ing straws against the wind. I soon found that my presence was not agreeable to the gentlemen assembled, and if they had not left I should; but they did not give me the opportunity; for soon after my arrival, and upon the utterance of the first sentiment I expressed upon the subject, they began, one by one, to leave the room, until the gov ernor and myself were left alone. I found all reason in vain, and I did not remain long, but extended my walk through Capitol Square and down Main Street to ascertain the extent of my danger, as predicted by my friends. Many looked askance, some seemed to avoid me, but none ventured to offer me offense. I never felt more proud or stepped more boldly, for I felt the most comfortable and confiding assurance that I was in the right. I felt that I was in the midst of a despicable set of traitors on the one hand, and of timid, misguided men, who had suffered their fears, in some instances, their prejudices and their passions, in others, to get the better of their judgments. I walked home proudly and defiantly; but when safely pillowed under my own roof, my pride and defiant spirit both forsook me, and I involuntarily burst into tears over what I too clearly saw the calamities that were in store for my country.

There has been no one act of the administration of Mr. Lincoln, perhaps, that has been more severely censured and condemned throughout the South as a high-handed usurpation of power and disregard of all constitutional and legal authority, than the call of seventy-five thousand troops by his proclamation of April 15, 1861. It was commented upon. by the press and talked of by the leading secessionists, until the belief became universal in the South that the war was by this means designedly made upon the South without the sanction of law; while in truth there was no one act of his

administration more thoroughly sustained by lawful authority or made more imperative upon him.

The authority is to be found in the first volume of the "Laws of the United States" of 1795, and date of February 28. In chapter xxxvi., section ii., page 424, it reads: "And be it farther enacted, That whenever the laws of the United States shall be opposed, or the execution thereof obstructed in any state by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, or by the powers vested in the marshals by this act, it shall be lawful for the President of the United States to call for the militia of such state, or any other state or states, as may be neces sary to suppress such combinations, to cause the laws to be duly executed. And the use of the militia so to be called forth may be continued, if necessary, until the expiration of thirty days after the commencement of the next session of Congress." And again, by the Act of March 3, 1807, which declares, "That in all cases of insurrection or obstruction to the laws, either of the United States or of any individual state or territory, where it is lawful for the President of the United States to call forth the militia for the purpose of suppressing such insurrection or causing the laws to be executed, it shall be lawful for him to employ for the same purpose such part of the land or naval force of the United States as shall be judged necessary, having first observed all the prerequisites of the law in that respect."

THE ORDINANCE OF SECESSION PASSED IN VIRGINIA.

The balance of the story is soon told. On the next day (the 16th) the outside Convention of secessionists met in full force and in secret session, clamorous and riotous for an ordinance of secession.. The legitimate Convention sat with closed doors, and proceeded to enforce an obligation of the

strictest secrecy on every member of the body as to their future proceedings-one and the main object of which was to keep the people in the dark as to the extent of the opposition still existing in this body to a rupture with the gencral government, and also to enable them to possess themselves of government property before it could be known in Washington what they intended. On the 17th, the ordinance was passed by a vote of 88 to 55, but was, until the injunction of secrecy was removed, generally believed to have been almost, if not quite unanimous. Then followed the seizure of the Custom-house and Post-office in Richmond, the seizure of Gosport Navy-yard and IIarper's Ferry, with all the munitions of war they contained, the sinking of vessels in the channel of Elizabeth River to prevent the escape of such war-steamers as were then in the harbor of Norfolk.

Thus was this stato not only declared to be out of the Union, but actually plunged into active hostility against the United States by a Convention whose powers were expressly limited by a vote of the people to a recommenda tion only of what should be done.

THE ILLEGAL STATE ACTION OF THE CONVENTION.

But this was not all. On the 25th of April, without waiting for the ratification of the ordinance, the Convention adopted the constitution of the Confederate government as their Constitution, and negotiated a treaty with Mr. Stephens, who had been sent on as commissioner for that purpose, by which the whole power of the state was transferred to the Confederate government at Montgomery, introduced large bodies of troops from other states into Virginia to overawe and control the elections, and having converted the peaceful homes of Eastern Virginia into one grand mil

itary encampment, with an effrontery unparalleled, they turned to the people whose confidence they had thus abused and betrayed, and said, "Now you can vote for secession or against it, as you choose, but we advise you to vote for the Emperor," as was said in France when Louis Napoleon was voted an imperial diadem. And such was the system of intimidation resorted to, that in the city of Richmond, which would have cast fifteen hundred to 'two thousand votes against it if it had been understood that men were free to vote without interruption or annoyance, only two such votes were recorded, one of which was by Mr. John H. Anderson. And here let me inquire what is the status of Virginia at this time? Is she a member of the Southern Confederacy or not? For all present practical purposes she is, but for the future, in fact and in law, sho is not. Bo it remembered that the Virginia Convention was one of limited powers, and that a limitation, not by construction, but by the express vote of the people, who declared by a majority of fifty-six thousand that nothing the Convention might do touching the organic law of the land should have the force of law until submitted to them for ratification or rejection. The Ordinance of Secession has been submitted and ratified, but has the annexation of the state and the adoption of the Southern Constitution been submitted? Never; and, without such submission and ratification, the Convention was as powerless to transfer the state to Mr. Jeff. Davis and Company, and to adopt a Confederate Constitution for the people, as any other body of men collected together in the state. So far from having given her consent to this transfer, when the amendments adopted by the same Convention to the State Constitution were submitted, which amendments ignored the Constitution of the United States and recognized the Confederate Constitution,

the people rejected them, so that Virginia is now in a condition of revolution, and in alliance with the Confederate government so long as the war may last, but at its termination is entirely free of all connection with them, if their independence shall be established, in which event she will legally be standing alone, free to form whatever future associations she may think fit.

THE RATIFICATION OF THE ORDINANCE OF SECESSION.

But to return. My own case will illustrate the condition of things in Richmond.'I had resolved to cast my vote against the ordinance if it were the last I should ever bo permitted to give. For the first time in my life I had armed myself to repel any rudeness or indecorum that might be exhibited toward me. When a number of my friends appealed to me in the most forcible manner not to go to the polls, that they did not believe it would be safe for me to do so, I replied that, let the danger be what it might, I was resolved to vote, and that I would not hesitate to shoot down any man who might dare to show me indignity, they said, if I did vote they would stand by me, as my friends generally would, but it would probably involve the whole city in a scene of bloodshed ever to be deplored. I finally suffered myself to be dissuaded from exercising my right as a citizen of Virginia, which I have regretted and been ashamed of to this day. The truth is, the vote throughout the state, with the exception of some few counties bordering on the Potomac and in the northwest, was a perfect farce. Thousands voted for it who were as much opposed to it at heart as I was, through fear of the consequences; tens of thousands did not vote at all, while others, again, very naturally inquired, what is the use of voting against it, when we are in actual war, and can not get out of it by