GROWTH OF SECESSION. 33 WASHINGTON, D. C., Wednesday, Nov. 7, 1860. There is a good deal of excitement here. Several journed to await the action of the Baltimore | election at Charleston, was received with long-conConvention, "ratified" the nomination of tinued cheering for a Southern confederacy. Mr. Breckenridge, who thus became a candidate of the extremists, or disunionists. That Mr. Douglas was the regular and just nominee is evident from the fullness of the delegations in the Convention and by the popular vote. extreme Southern men in office have donned the cockade, and declared themselves ready to march South. COLUMBIA, S. C., Thursday, Nov. 8th. The Speaker of the House last night received a dispatch from Virginia, tendering the services of a volunteer corps in the event of South Carolina's secession. Edmund Ruffin spoke last night. He said Southern independence could only be secured by the secession of South Carolina. His speech was raptu The election of Mr. Lincoln was, therefore, owing to the disorganization of the opposition by the Southern men, and that these disorganizers should have proceeded to organize a scheme of treason against the Government, using their defeat as a pretext, demon-rously applauded. strates the wisdom of the course pursued by the Douglas men in repudiating the dictation of the extremists. • For the election of a Republican President the country is indebted to the extremists of the South. CHARLESTON, S. C., Thursday, Nov. 7, 1860. The bark James Gray, owned by Cushing's Boston Line, lying at our wharves, under instructions from her owners, has hoisted the Palmetto flag, and fired a salute of fifteen guns. NEW ORLEANS, La., Thursday, Nov. 8, 1860. Placards are posted about the city, calling a Convention of those favorable to the organization of a corps of "Minute Men." WASHINGTON, D. C., Friday, Nov. 9, 1860. The President is still in doubt what to do. He is know how to meet them. His feelings are with the South, but he is afraid to assist them openly. tion of a dissolution of her relations with the Union, that State was looked to by the Seces-apprehensive of troubles in the South, but does not sionists to take the initiative in the rebellion. She did not shrink from the responsibility. Before the day of election her Governor had laid a strong disunion message before the Legislature, advising the calling of a Convention of Delegates to act for the State in dissolving her relations with the Union. How the Election was regarded. Such dispatches as the following flew over the wires on the days succeed ing the Presidential election: RALEIGH. N, C., Wednesday, Nov. 7, 1860. The Governor and Council are in session. The people are very much excited. North Carolina is ready to secede. COLUMBIA, S. C., Wednesday, Nov. 7, 1860. William W. Boyce, member of Congress, spoke from the steps of the Congaree House, on Tuesday night,urging secession in case of Mr. Lincoln's election. He was followed by other prominent Carolinians. MONTGOMERY, Ala., Wednesday, Nov. 7 1860. Large numbers of the Bell men, headed by T. H. Watts, have declared for secession, since the announcement of Lincoln's election. The State will undoubtedly secede. AUGUSTA, Ga., Wednesday, Nov. 7, 1860. The Charleston Mercury says the news of Lincoln's 5 A large quantity of arms was yesterday shipped from our arsenal to the South. But the place of destination remains a secret. The proclamation of Gov. Brown, of Georgia, has created much excitement. It is the most unconstitutional manifesto ever published in the United States, and it depends now upon the President whether he will use his authority, and enforce the laws of the United States. Growth of the Secession Sentiment Each day added to the intensity of the excitement. The press of the South, early in November, was widely divided, even in the Gulf States. In New Orleans, the majority of press and people seemed to regard the threats of disunion with disfavor. So in Savannah, Mobile, Memphis, Nashville, &c., there were found stern and strong voices for the Union. "Wait until Mr. Lincoln is inaugurated, and commits the overt act," the Union men urged; but, it soon became evident that the antipathy to the North and to the Union gained in fervor; and, day by day, the public mind of the South became more reconciled to the views of the few men who assumed a leadership in the crisis, viz.: Wm. L. Yancey, Jefferson Davis, Robert Toombs U. S. Senator Iverson, U. S. Senator Benjamin, U. S. Senator Wigfall, U. S. Senator Clingman, U. S. Senator Clay, Jr., and Messrs. Mason, Wise and Hunter, of Virginia. Virginia's Protest vention bill was adopted-December 6th being fixed as the day for the election of delegates, the Convention to meet December 17th. These "precipitate" demonstrations gave especial alarm to the Union men in the South, who were rapidly becoming powermovement was perceptible, as will be indicat-less before the growing feeling against any ared by the dispatches of the 15th, viz. :— By the middle of NovemThe DramaUnfolding ber the progress of the MONTGOMERY, Ala. rangement with the North. In Virginia, al- "Throwing aside the question of Constitutional as potential as South Carolina, and has her own in- Gov. Moore, of Alabama, awaits the election of Lincoln by the electoral college, on the fifth of December, before calling a State Convention. He will issue his call on the 6th of December, fixing election of delegates for the 24th. The Convention assembles 7th January, 1861. The Convention will be composed of one hundred members. From the indications given in private correspondence from leading men in each county, at least seventy-five members of the Convention will be for unconditional disunion. MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. The leading men of all parties had a conference to-day, and unanimously agreed to a State Convention. They recommend resistance, the time and mode to be settled by the Convention. Good feeling merly Disunion and Secession for aggression by the prevailed. TALLAHASSE, Fla. "Florida is with the gallant Palmetto flag," said a dispatch from Governor Perry, of that State, to Governor Gist, of South Carolina. RICHMOND, Va. Governor Letcher has called an extra session of the Legislature for the 7th of January, to take into consideration the condition of public affairs, and determine calmly and wisely what action is necessary in this emergency. South Carolina Acts. General Government. It is now a disunited South- To this view of the case The Iron Rule. "Virginia and the other frontier States may as November 10th, in the well at once understand their position with the CotSouth Carolina Legislature, ton States. They are not expected to aid the Cotton States in protecting themselves and redeeming their important action was had liberties. They will practically aid the Northern A bill was reported for the immediate enStates in attempting to obtain in the South an acquirolment of 10,000 volunteers. November 21st escence in the rule of Abolitionists at Washington. was fixed as a day of humiliation, fasting The Southern States, however, will disregard their and prayer. The resignations of Messrs. Ham-counsels. They want no conference but in the conmond and Chestnut, United States Senators, vention which will assemble to frame the Constitawere accepted "enthusiastically." The Con- tion, and complete the organization of a Southern ACTION OF GOVERNORS AND LEGISLATURES. Confederacy. They intend to secede from the Union, and construct a Union amongst themselves, and will be glad to find Virginia and the other Border States in counsel with them, after this great Revolution. But if these value their own dignity,or respect our wishes, let them keep aloof from us until they are prepared to dissolve their connection with the present Union, and to unite their destinies with that of the other Southern States. If they will not be our friends, let them not be our enemies, by unsolicited and undesired efforts under whatever amiable pretext-of preserving an abolished Union, to subject us to the sectional despotism of a consolidated government under the control of abolitionists at Washington. The day for new guarantees is gone. Henceforth we are two peoples." 85 Terms of Settlement to be proposed. The conservative element in the South, it was hoped, would rally around a proposition of this kind; but, no concerted sympathy was expressed, and all hopes of the proposed Conference were abandoned at an early day. Under the influence of an ever-increasing entiment for disunion and "further independence," the Unionists in Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi were soon left in the small minority. The immediate Secessionists began at length to speak of them derisively as "submissionists," began to use them discourteously at first, but soon proceeded to intimidate by threats. Before South Carolina had actually seceded, in the cotton growing States a strong Unionist was regarded as an enemy to the South, and was treated with such opposition as made it impolitic for a citizen to speak his sentiments if they were averse to precipitate action. It was given The Conference demanded by Virginia looked to a united effort before Congress, and all action for secession was to be withheld until after the failure to obtain from Congress the necessary guarantees. It was understood by her leading men that the Republicans in Congress would patiently and will-out, and became the generally received opiningly consider plans for compromise, and Virginia, if she could stay the revolution before it passed beyond the actual point of secession, had fair hopes of still preserving the Union. The programme determined upon by the Virginia leaders embraced, first, a repeal of the statutes nullifying the Fugitive Slave law by those States which have passed such statutes, with a guarantee of a faithful enforcement of that law in the future; second, a concession that the Constitution authorizes the carrying of slaves into the common territory, and consequent protection for slave property therein; and, third, that neither Congress nor the Executive shall interfere with slavery in the States or Territories, except for its protection in the latter when necessary. ion, that "in view of the increasing power of the Disunionists in the South, the conservatives of that quarter, headed by Henry S. Foote of Mississippi, Alexander H. Stephens of Georgia, Isaac E. Morse of Louisiana, Gen. Sam Houston of Texas, George W. Jones of Tennessee, the Hon. John M. Botts, Timothy Rives, and William C. Rives of Virginia, Albert Rust of Arkansas, and James Guthrie of Kentucky, intend issuing a manifesto, assuring the conservative people of the Free States that in no event will the constitutional election of Mr. Lincoln be regarded as a cause for breaking up the Union, unless he should attack the rights of the South." But, if such an address ever was contemplated or proposed, it never was published. CHAPTER IV. ACTION OF GOVERNORS, LEGISLATURES, &C.. Georgia Convention ordered. ALL attention now be- | of offence. The bill appropriating one milcame centered in the action lion dollars, to arm and equip the State, beof the Southern State Legis- came a law, November 13th. On the 18th latures. Georgia followed South Carolina in the Convention bill passed unanimously-the calling a Convention. A special message of election of delegates being ordered for JanuGovernor Brown had paved the way for such ary 2d (1861); to meet Jan. 9th. The preamlegislation as placed the State in an attitude ble of the Convention bill read :— Whereas, The present crisis in national affairs, in the judgment of this General Assembly, demands resistance; and Whereas, It is the privilege of the people to determine the mode, measure, and time of such resistance: therefore, The General Assembly enacts that the Governor issue his proclamation, ordering the election on the 2d of January. 66 Whereas, In consequence of the appointment of Electors, a majority of whom are known to be favor. able to the election of sectional candidates as Presi dent and Vice-President of the United States, whose principles and views are believed (by a large portion of the Southern States) to be in direct hostility to their constitutional rights and interests, and in consequence thereof great excitement prevails in the public mind, and prudence requires that the re Its powers were defined in the fourth sec-presentatives of the people of this Commonwealth tion of the bill, which read:-"Said Convention, when assembled, may consider all grievances impairing or affecting the equality of rights of the people of Georgia as members of the United States, and determine the mode, measure, and time of redress." Mississippi Legislature Convened. The Governor of Mississippi called the Legislature of that State to meet on the 26th of November. His proclamation read: "Whereas, The people of the Non-Slaveholding States have in various forms, declared purposes hostile to the institutions of the Slaveholding States, and the State Governments of nearly all the Northern States have evinced a settled purpose to evade their constitutional obligations, and disregard their oaths in carrying on this war on the rights and institutions of Southern States; and should take into consideration the condition of public affairs, and determine, calmly and wisely, what action is necessary in this emergency, therefore, I, John Letcher, Governor, by virtue of the authority aforesaid, do hereby require the Senators and Delegates of the two Houses of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth to convene at the Capitol, in the city of Richmond, on Monday, the 7th day of Janua ry, A. D. 1861, at 12 o'clock, M., to legislate upon such subjects as they may deem necessary and proper." This was accompanied by an announcement in the Dispatch, of Richmond, to the effect that the State could efficiently arm 25,000 troops. The editor further stated that she had at least sixty bronze and rifled field pieces and howitzers. "A contract has been made for 3,000 shells and shrapnells, in addition to those purchased with the Parrott guns. Five hundred barrels of Dupont powder has been purchased and stored in maga "Whereas, The recent election of Messrs. Lincoln and Hamlin demonstrates that those who neither reverence the Constitution, obey the laws, nor re-zines built for the purpose. The model of a gard their oaths, have now the power to elect to the highest offices in the Confederacy men who sympathize with them in all their mad zeal to destroy the peace, property and prosperity of the Southern section, and who will use the powers of the Federal Government to defeat all the purposes for which it was formed; and Whereas, The dearest rights of the people depend for protection, under our Constitution, on the fidelity to their oaths of those who administer the Government: "Now, therefore, that the State of Mississippi may be enabled to take into consideration the propriety and necessity of providing surer and better safeguards for the lives, liberties, and property of her citizens than have been found, or are to be hoped for, in Black Republican oaths: "I, John J. Pettus, Governor of the State of Mississippi, exercising the powers in me vested," &c., &c. Governor Letcher's proclamation next followed. He used, among other ex Virginia Legis'ature pressions, the following: new Virginia musket is determined on. Other warlike preparations are also in progress." The Dispatch, referring to the Governor's call, and the crisis which the Legislature would have to meet, said: "By the time they meet, the crisis will be suffi ciently developed, no doubt, to demand some action on the part of Virginia. She will then find, very probably, that the question for her to debate is ripe. Ten days have very much changed the appearance of things. The signs from the South leave little room to hope that the Union will long remain unbroken. If there is a possibility of preserving it, or of prevailing upon States which may secede to rejoin the Union, we cannot long postpone deliberation upon the means by which either is to be done. There may be yet another question for Virginia, and that is, if secession cannot be avoided, and the Seceding States cannot be induced to return, what course is left her to pursue? It is probable that Governor Letcher will renew his proposition to the last Legis lature for a Convention of the States, under the fifth article of the Constitution, to consider the state of THE GOVERNOR OF KENTUCKY'S VIEWS. the country, and see if some measure cannot be taken, which will restore harmony to the Union and protect the rights and equality of the States from fanaticism and radicalism." Governor Moore, of Louisiana, yielding to the pressure of the State, issued his call, (November 19th,) for the Convention of the Legislature, December 10th. Alabama Governor's Views. Governor Moore, of Alabama, in answer to inquiries of leading citizens of the State in regard to his views, answered by an elaborate paper, under date of November 14th, taking the ground that secession was not only a right-but a necessity. He took the position that the President had no power, under the Constitution, to coerce a state, saying:-" If a State withdraws from the Union, the Federal Government has no power, under the Constitution, to use the military force against her, for there is no law to enforce the submission of a sovereign State, nor would such a withdrawal be either an insurrection or an invasion." This view of the want of power in the Executive to coerce a State, we may add, was that quite generally entertained at the South, and it is certain the precipitate Secessionists regarded that fact as one so important, that their wish was to get out of the Union before Mr. Lincoln came into power, not knowing to what extent he might resort to force against them. Mr. Buchanan, it was felt and understood, would not attempt coercion, let the result be what it might. Governor Moore's address added:"We should remember that Alabama must act and decide the great question of resistance or submission for herself. No other State has the right or the power to decide it for her. She may, and should, consult with other Slaveholding States to secure concert of action, but still she must decide the question for herself, and co-operate afterward. "The contemplated Convention will not be the place for the timid or the rash. It should be composed of men of wisdom and experience-men who have the capacity to determine what the honor of the State and the security of her people demand; and patriotism and moral courage sufficient to carry out the dictates of their honest judgments. The Governor of Ken tucky's Views. be governed by a party who entertain the most deadly hostility toward them and their institution of Slavery. They are loyal and true to the Union, but will never consent to remain degraded and dishonored members of it." Governor Magoffin, of Kentucky, in an address to his people, took a position adverse to the secession movement. His words were strong in condemning the unconstitutionality of the Personal Liberty acts, and those other acts which had done injury to the South. He regarded Slavery as necessary to the prosperity of the North. He said, among other things: "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 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, 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." perilous, border position. She has a right to claim The Arkansas Legislature met Nov. 13th, but Governor Conway did not, in his message. refer to the National troubles. His silence was variously construed, but it was understood that the people of the State were op "What will the intelligent and patriotic people of Alabama do in the impending crisis? Judging of the future by the past, I believe they will prove them-posed to disunion. selves equal to the present, or any future emergency, On the 14th of November, Mr. Alexander and never will consent to affiliate with, or submit to H. Stephens, afterwards Vice-President of the |