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[328]

XXII. Secession.

the choice of Presidential Electors, which formerly took place at the discretion of the several States within a limited range, is now required, by act of Congress, to be made on the same day throughout — namely, on the Tuesday next succeeding the first Monday in November. This fell, in 1860, on the 6th of the month; and it was known, before that day had fully expired, that Abraham Lincoln had been clearly designated by the People for their next president, through the choice by his supporters of a majority of the whole number of Electors. Every Free State but New Jersey had chosen the entire Lincoln Electoral ticket; and in New Jersey the refusal of part of the Douglas men to support the “Fusion” ticket (composed of three Douglas, two Bell, and two Breckinridge men), had allowed four of the Lincoln Electors to slip in over the two Bell and the two Breckinridge Electors on the regular Democratic ticket. The three Lincoln Electors who had to confront the full vote of the coalesced anti-Republican parties were defeated by about 4,500 majority. And, although this was not ascertained that night, nor yet the fact that California and Oregon had gone with the other free States, yet there were 169 Lincoln Electors chosen (out of 303) outside of these three States; with, these, Mr. Lincoln had 180, to 123 for all others. Of these, Breckinridge had 72; Bell 39 (from Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee); and Douglas barely 12--those of Missouri (9) and 3, as aforesaid, from New Jersey. But, though nowhere in the Electoral, Mr. Douglas was second in the Popular, vote, as will be seen by the following table, wherein the “Fusion” vote is divided between the parties which contributed to it, according to the best estimate that can now be made of their strength respectively:

Free states.

States. Lincoln. Douglas. Breckinridge. Bell.
Maine 62,811 26,693 6,368 2,046
New Hampshire 37,519 25,881 2,112 441
Massachusetts 106,353 34,372 5,939 22,331
Rhode Island 12,244 14,000 21,000 2,707
Connecticut 43,972 15,522 14,641 3,291
Vermont 33,808 6,849 218 1,969
New York 353,804 3203,329 450,000 550,000
New Jersey 58,324 630,000 730,000 82,801
Pennsylvania 268,030 978,871 10100,000 12,776
Ohio 231,610 187,232 11,405 12,194
Indiana 139,033 115,509 12,295 5,306
Illinois 172,161 160,215 2,404 4,913
Michigan 88,480 65,057 805 405
Wisconsin 86,110 65,021 888 161
Minnesota 22,069 11,920 748 62
Iowa 70,409 55,111 1,048 1,748
California 39,173 38,516 34,334 6,817
Oregon 5,270 3,951 5,006 183
 
Total Free States 1,831,180 1,128,049 279,211 130,151

Slave states.

States. Lincoln. Douglas. Breckinridge. Bell.
Delaware 3,815 1,023 7,337 3,864
Maryland 2,294 5,966 42,482 41,760
Virginia 1,929 16,290 74,323 74,681
North Carolina (no ticket) 2,701 48,539 44,990
South Carolina [Chosen by the Legislature.]
Georgia (no ticket) 11,590 51,889 42,886
Alabama (no ticket) 13,651 48,831 27,875
Mississippi (no ticket) 3,283 40,797 25,040
Kentucky 1,364 25,651 53,143 66,058
Tennessee (no ticket) 11,350 64,209 69,274
Missouri 17,028 58,801 31,317 58,372
Arkansas (no ticket) 5,227 28,732 20,094
Louisiana (no ticket) 7,625 22,681 20,204
Florida (no ticket) 367 8,543 5,437
Texas (no ticket) (no ticket) 47,548 1115,438
 
Total Slave States 26,430 163,525 570,871 515,973
Grand Total 1,857,610 1,291,574 850,082 646,124

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From an early stage of the canvass, the Republicans could not help seeing that they had the potent aid, in their efforts, of the good wishes for their success of at least a large proportion of the advocates of Breckinridge and Lane. The toasts drunk with most enthusiasm at the Fourth-of-July celebrations throughout South Carolina pointed to the probable election of Mr. Lincoln as the necessary prelude to movements whereon the hearts of all Carolinians were intent. Southern “Fire-Eaters” canvassed the Northern States in behalf of Breckinridge and Lane, but very much to the satisfaction of the friends of Lincoln and Hamlin. The “Fusion” arrangements, whereby it was hoped, at all events, to defeat Lincoln, were not generally favored by the “Fire-Eaters” who visited the North, whether intent on politics, business, or pleasure; and, in some instances, those who sought to commend themselves to the favor of their Southern patrons or customers, by an exhibition of zeal in the “Fusion” cause, were quietly told: “What you are doing looks not to the end we desire: we want Lincoln elected.” In no Slave State did the supporters of Breckinridge unite in any “Fusion” movement whatever; and it was a very open secret that the friends of Breckinridge generally — at all events, throughout the Slave States--next to the all but impossible success of their own candidate — preferred that of the Republicans.12 In the Senate throughout the preceding, Session, at Charleston, at Baltimore, and ever since, they had acted precisely as they would have done, had they preeminently desired Mr. Lincoln's success, and determined to do their best to secure it.

And now, a large majority of Lincoln Electors had been carried, rendering morally certain his choice by the Electoral Colleges next month, and his inauguration on the 4th of March ensuing. So the result contemplated and labored for by at least two of the four contending parties in the canvass had been secured.

What next?

In October, 1856, a Convention of Southern Governors was held at Raleigh, N. C., at the invitation of Gov. Wise, of Virginia. This gathering was kept secret at the time; but it was afterward proclaimed by Gov. Wise that, had Fremont been elected, he would have marched at the head of twenty thousand men to Washington, and taken possession of the Capitol, preventing by force Fremont's inauguration at that place.

In the same spirit, a meeting of the prominent politicians of South [330] Carolina was held at the residence of Senator Hammond, near Augusta, on the 25th of October, 1860. Gov. Gist, ex-Gov. Adams, ex-Speaker Orr, and the entire delegation to Congress, except Mr. Miles, who was kept away by sickness, were present, with many other men of mark. By this cabal, it was unanimously resolved that South Carolina should secede from the Union in the event of Lincoln's then almost certain election. Similar meetings of kindred spirits were held simultaneously, or soon afterward, in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, and probably other Slave States. By these meetings, and by the incessant interchange of messages, letters, and visits, the entire slaveholding region had been prepared, so far as possible, for disunion in the event of a Republican, if not also of a Douglas, triumph.

The Legislature of South Carolina does not regularly meet until the fourth Monday in November; but, the recent act of Congress requiring a choice of Presidential Electors prior to that time, Gov. Gist had good reason for calling the Legislature of 1860 to meet in advance of the regular day. It met, according to his summons, at Columbia, on Monday, Nov. 5 (the day before the choice of Presidential Electors throughout the Union), when Mr. W. D. Porter, of Charleston, was chosen President of the Senate. On taking the Chair, he said:

I do not seek now to lift the veil that hides the future from our sight; but we have all an instinctive feeling that we are on the eve of great events. His Excellency, the Governor, in the terms of his call, has summoned us to take action, if advisable, for the safety and protection of the State. Heretofore, we have consulted for its convenience and well-being; now, its destiny, its very existence, depends upon our action. It was the old injunction, in times of great peril, to the Roman consuls, to take care that the Republic sustained no detriment; this charge and injunction is now addressed to us. All that is dear and precious to this people — life, fortune, name, and history — all is committed to our keeping for weal or for woe, for honor or for shame. Let us do our part, so that those who come after us shall acknowledge that we were not unworthy of the great trusts devolved upon us, and not unequal to the great exigencies by which we were tried. Above all things, let us be of one mind. We are all agreed as to our wrongs. Let us sacrifice all differences of opinion, as to the time and mode of remedy, upon the altar of patriotism, and for the sake of the great cause. In our unanimity will be our strength, physical and moral. No human power can withstand or break down a united people, standing upon their own soil and defending their homes and firesides. May we be so united, and may the great Governor of men and of nations inspire our hearts with courage, and inform our understandings with wisdom, and lead us in the way of honor and of safety.

Gov. Gist (whose term expired with the current year) communicated to both Houses his Annual Message, immediately on their organization. It is as follows:

Executive Department, Columbia, S. C., Nov. 5, 1860.
Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives:
The act of Congress, passed in the year 1846, enacts that the electors of President and Vice-President shall be appointed on the Tuesday next after the first Monday of the month of November, of the year in which they are to be appointed. The annual meeting of the Legislature of South Carolina, by a constitutional provision, will not take place until the fourth Monday in November instant. I have considered it my duty, under the authority conferred upon me to convene the Legislature on extraordinary occasions, to convene you, that you may, on to-morrow, appoint the number of Electors of President and Vice-President to which this State is entitled.

Under ordinary circumstances, your duty could be soon discharged by the election of Electors representing the choice of the people of the State; but, in view of the threatening aspect of affairs, and the strong probability of the election to the Presidency of a sectional candidate, by a party committed to the support of measures, which, if carried out, will inevitably destroy our [331] equality in the Union, and ultimately reduce the Southern States to mere provinces of a consolidated despotism, to be governed by a fixed majority in Congress hostile to our institutions, and fatally bent upon our ruin, I would respectfully suggest that the Legislature remain in session, and take such action as will prepare the State for any emergency that may arise.

That an exposition of the will of the people may be obtained on a question involving such momentous consequences, I would earnestly recommend that, in the event of Abraham Lincoln's election to the Presidency, a Convention of the people of this State be immediately called, to consider and determine for themselves the mode and measure of redress. My own opinions of what the Convention should do are of little moment; but, believing that the time has arrived when every one, however humble he may be, should express his opinions in unmistakable language, I am constrained to say that the only alternative left, in my judgment, is the secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union. The indications from many of the Southern States justify the conclusion that the secession of South Carolina will be immediately followed, if not adopted simultaneously, by them, and ultimately by the entire South. The long-desired cooperation of the other States having similar institutions, for which so many of our citizens have been waiting, scorns to be near at hand; and, if we are true to ourselves, will soon be realized. The State has, with great unanimity declared that she has the right peaceably to secede, and no power on earth can rightfully prevent it.

If, in the exercise of arbitrary power, and forgetful of the lessons of history, the Government of the United States should attempt coercion, it will become our solemn duty to meet force by force; and, whatever may be the decision of the Convention, representing the Sovereignty of the State, and amenable to no earthly tribunal, it shall, during the remainder of my administration, be carried out to the letter, regardless of any hazard that may surround its execution.

I would also respectfully recommend a thorough reorganization of the Militia, so as to place the whole military force of the State in a position to be used at the shortest notice, and with the greatest efficiency. Every man in the State, between the ages of eighteen and forty-five, should be well armed with the most efficient weapons of modern warfare, and all the available means of the State used for that purpose.

In addition to this general preparation, I would recommend that the services of ten thousand volunteers be immediately accepted; that they be organized and drilled by officers chosen by themselves, and hold themselves in readiness to be called on upon the shortest notice. With this preparation for defense, and with all the hallowed memories of past achievements, with our love of liberty, and hatred of tyranny, and with the knowledge that we are contending for the safety of our homes and firesides, we can confidently appeal to the Disposer of all human events, and safely trust our cause in His keeping.


Mr. James Chesnut, Jr., one of the United States Senators from South Carolina, was among the large number of leading politicians in attendance at the opening of the legislative session. He was known as a zealous advocate of Secession, and as such was serenaded on the evening of November 5th, aforesaid. Being called out to speak, Mr. Chesnut (as reported by telegraph to The Charleston Courier) said:

Before the setting of to-morrow's sun, in all human probability, the destiny of thin confederated Republic would be decided. He solemnly thought, in all human probability, that the Republican party would triumph in the election of Lincoln as President. In that event, the lines of our enemies seem to be closing around us; but they must be broken. They might see in the hurried paths of these starched men of livery the funeral cortege of the Constitution of the country. Peace, hope, independence, liberty, power, and the prosperity of Sovereign States, may be draped as chief mourners; still, in the rear of this procession, there is the light of the glorious past, from which they might rekindle the dying blaze of their own altars. We see it all — know it all — feel it all; and, with heaven's help, we will meet it all.

It was evident that we had arrived at the initial point of a new departure. We have two ways before us, in one of which, whether we will or not, we must tread; for, in the event of this issue, there would be no repose. In both lie dangers, difficulties, and troubles, which no human foresight can foreshadow or perceive; but they are not equal in magnitude. One is beset with humiliation, dishonor, émeutes, rebellions — with submission, in the beginning, to all, and at all times, and confiscation and slavery in the end. The other, it is true, has its difficulties and trials, but no disgrace. Hope, duty, and honor, shine along the path. Hope [332] beacons you at the end. Before deciding, consider well the ancient and sacred maxim--‘Stand upon the ancient way — see which is the right, good way, and walk in it.’

But the question now was, Would the South submit to a Black Republican President and a Black Republican Congress, which will claim the right to construe the Constitution of the country and administer the Government in their own hands, not by the law of the instrument itself, nor by that of the fathers of the country, nor by the practices of those who administered seventy years ago, but by rules drawn from their own blind consciences and crazy brains. They call us inferiors, semi-civilized barbarians, and claim the right to possess our lands, and give them to the destitute of the Old World and the profligates of this. They claim the dogmas of the Declaration of Independence as part of the Constitution, and that it is their right and duty to so administer the Government as to give full effect to them. The people now must choose whether they would be governed by enemies, or govern themselves.

For himself, he would unfurl the Palmetto flag, fling it to the breeze, and, with the spirit of a brave man, determine to live and die as became our glorious ancestors, and ring the clarion notes of defiance in the ears of an insolent foe. He then spoke of the undoubted right to withdraw their delegated powers, and it was their duty, in the event contemplated, to withdraw them. It was their only safety.

Mr. C. favored separate State action; saying the rest would flock to our standard.

Hon. Wm. W. Boyce--then, and for some years previously, a leading Representative in Congress from South Carolina--was, in like manner, serenaded and called out by the enthusiastic crowd of Secessionists, at Columbia, on the following evening. He concluded a speech denunciatory of the Republicans, as follows:13

The question then is, What are we to do? In my opinion, the South ought not to submit. If you intend to resist, the way to resist in earnest is to act; the way to enact revolution is to stare it in the face. I think the only policy for us is to arm as soon as we receive authentic intelligence of the election of Lincoln. It is for South Carolina, in the quickest manner, and by the most direct means, to withdraw from the Union. Then we will not submit, whether the other Southern States will act with us or with our enemies.

They cannot take sides with our enemies; they must take sides with us. When an ancient philosopher wished to inaugurate a great revolution, his motto was to dare! to dare!

Mr. Boyce was followed by Gen. M. E. Martin, Cols. Cunningham, Simpson, Richardson, and others, who contended that to submit to the election of Lincoln is to consent to a lingering death.

There was great joy in Charleston, and wherever “Fire-Eaters” most did congregate, on the morning of November 7th. Men rushed to shake hands and congratulate each other on the glad tidings of Lincoln's election. Now, it was felt, and exultingly proclaimed, the last obstacle to “Southern independence” has been removed, and the great experiment need no longer be postponed to await the pleasure of the weak, the faithless, the cowardly. It was clear that the election had resulted precisely as the master-spirits had wished and hoped. Now, the apathy, at least of the other Cotton States, must be overcome; now, South Carolina--that is, her slaveholding oligarchy — will be able to achieve her long-cherished purpose of breaking up the Union, and founding a new confederacy on her own ideas, and on the “peculiar institution” of the South. Men thronged the streets, talking, laughing, cheering,14 like mariners long becalmed [333] on a hateful, treacherous sea, whom a sudden breeze had swiftly wafted within sight of their longed — for haven, or like a seedy prodigal, just raised to affluence by the death of some far-off, unknown relative, and whose sense of decency is not strong enough to repress his exultation.

Thus stimulated, the Legislature did not hesitate nor falter in the course marked out for it by the magnates of the State oligarchy. Joint resolves, providing for the call of a Convention at some early day, with a view to unconditional secession from the Union, were piled upon each other with great energy, as if nearly every member were anxious to distinguish himself by zeal in the work. Among others, Mr. Robert Barnwell Rhett, on the second day of the session, offered such resolves, calling for the choice of a Convention on the 22d of November; the delegates to meet at Columbia on the 17th of December.

Mr. Moses and others offered similar resolves in the Senate; where Mr. Lesesne, of Charleston, attempted to stem, or, rather, to moderate, the roaring tide, by inserting the thinnest end of the wedge of “Cooperation.” His resolves are, in terms, as follows:

1st. Resolved, That the ascendency of the hostile, sectional, anti-Slavery party, styling themselves the Republican party, would be sufficient and proper cause for the dissolution of the Union and formation of a Southern Confederacy.

2d. Resolved, That, in case of the election of the candidates of that party to the office of President and Vice-President of the United States, instead of providing unconditionally for a Convention, the better course will be to empower the Governor to take measures for assembling a Convention so soon as any one of the other Southern States shall, in his judgment, give satisfactory assurance or evidence of her determination to withdraw from the Union.

In support of this proposition, Mr. Lesesne spoke ably and earnestly, but without effect. “Cooperation” had been tried in 1850-1, and had signally failed to achieve the darling purpose of a dissolution of the Union; so the rulers of Carolina opinion would have none of it in 1860.

Still another effort was made in the House (November 7th), by Mr. Trenholm, of Charleston — long conspicuous in the councils of the State--who labored hard to make “Cooperation” look so much like Secession that one could with difficulty be distinguished from the other. His proposition was couched in the following terms:

Resolved, That the Committee on the Military of the Senate and House of Representatives, be instructed to meet during the recess, and to prepare a plan for arming the State, and for organizing a permanent Military Bureau; and that the said Committee be instructed to report by bill to their respective Houses on the first day of the reassembling of the General Assembly.

Resolved, That the Committee of Ways and Means of the House of Representatives be instructed to sit during the recess, and prepare a bill for raising supplies necessary to carry into effect the measure recommended by the Military Committee, and to report by bill on the first day of the reassembling of the General Assembly.

Resolved, That the Governor be requested immediately to apply the one hundred thousand dollars, appropriated by the last General Assembly, to the purchase of arms.

Resolved, That immediately after the election of the Commissioner to the State of Georgia, this General Assembly do take a recess until the third Monday, being the nineteenth day, of November, instant, at 7 o'clock.

Resolved, As the sense of this General Assembly, that the election of a Black Republican to the Presidency of the United States, will be the triumph and practical application of principles incompatible with the peace and safety of the Southern States.

Resolved, That a Commissioner be elected, by joint ballot of the Senate and House of Representatives, whose duty it shall be, in the event of Mr. Lincoln's election, to proceed immediately to Milledgeville, the [334] seat of government of the State of Georgia, whose legislature will then be in session, to announce to the government of that State that South Carolina, in view of the impending danger, will immediately put herself in a state of efficient military defense, and will cordially cooperate with the State of Georgia in measures for the protection of Southern interests; and to express the readiness of this State to cooperate with the State of Georgia, in the event of Mr. Lincoln's election, in withdrawing at once from the confederacy; and to recommend the calling of a Convention simultaneously in both States, to carry this measure into effect; and to invite the cooperation of all the Southern States in withdrawing from the present Union, and forming a separate Southern Confederacy.

These resolves coming up for consideration on the 9th, Mr. McGowan, of Abbeville, made a zealous effort to stem the furious current; pleading earnestly and plausibly for Cooperation — that is, for consultation with other Slave States, and for action in obedience to their mutual determination. He said:

Cooperation with our Southern sisters has been the settled policy of South Carolina for at least ten years past. We have long been satisfied with the causes for a dissolution of this Union. We thought we saw long ago what was coming, and only awaited tho action of our Southern sisters. This being the case, it would seem strange, now that the issue is upon us — when our need is the sorest — that we should ignore our past policy, and, in the very crisis of the conflict, cease to ask for Cooperation.

Lincoln's election is taken as an occasion for action, but with us it is not the only cause for action. We have delayed for the last ten years for nothing but Cooperation. He thought it the best and wisest policy to remain in the Union, with our Southern sisters, in order to arrange the time when, and the manner how, of going out, and nothing else.

It is perfectly manifest that the recorded policy of this State for the last ten years has been the policy of Secession in cooperation with other Southern States.

But is that not fortified by both history and philosophy?--by the nature of the thing itself, and the fate of other nations? The Southern States of this Union have more motives, more inducements, and more necessities, for concert and Union, than any people that has lived in the tide of time. They are one in soil and climate; one in productions, having a monopoly of the Cotton region; one in institutions; and, more than all, one in their wrongs under the Constitution. Add to all this that they alone, of all the earth, have a peculiar institution — African Slavery — which is absolutely necessary for them; without which they would cease to exist, and against which, under the influence of a fanatical sentiment, the world is banded. Upon the subject of this institution, we are isolated from the whole world, who are not only indifferent, but inimical to it; and it would seem that the very weight of this outside pressure would compel us to unite.

Besides, the history of the world is pregnant with admonition as to the necessity of union. The history of classic Greece, and especially that awful chapter upon the Peloponnesian war, appeals to us. The history of poor, dismembered Poland cries to us. The history of the Dutch Republic claims to be heard. Modern Italy and the States of Central America are now, at this moment, crying to us to unite. All history teaches us that “United we stand, divided we fall.” All the Southern States would not be too many for our confederacy, whose flag would float, honored upon every sea, and under whose folds every citizen would be sure of protection and security. My God! what is the reason we cannot unite? It seems to me that we might with propriety address to the whole South the pregnant words of Milton:

Awake! arise! or be forever fallen!

South Carolina has sometimes been accused of a paramount desire to lead or to disturb the councils of the South. Let us make one last effort for Cooperation, and, in doing so, repel the false and unfounded imputation.

Mr. Speaker, I think all of us desire to consolidate the sentiment of the South. All of us prefer Cooperation. It is, therefore, immensely important that we should take no false step, and omit nothing that might tend to that end. I am utterly opposed, now and forever, to taking any step backward in this matter, and therefore it is that I am anxious that we should take no false step. It is better to consider in advance of action than after action. When we act, we must stand upon that action against the world in arms. It will strengthen our arms and nerve our hearts in doing that, if we shall be able to say that this course was not taken hastily or from impulse, but after mature deliberation, and a last effort for that which we all desire so much — Cooperation. [335] Then, if we fail, and a Convention is called under these circumstances, I and all of us will stand by the action of that Convention. Whatever may be our individual opinions, we will obey the mandate of the State thus pronounced.

Whenever she, after exhausting all proper and becoming efforts for union, resolves upon her course, we will have no option, as we will have no desire, to do otherwise than rally under her banner. If the State, in her sovereign capacity, determines that her secession will produce the cooperation which we have so earnestly sought, then it shall have my hearty approbation. And if, in the alternative, she determines to let us forego the honor of being first, for the sake of promoting the common cause, let us declare to Georgia, the Empire State of the South--the Keystone of the Southern Arch, which is our nearest neighbor westward, and lying for a great distance alongside of our own territory — that we are willing to follow in her lead, and together take our place among the nations of the earth.

If South Carolina, in Convention assembled, deliberately secedes-separate and alone, and, without any hope of cooperation, decides to cut loose from her moorings, surrounded as she is by Southern sisters in like circumstances — I will be one of her crew, and, in common with every true son of hers, will endeavor, with all the power that God has given me, to

Spread all her canvas to the breeze,
     Set every threadbare sail,
And give her to the God of storms,
     The lightning and the gale.

Mr. Mullins, of Marion, followed; and his reply to McGowan's speech is worthy of record here, since it clearly betrays the consciousness of the disunionists that they were a lean minority of the Southern people, who might be precipitated, bullied, or dragged into treason, but whom there was no rational hope of reasoning or even seducing into it. He said:

South Carolina had tried Cooperation, but had exhausted that policy. The State of Virginia had discredited the cause which our Commissioner went there to advocate, although she treated him, personally, with respect; but she had as much as said there were no indignities which could drive her to take the leadership for Southern rights. If we wait for Cooperation, Slavery and State Rights would be abandoned, State Sovereignty and the cause of the South lost forever, and we would be subjected to a dominion the parallel to which was that of the poor Indian under the British East India Company. When they had pledged themselves to take the State out of the Union, and placed it on record, then he was willing to send a Commissioner to Georgia, or any other Southern State, to announce our determination, and to submit the question whether they would join us or not. We have it from high authority, that the representative of one of the Imperial Powers of Europe, in view of the prospective separation of one or more of the Southern States from the present confederacy, has made propositions in advance for the establishment of such relations between it and the Government about to be established in this State, as will insure to that power such a supply of Cotton for the future as their increasing demand for that article will require: this information is perfectly authentic.

Thus, it will be seen that foreign intrigue was already hand-and-glove with domestic treason in sapping the foundations of our Union and seeking peculiar advantages from its over-throw.

Mr. Edmund Ruffin, of Virginia, had for many years been the editor of a leading Agricultural monthly, and had thus acquired a very decided influence over the planters of the South. A devotee of Slavery, he had hastened to Columbia, on the call of the Legislature, to do his utmost for Secession. He was, of course, serenaded in his turn by the congregated Union-breakers, on the evening of the 7th, and addressed them from the balcony of the Congaree House. The following is a synopsis of his response:

He said the question now before the country he had studied for years. It had been the one great idea of his life. The defense of the South, he verily believed, was only to be secured through the lead of South Carolina. As old as he was. he had come here to join them in that lead. He wished Virginia was as ready as South Carolina, but, unfortunately, she was not; but, circumstances being different, it was perhaps better that Virginia and all other border States remain quiescent for a time, to serve [336] as guard against the North. The first drop of blood spilled on the soil of South Carolina, would bring Virginia and every Southern State with them. By remaining in the Union for a time, she would not only prevent coercive legislation in Congress, but any attempt for our subjugation. No argument in favor of resistance was wanted now. As soon as he had performed his duty in Virginia as a citizen, he came as fast as steam could bring him to South Carolina. He was satisfied if anything was to be done, it was to be done here. He had no doubt it would be done, and the sooner the better. Every day delayed was a day lost to the cause. They should encourage and sustain their friends, and they would frighten their enemies.

There was no fear of Carolina remaining alone. She would soon be followed by other States. Virginia and half a dozen more were just as good and strong, and able to repel the enemy, as if they had the whole of the slaveholding States to act with them. Even if Carolina remained alone — not that he thought it probable, but supposing so — it was his conviction that she would be able to defend herself against any power brought against her. Multitudes spoke and said the issue was one of courage and honor, or of cowardice, desertion, and degradation.

A number of second and third-rate traitors followed this Ruffin in a similar vein, but their remarks were not deemed worth reporting.

But, that evening, the busy telegraph reported from Charleston the more important resignation of the leading Federal officers for South Carolina, in anticipation of her seceding. The U. S. District Court had met there in the morning, District Judge Magrath presiding. The Grand Jury — of course, by preconcert — formally declined to make any presentments, because of

The verdict of the Northern section of the confederacy, solemnly announced to the country, through the ballot-box, on yesterday, having swept away the last hope for the permanence, for the stability of the Federal Government of these sovereign States; and the public mind is constrained to lift itself above the consideration of details in the administration of Law and Justice, up to the vast and solemn issues which have been forced upon us. These issues involve the existence of the Government of which this Court is the organ and minister. In these extraordinary circumstances, the Grand Jury respectfully decline to proceed with their presentments. They deem this explanation due to the court and to themselves.

Judge Magrath received this communication with complaisance, and thereupon resigned his office; saying:

The business of the term has been disposed of, and, under ordinary circumstances, it would be my duty to dismiss you to your several avocations, with my thanks for your presence and aid. But now I have something more to do, the omission of which would not be consistent with propriety. In the political history of the United States, an event has happened of ominous import to fifteen slaveholding States. The State of which we are citizens has been always understood to have deliberately fixed its purpose whenever that event should happen. Feeling an assurance of what will be the action of the State, I consider it my duty, without delay, to prepare to obey its wishes. That preparation is made by the resignation of the office I have held. For the last time, I have, as a Judge of the United States, administered the laws of the United States within the limits of the State of South Carolina.

While thus acting in obedience to a sense of duty, I cannot be indifferent to the emotions it must produce. That department which, I believe, has best maintained its integrity and preserved its purity, has been suspended. So far as I am concerned, the Temple of Justice, raised under the Constitution of the United States, is now closed. If it shall never be again opened, I thank God that its doors have been closed before its altar has been desecrated with sacrifices to tyranny.

C. J. Colcock, Collector at Charleston, and James Conner, U. S. District Attorney, likewise resigned; and it was announced that B. C. Pressley, Sub-Treasurer, would follow, “so soon as was consistent with due respect and regard for our present excellent Chief Magistrate [Buchanan], by whose appointment he holds the office.”

In the face of such multiform and high-seasoned incitements to go ahead, the efforts of those members of the [337] Legislature who would gladly have held back were paralyzed and their remonstrances silenced. They dared neither to speak nor to vote as their convictions impelled.

All pleadings and efforts for delay, for reflection, for calm consideration, were stifled or fruitless. A bill calling a Convention, with the distinct purpose of secession, passed the Senate on the 9th and the House on the 12th. December 6th was the day appointed for the election of delegates; the Convention to meet on the 17th of that month. Whereupon, Gov. Hammond resigned his seat in the U. S. Senate, as his colleague, Mr. Chesnut, had already done.

On the same day (Nov. 12), a Military Convention of Georgians was held at Milledgeville, which was attended and addressed by Gov. Joseph E. Brown of that State. He affirmed the right of secession, and the duty of other Southern States to sustain South Carolina in the step she was then taking. “He would like to see Federal troops dare attempt the coercion of a seceding Southern State! For every Georgian who fell in a conflict thus incited, the lives of two Federal soldiers should expiate the outrage on State Sovereignty.” The Convention, thus harangued, voted, about two to one, for secession; and though it had, of course, no legal or official authority, its action was doubtless potent in precipitating the “Empire State of the South” into the abyss of Disunion.

The foregoing detailed, methodical statement of the process whereby Secession was inaugurated in South Carolina, and of the conceptions and purposes developed by that process, seems to render needless a like particularity with regard to the subsequent proceedings in that and other States. The germ of the entire movement, with the ideas whereon it was based, is clearly exhibited in the doings at Columbia and Charleston, during those memorable early days of November, 1860. And, though South Carolina ostentatiously precipitated the catastrophe by her single, sovereign fiat, it is not doubted that she did so upon full understanding with the “Chivalry” of nearly, or quite every Slave State. These had, of course, apprised her own master-spirits, in their conferences at watering-places and other fashionable resorts during the preceding Summer and Autumn, that, though they could not bring their several States to march abreast with her in the enterprise of National disruption and dissolution, they should have little difficulty in inducing them to fly to her rescue in case she went boldly forward in the predetermined course, and thus exposed herself to imminent peril on behalf of their common and most cherished interest, Slavery.15 Theirs was the strategy of the leader of a forlorn hope, who, seeing his storming party hesitate and waver in the breach, or under the wall of the hostile fortress, throws his flag forward [338] among the enemy, and rushes, sword in hand, to its recovery, calculating that his soldiers will thereupon instinctively spring to his and its rescue at all hazards. The event proved the efficiency of the method, if not the perfect accuracy of the calculation.

But the long-standing conspiracy for Disunion was favored, at this crisis, by very powerful incidental influences, whereof the principal were as follows:

1. No public opposition to Slavery having, for many years, been permitted in the slave-holding region, save at a very few points like St. Louis, where the Free-Labor interest had, from the force of circumstances, silently and suddenly achieved a practical preponderance, the journals, the religious organizations, and the political parties, were all immeasurably subservient to the Slave Power. In fact, the chief topic of political contention, whether in the press or on the stump, had for twenty years been the relative soundness and thoroughness of the rival parties in their devotion to Slavery. On this ground, Gen. Jackson had immensely the advantage of J. Q. Adams, so far as the South was concerned, when they were rival candidates for the Presidency; as Gen. Harrison had some advantage of Mr. Van Buren; Mr. Polk of Mr. Clay; Gen. Taylor of Gen. Cass; Gen. Pierce of Gen. Scott; and, lastly, Major Breckinridge of John Bell. In Kentucky, in the State canvass of 1859, Mr. Joshua F. Bell, “American” candidate for Governor, had tried hard to “cut under” his Democratic antagonist, Beriah Magoffin, but had failed, and been signally defeated. His more spotless record as a Slavery propagandist had enabled the supporters of Breckinridge to carry even Maryland for him against Bell, in 1860. And now, the readiness to back South Carolina, or, at least, to shield her from harm, was presented as a touchstone of earnestness, to those of all parties, who had for years so loudly vaunted their own and their party's matchless devotion to “Southern rights.”

2. The patronage of the Federal Government throughout the fifteen Slave States, being wielded and bestowed by the Southern members16 of Mr. Buchanan's Cabinet, was almost entirely monopolized by their fellow-conspirators. The Collectors of Customs, Postmasters, Marshals, etc., who had good reason to apprehend the loss of their comfortable places on Mr. Lincoln's accession to power, were generally “ripe for treasons, stratagems, and spoils.” Many, if not most of them, were early and active promoters of the Slaveholders' Rebellion, even while easily deriving large emoluments from the Government they were plotting to destroy.

3. The Legislatures and party Conventions of all the Slave States had long been in the habit17 of unanimously resolving that they would never submit to exclusion from the Territories, “Black-Republican domination,” etc., etc. Those who were really Unionists were apt to let these resolves pass as a matter of course, [339] regarding them as a sort of theatrical, sheet-iron thunder, which might scare the North into greater subserviency to the Slave Power, and, at the worst, could do no harm. And now, these resolves were triumphantly quoted by the conspirators, and the people asked whether they meant any thing by passing them, or were only uttering threats which they never intended to make good.

4. The Governors of nearly all the Slave States, including even Delaware, had actively and zealously supported Breckinridge, and had thus justified the withdrawal of a majority of the Southern delegates from the Charleston Convention, on grounds not essentially differing from those whereon Disunion was now urged. The action now taken by South Carolina was very fairly claimed to be a direct and necessary sequence of that bolt. The Governors and other leading politicians who had supported Breckinridge and Lane in the recent canvass, were held to have thereby pledged themselves to prosecute that policy to its legitimate results. And most of them were fully aware of and ready to meet this expectation. Hence, South Carolina had scarcely thrown up her signal rocket, announcing the outbreak of the long meditated revolution, when it was responded to by proclamations and calls of Legislatures in most of the Slave States.

Texas was not originally of the number. Her leading politicians had shown the cloven foot a year too soon, by nominating, early in 1859, a State ticket pledged to favor the reopening of the African Slave-Trade, which was a well-understood Shibboleth of the South-Western plotters of Disunion. Hardin R. Runnells, a Mississippian, who was the incumbent, was placed at its head as a candidate for Governor. The people were alarmed by this bold step; Gen. Sam Houston took the field in opposition to it as an independent Union candidate for Governor; and, though there was no political organization in the State but that which he confronted, while Texas had gone overwhelmingly for Pierce against Scott, and for Buchanan against Fillmore, Gen. Houston carried it with all ease, beating Runnells by 8,670 majority,18 in by far the largest vote ever yet polled in the State. Andrew J. Hamilton, running as a Unionist for Congress, in the Western District, in like manner beat T. N. Waul, the regular Democratic candidate, by 44819 majority. In the Eastern District, John H. Reagan,20 Democrat, had no serious opposition.

Gen. Houston was thus in a position to thwart the Texan conspirators, had he evinced either principle or courage, when they commenced operating to take their State out of the Union at the close of 1860. He did refuse to call the Legislature, or a Convention; whereupon the conspirators called the Legislature themselves, by a document signed by sixty of their number, having just as much legal validity and force as a harangue at a negro camp-meeting. But the Disunionists were thoroughly united, determined, and ready; while their adversaries, owing to Houston's pusillanimity, [340] were as sheep without a shepherd, in a fair way to be transformed into mutton. Had there been a loyal soldier in command of that large portion of our small regular army stationed in Texas, ostensibly for the defense of her exposed Northern and Western frontier, he might have formed a nucleus for an effective rally for the Union. But Mr. John B. Floyd was at the head of the War Department, and had taken care that this force should be wielded by a thorough-going traitor, who would paralyze, and, in due time, betray it into the hands of his fellows. Houston was allowed to remain in office, despised by the implacable enemies to whom he truckled, and despising himself, until they were ready to dispense with him; when he obsequiously resigned, enduring an ignominious existence in their midst until he found relief from it in death, some two years thereafter.

Virginia had recently chosen for her Governor Mr. John Letcher, whose position was nearly as peculiar as Houston's. The genuine Southrons had long professed to be Democrats for Slavery's sake; Letcher, at heart, and formerly by open avowal, regarding human bondage as a blunder if not a crime, was pro-Slavery for the sake of the Democratic party, whereof he had ever been a bigoted devotee, and which had promoted and honored him beyond any other estimate of his merits but his own. Transferred from the House of Representatives to the Governorship21 by the election of 1859, he, as a life-long champion of regular nominations and strict party discipline, had supported Douglas for President in 1860, and thereby thrown himself into a very lean minority22 of his party. Hie had, of course, much lee-way to make up to reinstate himself in that party's good graces, and hence early and zealously lent himself to the work of the conspirators.

The course of Gov. Beriah Magoffin, of Kentucky, was in striking contrast with that of his Southern peers. He, too, had supported Breckinridge; while his party owed its recently acquired ascendency in his State, and he his election, to the deepening conviction of the slaveholding interest that no other party than the Democratic possessed at once the power and the will to rule the country in conformity to its wishes and presumed interests. But Kentucky had already repeatedly declared for the Union--conspicuously in her August State Election of 1860, and again in choosing Bell Electors, and giving the rival candidates for President some Forty Thousand more votes than she gave her own Breckinridge, who, but for her apprehensions and dread of disunion, would probably have received her vote. Gov. Magoffin now issued an address to the people of Kentucky, wherein he wisely and forcibly said:

To South Carolina, and such other States as may wish to secede from the Union, I would say: The geography of this country will not admit of a division; the mouth and sources of the Mississippi river cannot be separated without the horrors of civil war. We cannot sustain you in this movement merely on account of the election of Lincoln. Do not precipitate us, by premature action, into a revolution or civil war, the consequences of which will be most frightful to all of us. It may yet be avoided. There is still hope, faint though it be. Kentucky is a border State, and has suffered more than [341] all of you. She claims that, standing upon the same sound platform, you will sympathize with her, and stand by her, and not desert her in her exposed, perilous border position. She has a right to claim that her voice, and the voice of reason, and moderation, and patriotism, shall be heard and heeded by you. If you secede, your representatives will go out of Congress, and leave us at the mercy of a Black Republican Government. Mr. Lincoln will have no check. He can appoint his Cabinet, and have it confirmed. The Congress will then be Republican, and he will be able to pass such laws as he may suggest. The Supreme Court will be powerless to protect us. We implore you to stand by us, and by our friends in the Free States; and let us all, the bold. the true and just men in the Free and the Slave States, with a united front, stand by each other, by our principles, by our rights, our equality, our honor, and by the Union under the Constitution. I believe this is the only way to save it; and we can do it.

Gov. Elias N. Conway, of Arkansas, transmitted his Annual Message to the new Legislature of that State on the 19th of November, 1860, when nearly all the Slave States were alive with drumming and drilling,23 and frantic with telegraphing and haranguing in behalf of Secession; yet he said nothing on the subject. It is a fair presumption that he disapproved of the entire business. But his successor, Henry M. Rector, had been chosen24 the preceding August, and lie made haste to do the bidding of the conspirators.

In all the other Slave States south of Maryland, the Governors were heart and soul in the Disunion conspiracy, and called Legislatures to meet in extra session, issued vehement Proclamations, concocted and put forth incendiary Messages, or did whatever else the master-spirits of the conspiracy required. Their associates and subordinates in office were of like faith and purpose; and it may fairly be assumed that at least four-fifths of all those in office in the Slave States, whether under the National or any State Government, on the 6th of November, 1860, were ardent advocates of Secession.

In Missouri, Mr. Claiborne F. Jackson had been chosen Governor25 as a Douglas Democrat; but that designation was entirely delusive. Having achieved what he considered the regular Democratic nomination for Governor, he thought he could not [342] afford to bolt the regular Democratic nomination for President, and so gave at least a nominal support to Douglas, who thus obtained the vote of Missouri in November, when Gov. J. and a large proportion of his supporters were in feeling and purpose with the backers of Breckinridge. He was fully in the hands of the conspirators from the start, and in due time united openly in the Rebellion. Outside of Missouri, the Douglas Democracy had been so thoroughly, overwhelmingly beaten in the vote of the Slave States for President — as thoroughly in Delaware or Maryland as in Georgia or Arkansas--that they seemed to be crushed out of life, or anxious to merge their distinctive character by a plunge into the common abyss of Rebellion. Mr. Douglas himself, being catechised on the subject,26 frankly declared that, should Lincoln be chosen President, he would not consider that a cause for resistance, but should adhere to and uphold the Union. Yet the result of the election had hardly transpired when his friend Gov. Letcher of Virginia, Mr. George N. Sanders, of Kentucky, who had been one of his busiest and noisiest champions, and many more such, made haste to swell the gathering cohorts of Secession. The ablest and most respectable of their number was Mr. Alex. H. Stephens, of Georgia, whose courage and loyalty endured at least a week after those of his late compatriots had bidden them a final adieu. The Legislature of Georgia having assembled,27 Mr. Stephens presented himself and spoke28 boldly as well as ably against the meditated treason; saying:

The first question that presents itself is, Shall the people of the South secede from the Union in consequence of the election of Mr. Lincoln to the Presidency of the United States? My countrymen, I tell you frankly, candidly, and earnestly, that I do not think that they ought. In my judgment, the election of no man, constitutionally chosen to that high office, is sufficient cause for any State to separate from the Union. It ought to stand by and aid still in maintaining the Constitution of the country. To make a point of resistance to the Government — to withdraw from it, because a man has been constitutionally elected — puts us in the wrong. We are pledged to maintain the Constitution. Many of us have sworn to support it. Can we, therefore, for the mere election of a man to the Presidency — and that, too, in accordance with the prescribed forms of the Constitution — make a point of resistance to the Government, and, without becoming the breakers of that sacred instrument ourselves, withdraw ourselves from it? Would we not be in the wrong? Whatever fate is to befall this country, let it never be laid to the charge of the people of the South, and especially of the people of Georgia, that we were untrue to our National engagements. Let the fault and the wrong rest upon others. If all our hopes are to be blasted, if the Republic is to go down, let us be found to the last moment standing on the deck, with the Constitution of the United States waving over our heads. (Applause.) Let the fanatics of the North break the Constitution, if such is their fell purpose. Let the responsibility be upon them. I shall speak presently more of their acts; but let not the South, let us not be the ones to commit the aggression. We went into the election with this people; the result was different from what we wished; but the election has been constitutionally held. Were we to make a point of resistance to the Government, and go out of the Union on that account, the record would be made up hereafter against us.

But, it is said, Mr. Lincoln's policy and principles are against the Constitution, and that, if he carries them out, it will be destructive of our rights. Let us not anticipate a threatened evil. If he violates the Constitution, then will come our time to act. Do not let us break it, because, forsooth, he may. If he does, that is the time for us to strike. (Applause.) I think it would be injudicious and unwise to do this sooner. I do not anticipate that Mr. Lincoln will do anything to jeopardize our safety or security, whatever may be his spirit to do it; for [343] he is bound by the constitutional checks which are thrown around him, which, at this time, render him powerless to do any great mischief. This shows the wisdom of our system. The President of the United States is no Emperor, no Dictator — he is clothed with no absolute power. He can do nothing unless he is backed by power in Congress. The House of Representatives is largely in the majority against him. In the Senate, he will also be powerless. There will be a majority of four against him: This, After the loss of Bigler, Fitch, and others, by the unfortunate dissensions of the Democratic party in their States. Mr. Lincoln cannot appoint an officer without the consent of the Senate — he cannot form a Cabinet without the same consent. He will be in the condition of George III. (the embodiment of Toryism), who had to ask the Whigs to appoint his Ministers, and was compelled to receive a Cabinet utterly opposed to his views; and so Mr. Lincoln will be compelled to ask of the Senate to choose for him a Cabinet, if the Democracy of that body choose to put him on such terms. He will be compelled to do this, or let the Government stop, if the National Democratic men — for that is their name at the North--the conservative men in the Senate — should so determine. Then, how can Mr. Lincoln obtain a Cabinet which would aid him, or allow him, to violate the Constitution?

Why, then, I say, should we disrupt the bonds of this Union, when his hands are tied — when he can do nothing against us?

Warming with his argument, Mr. Stephens did not hesitate, before concluding his speech, to say:

I believe in the power of the people to govern themselves when wisdom prevails, and passion is silent. Look at what has already been done by them for their advancement in all that ennobles man. There is nothing like it in the history of the world. Look abroad, from one extent of the country to the other; contemplate our greatness: we are now among the first nations of the earth. Shall it, then, be said that our institutions, founded upon principles of self-government, are a failure?

Thus far it is a noble example, worthy of imitation. The gentleman (Mr. Cobb), the other night, said it had proven a failure. A failure in what? In growth? Look at our expanse in National power! Look at our population and increase in all that makes a people great! A failure? Why, we are the admiration of the civilized world, and present the brightest hopes of mankind.

Some of our public men have failed in their aspirations; that is true; and from that comes a great part of our troubles. (Prolonged applause.)

No! there is no failure of this Government yet. We have made great advancement under the Constitution; and I cannot but hope that we shall advance still higher. Let us be true to our cause.

This was frank and noble; yet there was a dead fly in the ointment, which sadly marred its perfume. That was a distinct avowal of the right of the State to overrule his personal convictions, and plunge him into treason to the Nation. Years before, Henry Clay, when catechised by Jefferson Davis in the Senate, set forth the true American doctrine on this point, as follows:

Mr. President, I have heard with pain and regret a confirmation of the remark I made, that the sentiment of Disunion has become familiar. I hope it is confined to South Carolina. I do not regard as my duty what the honorable Senator seems to regard as his. If Kentucky to-morrow unfurls the banner of resistance, I never will fight under that banner. I owe a paramount allegiance to the whole Union--a subordinate one to my own State.29

[344]

Mr. Stephens was, in his earlier years, an admirer and follower of Mr. Clay; but, since 1850, he had gone a roving after strange gods. He now said:

Should Georgia determine to go out of the Union, I speak for one, though my views may not agree with them, whatever the result may be, I shall bow to the will of her people. Their cause is my cause, and their destiny is my destiny; and I trust this will be the ultimate course of all. The greatest curse that can befall a free people is civil war. But, as I said, let us call a Convention of the people; let all these matters be submitted to it; and, when the will of a majority of the people has thus been expressed, the whole State will present one unanimous voice in favor of whatever may be demanded.

Of course, Mr. Stephens was taken at his word. A Convention was called; a majority of delegates secured for Disunion; an Ordinance of Secession passed; and Mr. Stephens sank from the proud position of a citizen of the American Republic into that of Vice-President of the Confederacy of slaveholding traitors and their benighted, misguided satellites and dupes.

The South Carolina Convention met at Columbia on the appointed day--December 17th. Gen. D. F. Jamison, its temporary Chairman, on being called to preside, paraded the wrongs of the South in the admission of California, organization and settlement of Kansas, etc., etc., and trusted that “the door is now closed forever against any further connection30 with the Northern confederacy,” etc., etc., etc. He further trusted that “we shall not be diverted from our purpose by any dictates from without;” and that the Convention, in inaugurating such a movement, would heed the counsels of a master-spirit of the French Revolution, whose maxim was, to “dare, and again to dare, and without end to dare.”

Mr. Chas. G. Memminger31 having suggested that the members, on the roll being called, advance and be sworn, a delegate responded: “Oh no! that is not required; we came not to make, but to unmake, a government.”

Gen. Jamison was, on the fifth ballot, chosen President. At the evening session of the first day, Hon. John A. Elmore, a Commissioner from Alabama, and Hon. Charles Hooker, a Commissioner from Mississippi, were introduced by the President, and successively addressed the Convention — of course, in favor of prompt and unconditional Secession. Mr. Elmore said:

I am instructed by the Governor of Alabama to say that he desires, and, lie believes, [345] our State desires (and I unite my voice with him in that opinion), that the action of the Convention be immediate and prompt. [Applause.] It will give the cause strength, not only in Alabama, as we believe, and of which I have a right to speak, but I believe it will give the cause strength in the other States, which are united with you in sentiment.

On motion of Mr. Inglis, it was unanimously, and amid tremendous cheering,

Resolved, That it is the opinion of the Convention that the State of South Carolina should forthwith secede from the Federal Union, known as the United States of America.

The small-pox then raging in Columbia, the Convention adjourned to “Secession Hall” in Charleston, where it met next day. Mr. Buchanan's last Annual Message having been received, Judge Magrath, of Charleston, offered the following, which was debated next day, but does not seem to have passed:

Resolved, That so much of the Message of the President of the United States as relates to what he designates the property of the United States in South Carolina, be referred to a Committee to report of what such property consists, how the same was acquired, or, whether the purposes for which it was so acquired can be enjoyed by the United States after the State of South Carolina shall have seceded. consistently with the dignity and safety of the State; and that said Committee further report the value of the property of the United States not in South Carolina, and the value of the share thereof to which South Carolina may be entitled upon an equal division thereof among the States. [Great applause in the galleries.]

The President announced an address from a portion of the Legislature of Georgia, which he thought should not be made public; so it was not. It was afterward understood to be an appeal from fifty-two members of said Legislature for delay and consultation among the Slave States.

The next day, Hon. J. A. Elmore communicated a dispatch from the Governor of Alabama, in these words:

Montgomery, Ala., Dec. 17, 1860.
Tell the Convention to listen to no proposition of compromise or delay.


Among the utterances of this Convention, the following seem especially significant and memorable:

Mr. Parker said:

Mr. President, it appears to me, with great deference to the opinions that have been expressed, that the public mind is fully made up to the great occasion that now awaits us. It is no spasmodic effort that has come suddenly upon us; it has been gradually culminating for a long period of thirty years, At last, it has come to that point where we may say, the matter is entirely right.

Mr. Inglis said:

Mr. President, if there is any gentleman present who wishes to debate this matter, of course this body will hear him. But, as to delay for the purpose of discussion, I, for one am opposed to it. As my friend (Mr. Parker) has said, most of us have had this matter under consideration for the last twenty years; and I presume that we have, by this time, arrived at a decision upon the subject.

And Hon. Lawrence M. Keitt--

I have been engaged in this movement ever since I entered political life. I am content with what has been done to-day, and with what will take place to-morrow. We have carried the body of this Union to its last resting-place, and now we will drop the flag over its grave. After that is done, I am ready to adjourn, and leave the remaining ceremonies for to-morrow.

And Mr. Robert Barnwell Rhett--

The Secession of South Carolina is not an event of a day. It is not anything produced by Mr. Lincoln's election, or by the non-execution of the Fugitive Slave Law. It has been a matter which has been gathering head for thirty years. * * * The point in which I differ from my friend is this: He says he thought it expedient to put this great question before the world upon this simple matter of wrongs — on the question of Slavery; and that question turned upon the Fugitive Slave Law. Now, in regard to the Fugitive Slave Law, I myself doubted its constitutionality, and doubted it on the floor of the Senate, when I was a member of that body. The States, acting [346] in their sovereign capacity, should be responsible for the rendition of fugitive slaves. That was our best security.

It was, on motion of Mr. Hayne, resolved that a Commissioner be sent to each Slave State, with a copy of the Secession Ordinance, with a view to hasten cooperation on the part of those States; also, that three Commissioners be sent to Washington, with a copy of the same, to be laid before the President, to treat for the delivery of the United States property in South Carolina over to the State, on the subject of the Public Debt, etc.

The Ordinance of Secession was reported from a Committee of seven on the fourth day (Dec. 20th), and immediately passed, without dissent. (Yeas 169.) It is in the following words:

An Ordinance to dissolve the Union between the State of South Carolina, and other States united with her under the compact entitled the Constitution of the United States of America:

We, the people of the State of South Carolina, in Convention assembled, do declare and ordain, and it is hereby declared and ordained, that the Ordinance adopted by us in Convention, on the 23d day of May, in the year of our Lord 1788, whereby the Constitution of the United States of America was ratified, and also all Acts and parts of Acts of the General Assembly of this State ratifying the amendments of the said Constitution, are hereby repealed; and that the Union now subsisting between South Carolina and other States, under the name of the United States of America, is hereby dissolved.

A formal “Declaration of Causes, which induced the Secession of South Carolina,” was in like manner reported and adopted. Its substance and force are entirely derived from and grounded on the alleged infidelity of the Free States to their constitutional obligations with respect to Slavery, but more especially in the non-rendition of fugitive slaves. New York, among other States, is herein charged (of course by mistake) with having passed acts to obstruct the return of such fugitives. Indiana and Illinois are likewise among the States thus erroneously accused. The Constitution is pronounced a compact between sovereign States, and the Convention proceeds:

We maintain that, in every compact between two or more parties, the obligation is mutual; that the failure of one of the contracting parties to perform a material part of the agreement, entirely releases the obligation of the other; and that, where no arbiter is provided, each party is remitted to his own judgment to determine the fact of failure, with all its consequences.

No grievance of any name or nature is alleged or insinuated, but such as flow from anti-Slavery feeling and action in the Free States, culminating in the election of Lincoln. The Declaration concludes as follows:

We, therefore, the people of South Carolina, by our delegates in Convention assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, have solemnly declared that the Union heretofore existing between this State and the other States of North America is dissolved, and that the State of South Carolina has resumed her position among the nations of the world, as a separate and independent State, with full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent States may of right do.

On motion of Mr. W. F. De Saussure, it was further

Resolved, That the passage of the Ordinance be proclaimed by the firing of artillery and the ringing of the bells of the city, and such other demonstrations as the people may deem appropriate on the passage of the great act of deliverance and liberty.

The President, at a quarter past 1, announced that the Ordinance had unanimously passed; whereupon there burst forth a pent — up flood of congratulatory and jubilant speeches, and then the Convention adjourned, to meet again in the evening for a [347] more formal ratification, at which the Governor32 and Legislature were invited to attend. Then and there, the Ordinance, having been duly engrossed, was read by the President, then signed by all the delegates in alphabetical order, and thereupon displayed by the President to the enthusiastic crowd, with a declaration that “the State of South Carolina is now and henceforth a free and independent commonwealth.” And then, with wild, prolonged, exulting huzzas, the assemblage dispersed; and the Charleston papers began to print thenceforth their daily quantum of intelligence from the non-seceding States as “Foreign news.”

Georgia, as was arranged and expected, was the first State to follow South Carolina in her fatal plunge. Her new Legislature, moved by an impassioned Message from her Governor, Joseph E. Brown, passed33 a bill appropriating $1,000,000 to arm and equip the State; and, on the 18th, a bill calling a Convention of delegates, to be chosen in the several counties on the 2d of January ensuing, and to meet one week thereafter. The Convention bill passed by a unanimous vote; the Convention thus chosen and convened finally passed34 an Ordinance of Secession: Yeas 208; Nays 89. The names of A. H. Stephens and Herschel V. Johnson, late Douglas leaders in the South, were recorded among the Nays.35

Alabama was held back by a scruple on the part of her Governor, Andrew B. Moore, who declined to act decisively until the Presidential Electors in the several States had met, and a majority cast their votes for Lincoln. He issued his call on the 6th, and the election of delegates was held on the 24th of December. The Secessionists claimed a popular majority of 50,000 in the votes of the several counties; but when the Convention36 passed an Ordinance of Secession,37 by a vote of 61 to 39, it was claimed that the minority, being mainly from the Northern counties, where the free population is proportionally far more numerous than among the great plantations of the South, represented more freemen than did the majority.

Florida, through her Legislature, voted38 to call a Convention. That Convention met at Tallahassee,39 and passed40 an Ordinance of Secession: Yeas 62; Nays 7. Several delegates elected expressly as Unionists voted for Secession.

Mississippi assembled her Legislature, on the call of Gov. John J. Pettus, at Jackson; and a Convention was thereby called to meet at the same place, January 7th; and a Secession [348] Ordinance was passed by it two days thereafter: Yeas 84; Nays 15. Mississippi having, next to South Carolina, the largest proportional Slave population of any State in the Union, it is probable that this action more nearly conformed to the real sentiment of her reading, governing class, than that of any other State which is claimed as having seceded.

In Louisiana, Gov. Thomas O. Moore, an extensive planter and slaveholder, cherishing the prejudices of his class, called41 her new Legislature to meet at Baton Rouge, December 10th. This lost no time in calling42 a Convention, by which an Ordinance of Secession was passed43 Yeas 103; Nays 17. But a New Orleans journal, which had not yet fallen into treason, confidently asserted that a majority of the people who voted for delegates to that Convention had voted for Union delegates, and challenged the Secessionists to publish and scrutinize the popular vote. This they were finally impelled to do, figuring out a small majority for their own side. It was plain that, while every Secessionist voted and many Unionists abstained, the vote for Union and that for Secession delegates were just about equal. As made up by the Secessionists, they stood: For Secession, 20,448; Against it, 17,296. The vote for Secession is only two-fifths of the vote cast for President just before. The Convention refused--84 to 45--to submit their act to a vote of the people.

In Texas, a Convention — called, as we have seen — assembled at Austin, January 28th, passed44 an Ordinance of Secession: Yeas 166; Nays 7. This ordinance was submitted to a popular vote, and ratified by a considerable majority; it being very much safer, in most districts, to vote Secession than not at all, and not to vote at all than to vote Union.

Arkansas, in spite of her Governor's reticence, was blest with a Convention;45 her Legislature voting a call for one; but her popular vote showed a Union majority, and the conspirators were baffled for the time.

North Carolina was under the rule, but not at first under the control, of the conspirators. Among the dispatches flying, thick as hail, over the South the day after Lincoln's election, was the following:

Raleigh, N. C., Nov. 7, 1860.
The Governor and Council are in session. The people are very much excited. North Carolina is ready to secede.


The Governor (John W. Ellis) and Legislature being of the Breckinridge school of Democracy, it was easy to call a Convention, but difficult to assemble one without giving the People some voice in the premises. And they, upon the appointed day of election, not only chose a strong majority of Union delegates, but voted further (for fear of what might happen) that the Convention should not meet at all. Yet that same Convention was, directly after the reduction of Sumter, called together, and voted the State out of the Union!

So, in Virginia, where Gov. Letcher had early and heartily entered into the counsels of the Disunionists, the Legislature was called by him to meet in extra session at Richmond on the 7th of January, which it did, and46 passed a bill calling a Convention; [349] but the people returned an overwhelming Union majority; which, so late as April 4th, by 89 to 45, decided not to pass an Ordinance of Secession.

Missouri, under Gov. C. F. Jackson's rule, had a Democratic Legislature, which voted47 to call a Convention; but that body, when convened, was found to be decidedly and inflexibly Union. The pretended Secession of the State, some time afterward, was the work of unauthorized persons, and had not a shadow of legal validity.

So, Tennessee, whose Legislature met January 7th, though her Governor, Isham G. Harris, was thoroughly with the Disunionists, could not be induced to take the first step in their company.48

In Kentucky, the open Secessionists were but a handful, and were unable to make any show of strength in the Legislature. The few slave-traders, some scions of the planting aristocracy, with quite a number of politicians of bygone eminence and power (many, if not most, of them ‘Whigs’ of other days), were early en-listed in the movement, and sought to counterbalance, if not conceal, their paucity of numbers by intense bitterness and preternatural activity. They were enabled, through the timidity and twaddling of the leading politicians who had supplanted them in place and power, to exert a baleful influence over the course of their State throughout the ensuing year, but never to drive or lure her to the brink of Secession.

So, in Maryland, which was early visited by emissaries from the seceded States, who exerted every art to drag her after them into the abyss. They were patiently, respectfully treated; feasted and toasted by the aristocratic few, but nowise encouraged or sympathized with by the great body of the industrious classes. Gov. Thomas H. Hicks, though a slaveholder, and not very determined nor consistent in his course at the outset of the Rebellion, met the original appeal for Secession with a decided rebuff. Being strongly memorialized to convene the Legislature in extra session, he responded49 as follows:

Identified. as I am, by birth, and every other tie, with the South--a slaveholder, and feeling as warmly for my native State as any man can do — I am yet compelled by my sense of fair dealing, and my respect for the Constitution of our country, to declare that I see nothing in the bare election of Mr. Lincoln which would justify the South in taking any steps tending toward a separation of these States. Mr. Lincoln being elected, I am willing to await further results. If lie will administer the Government in a proper and patriotic manner, we are all bound to submit to his Administration, much as we may have opposed his election.

As an individual, I will very cheerfully sustain him in well-doing, because my suffering country will be benefited by a constitutional administration of the Government. If, on the contrary, he shall abuse the trust [350] confided to him, I shall be found as ready and determined as any other man to arrest him in his wrong courses, and to seek redress of our grievances by any and all proper means.

Delaware had, in 1858, chosen William Burton (Democrat) for Governor by 7,758 votes to 7,544 for his Opposition rival; Democracy in Delaware being almost exclusively based on Slavery, and having at length carried the State by its aid. The great body of the party, under the lead of Senator James A. Bayard, had supported Breckinridge, and were still in sympathy with his friends' view of “Southern rights,” but not to the extent of approving South Carolina remedies. Their Legislature met at Dover, January 2, 1861. Gov. Burton, in his Message, said:

The cause of all the trouble is the persistent war of the Abolitionists upon more than two billions of property; a war waged from pulpits, rostrums, and schools, by press and people — all teaching that Slavery is a crime and a sin, until it has become the opinion of a portion of one section of the country. The only remedy for the evils now threatening is a radical change of public sentiment in regard to the whole question. The North should retire from its untenable position immediately.

Mr. Dickenson, Commissioner from Mississippi, having addressed the two Houses jointly in advocacy of Secession, they passed, directly thereafter, separately and unanimously, the following:

“Resolved, That, having extended to the Hon. H. Dickenson, Commissioner from Mississippi, the courtesy due him as the representative of a sovereign State of the confederacy, as well as to the State he represents, we deem it proper, and due to ourselves and the people of Delaware, to express our unqualified disapproval of the remedy for the existing difficulties suggested by the resolutions of the Legislature of Mississippi.”

Before the opening of 1861, a perfect reign of terror had been established throughout the Gulf States. A secret order, known as “Knights of the Golden circle,” or as “Knights of the Columbian Star,” succeeding that known, six or seven years earlier, as the “Order of the Lone Star,” having for its ostensible object the acquisition of Cuba, Mexico, and Central America, and the establishment of Slavery in the two latter, but really operating in the interest of Disunion, had spread its network of lodges, grips, passwords, and alluring mystery, all over the South, and had ramifications even in some of the cities of the adjoining Free States. Other clubs, more or less secret, were known as “The Precipitators,” “Vigilance Committee,” “Minute men,” and by kindred designations; but all of them were sworn to fidelity to “Southern rights;” while their members were gradually prepared and ripened, wherever any ripening was needed, for the task of treason. Whoever ventured to condemn and repudiate Secession as the true and sovereign remedy for Southern wrongs, in any neighborhood where Slavery was dominant, was thenceforth a marked man, to be stigmatized and hunted down as a “Lincolnite,” “Submissionist,” or “Abolitionist.” One refugee planter from Southern Alabama, himself a slaveholder, but of northern birth, who barely escaped a violent death, because of an intercepted letter from a relative in Connecticut, urging him to free his slaves and return to the North, as he had promised, stated50 that he had himself been [351] obliged to join the “Minute men” of his neighborhood for safety, and had thus been compelled to assist in hanging six men of Northern birth because of their Union sentiments; and he personally knew that not less than one hundred men had been hung in his section of the State and in the adjoining section of Georgia, during the six weeks which preceded his escape in December, 1860.

When, therefore, the time at length arrived,51 in pursuance of a formal invitation from South Carolina, for the assembling at Montgomery of a Convention of delegates from all the States which should, by that time, have seceded from the Union, with a view to the formation of a new Confederacy, the States which had united in the movement were as follows:

States.Free Population in 1860.Slaves.Total.
South Carolina301,271402,541703,812
Georgia595,097462,2321,057,829
Alabama529,164435,132964,296
Mississippi354,700436,696791,396
Louisiana376,280333,010709,290
Florida78,68661,753140,439
Texas52421,750180,682602,432
 
Total Seceded2,656,9482,312,0464,968,994
Non-Seceded Slave States5,633,0051,638,2977,271,302
 
Total Slave States8,289,9583,950,34812,240,296

The Slave States and District which had not united in the movement, were as follows:

States.Free Population in 1860.Slaves.Total.
Arkansas324,323111,104435,427
Delaware110,4201,798112,218
Kentucky930,223225,4901,155,713
Maryland599,84687,188687,034
Missouri1,067,352114,9651,182,317
North Carolina661,586331,081992,667
Tennessee834,063275,7841,109,847
Virginia1,105,192490,8871,596,079
Dist. Columbia71,8953,18175,076
 
Total5,704,9001,641,4787,346,378

So that, after the conspiracy had had complete possession of the Southern mind for three months, with the Southern members of the Cabinet, nearly all the Federal officers, most of the Governors and other State functionaries, and seven-eighths of the prominent and active politicians, pushing it on, and no force exerted against nor in any manner threatening to resist it, a majority of the Slave States, with two-thirds of the free population of the entire slaveholding region, was openly and positively adverse to it; either because they regarded the alleged grievances of the South as exaggerated if not unreal, or because they believed that those wrongs would rather be aggravated than cured by Disunion.

1 “Fusion” vote apportioned according to the estimated strength of the several contributing parties.

2 “Fusion” vote apportioned according to the estimated strength of the several contributing parties.

3 “Fusion” vote apportioned according to the estimated strength of the several contributing parties.

4 “Fusion” vote apportioned according to the estimated strength of the several contributing parties.

5 “Fusion” vote apportioned according to the estimated strength of the several contributing parties.

6 “Fusion” vote apportioned according to the estimated strength of the several contributing parties.

7 “Fusion” vote apportioned according to the estimated strength of the several contributing parties.

8 “Fusion” vote apportioned according to the estimated strength of the several contributing parties.

9 “Fusion” vote apportioned according to the estimated strength of the several contributing parties.

10 “Fusion” vote apportioned according to the estimated strength of the several contributing parties.

11 This anti-Breckinridge vote was cast for a “Fusion” Electoral ticket, but almost entirely by old ‘Whigs’ o<*> Bell men.

Lincoln over Douglas, 566,036; Do. over Bell, 1,211,486; do. over Breckinridge, 1,007,528.

Lincoln has less than all his opponents combined, by 930,170.

Breckinridge had in the Slave States over Bell, 54,898; do. over Douglas, 407,346; do. over Douglas and Lincoln, 380,916.

Breckinridge lacks of a majority in the Slave States, 135,057.

12 The Washington Star, then a Breckinridge organ, noticing, in September, 1860, the conversion of Senator Clingman, of North Carolina, from the support of Douglas to that of Breckinridge, said:

While we congratulate him on the fact that his eyes are at length open to the (to the South) dangerous tendency of the labors of Douglas, we hail his conversion as an evidence of the truth of our oft-repeated declaration, that, ere the first Monday in November, every honest and unselfish Democrat throughout the South will be found arrayed against Douglas-Freesoilism, as being far more dangerous to the South than the election of Lincoln; because it seeks to create a Free-Soil party there; while, if Lincoln triumphs, the result cannot fail to be a South united in her own defense — the only key to a full and — we sincerely believe — a peaceful and happy solution of the political problem of the Slavery question.

Columns like the above might be quoted from the Breckinridge journals of the South, showing that they regarded the success of Douglas as the great peril, to be defeated at all hazards.

13 This, and nearly all the proceedings at Columbia at this crisis, are here copied directly from the columns of The Charleston Courier.

14 Dispatch to The New York Herald, dated Washington, Nov. 8, 1860:

A dispatch, received here to-day from a leading and wealthy gentleman in Charleston, states that the news of Lincoln's election was received there with cheers and many manifestations of approbation.

The Charleston Mercury of the 7th or 8th exultingly announced the same fact.

15 On the first day of the South Carolina Secession Convention, at Columbia, December 17, 1860, Hon. William Porcher Miles, M. C. from the Charleston District, one of the delegates, made a short speech against adjournment to Charleston, on account of the epidemic (small-pox) at Columbia; saying that he was just from Washington, where he had been in consultation with Southern friends representing every other Southern State, who had unanimously urged the utmost haste in the consummation of South Carolina's secession. He would adjourn to no other place until the Ordinance of Secession had passed.--See Charleston Courier, December 18, 1860.

16 Howell Cobb, of Georgia, Secretary of the Treasury; John B. Floyd, of Virginia, Secretary of War; Jacob Thompson, of Mississippi, Secretary of the Interior. Aaron V. Brown, of Tennessee, Mr. Buchanan's first Postmaster-General, died, and was succeeded, in 1859, by Joseph Holt, of Kentucky, who stood by the Union.

17 See, as a specimen, the Alabama resolves — on pages 312-13.

18 Houston, 36,170; Runnells, 27,500.

19 Hamilton, 16,409; Waul, 15,961.

20 Since, Confederate Postmaster-General. Reagan was elected to Congress from Eastern Texas in 1859, by 20,565 votes to 3,541 for Judge W. B. Ochiltree; but Houston for Governor had 4,183 majority in the District at that election; showing that Reagan had no serious opposition.

21 Vote for Governor: Letcher, Dem., 77,112; Goggin, Am., 71,543.

22 Democratic vote of Virginia: Breckinridge, 74,323; douglas, 16,290.

23 Extract from a letter in The New York Herald of Nov. 9, dated

Charleston, Nov. 5, 1860.
As a mark of the popular inclination toward resistance, it is a fact of some significance that the echoes of the word “coercion” had hardly reached our borders before the whole State was bristling with spontaneous organizations of Minute-Men — irregular forces, it is true, but, nevertheless, formidable, because armed to the teeth with weapons to which they have been accustomed from early youth, and animated with the idea that they are defending all that is near and dear to them. The elaborate disclaimers, on the part of some of the Lincoln papers, of any design to molest the State, even if she secedes, have no weight whatever here. People very justly argue that, if coercion should be attempted, the Minute-Men will be wanted; and, if the State should not be molested in her independence, it will be a great advantage to have such a body of men always at command.

At this time, it is impossible to describe the extent of the Minute-Men movement. There is not a hamlet in the State that has not its squad, either of mounted men or infantry. They are drilling every night, and have generally adopted Hardee's Tactics, which, because less monotonous, are preferred by our impetuous young men to the old, heavy infantry drill. Not a night passes that we do not hear in the streets of Charleston the tramp of large bodies of armed men, moving with the quick Zouave step, and with admirable discipline and precision.


This, it will be seen, was before Lincoln's election; and, of course, before any public steps had been taken toward Secession. As the movement extended to other States. its military manifestations were nearly everywhere such as are portrayed above.

24 As a stump candidate; by 30,577 votes to 28,618 for R. H. Johnson, regular Democrat.

25 Election of August, 1860: C. F. Jackson (Douglas) 74,446; Sam. Orr (Bell) 66,583; Hancock Jackson (Breck.) 11,416; Gardenhire (Lincoln) 6,135.

26 While speaking at Norfolk, Va., during the canvass of 1860.

27 At Milledgeville, Nov. 8, 1860.

28 At the State House, Nov. 14, 1860.

29 Mr. Clay, at another time, at a caucus of Southern members of Congress, was asked whether, in a certain contingency, Kentuckians would go for Disunion. He promptly replied: “No, Sir: Kentuckians view Disunion as itself the greatest of evils, and as a remedy for nothing.”

The following letter likewise embodies the ruling conviction of his life, which under no circumstances could he be induced to depart from:

Washington, Dec. 22, 1849.
my dear Sir:--My object in writing to you now is one of great importance, and I wish you to lead off in it.

The feeling for Disunion among some of the intemperate Southern politicians is stronger than I supposed it could be. The masses generally, even at the South, are, I believe, yet sound; but they may become inflamed and perverted. The best counteraction of that feeling is to be derived from popular expressions at public meetings of the people. Now, what I would be glad to see, is such meetings held throughout Kentucky. For, you must know, that the Disunionists count upon the cooperation of our patriotic State. Cannot you get up a large, powerful meeting of both parties, if possible, at Lexington, at Louisville, etc., etc., to express in strong language their determination to stand by the Union? Now is the time for salutary action, and you are the man to act. I inclose some resolutions, which, or some similar to them, I should be happy to see adopted.


30 Early in 1860, an eminent New York lawyer visited Charleston professionally, and was detained in that city several weeks, mingling freely with her citizens and the guests at her principal hotel. Though never a candidate for office, he took a warm interest in public affairs, and had always acted with the ‘Whig,’ ‘American,’ or ‘Conservative’ party. Soon after his return to New York, some old associates called to consult him on political affairs, and were astounded to hear that his views had undergone a complete change. “What can that mean?” “It means this,” was his well-considered reply; “that I have spent the past month in the South: that I find the Union a sham; that we are in effect, two peoples, between whom an early war is inevitable; and that, in that war, I mean to stand by my own hearth and kindred. Good morning, gentlemen!”

31 Since, Confederate Secretary of the Treasury.

32 Francis W. Pickens, newly chosen by the Legislature; an original Nullifier and life-long Disunionist, “born insensible to fear.” He was in Congress (House) from 1835 to 1843; sent as Minister to Russia by Buchanan in 1858.

33 November 13, 1860.

34 January 18, 1861.

35 “A sad thing to observe is, that those who are determined on immediate secession have not the coolness, the capacity, or the nerve, to propose something after that. We must secede, it is said; but, what then we are to do, nobody knows, or, at least, nobody says. This is extremely foolish, and more wicked than foolish. All sorts of business are going to wreck and ruin, because of the uncertainty of the future. No statesmanship has ever been exhibited yet, so far as we know, by those who will dissolve the Union. South Carolina considers it her policy to create a collision with the Federal authorities for the purpose of arousing the South from her slumber. Never was there a greater mistake.” --Augusta (Ga.) Chronicls and Sentinel, January 1, 1861.

36 Assembled at Montgomery, January 7th.

37 January 11, 1861.

38 December 1, 1860.

39 January 3, 1861.

40 January 10th.

41 November 26, 1860.

42 December 17, 1860.

43 January 26, 1860.

44 February 1, 1861.

45 November 16, 1860.

46 January 13, 1861.

47 January 16, 1861.

48 The Nashville Banner, a leading journal of the old Whig school, contained late in January, 1860, the following warning of the treacherous schemes that were then culminating in Tennessee:

Let every true, honest citizen of the South beware. The vilest, most damnable, deep-laid and treacherous conspiracy that was ever concocted in the busy brain of the most designing knave, is being hatched to destroy his liberties by breaking up this Government. If the people do not rise in their strength and put back these meddling politicians, the latter will chloroform them with sectional prejudice, and then ride over them rough-shod before they can recover from the narcotic. The political tricksters, who see their power slipping from their grasp, are playing a desperate game, and will not “lose a trick” if they can help it. Let honest men see that the double-dealers do not “stock the cards.”

49 November 27, 1861.

50 To Mr. O. J. Victor, author of “The History of the Southern Rebellion,” who knew him well, and vouches for his integrity. (See his vol. i., p. 134.) See to the same effect the testimony of Hon. A. J. Hamilton, of Texas, Rev. Mr. Aughey, of Mississippi, and hundreds of others. Southern unanimity (in certain localities) for Secession, was such as violence and terror have often produced in favor of the most universally detested men and measures all over the world. Such an apparent unanimity was doubtless secured, but at the expense of not less than ten thousand precious lives, taken because the victims would not conceal and deny their invincible affection for their whole country.

51 February 4, 1861.

52 Texas had seceded; but her delegates had not reached Montgomery when the time arrived for organizing the Convention.

Hartford. Published by O. D. Chase and Company. 1866.

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