majority votes. This unanimity made the progress of business easy.

Delegates from South Carolina and Alabama, who were present, were invited to seats in the Convention, and were received with great applause. A committee appointed to draft an Ordinance of Secession, having their work all prepared for them by the leaders, were not long at their labor. An ordinance was reported on the 8th, and many of the “Co-operationists” were so intimidated by threats, that on the final vote on the measure only fifteen had the courage to say No. It was adopted on the 9th, by a vote of eighty-four ayes and fifteen noes, and was afterward declared unanimous. It was brief, and arranged in four sections. The first was a simple declaration, in set terms, that all connection with the old Union was forever broken, and that Mississippi was a “free, sovereign, and independent State.” The second decreed that the clause in the State Constitution, which required all officers to take an oath to support the National Constitution, was thereby “abrogated and annulled.” The third declared that all rights acquired and vested under the National Constitution, or any act of Congress, and not incompatible with the. Ordinance, should remain in full force and effect. The fourth, speaking for the people of the State, said, that they would “consent to form a Federal Union with such of the States as have seceded or may secede from the Union of the United States of America,” upon the basis of the National Constitution, with a qualification.

The next step was to assert the sovereignty of Mississippi by acts. That sovereignty was formally acknowledged by Judge Samuel J. Gholson, of the United States District Court, who resigned his office because his State, in the exercise of sovereignty, had cut the bond that held it to the old Union. South Carolina was formally acknowledged as a Sovereign State by the younger but not less ardent sister, who, like herself, had a population