ed the managers to incite tumult against the Unionists, both to intimidate them, and to create a popular feeling for an open espousal of the Confederate cause. Union Feeling in Richmond. On the evening of the 8th, (March,) Hon. Wm. C. Rives a name memorable in the political annals of the country-addressed the people of Richmond. His influence was regarded as second to that of no single person in the State-hence the importance attached to his words. His speech was thoroughly Union in its sentiments. He approved the Peace Convention propositions, as wise and satisfactory. He opposed, with all the powers of his logic, the effort to place Virginia "at the tail end of the Southern Confederacy"-to become the chief sufferer, in its behalf, in the event of war. He said the State could reconstruct the Union; and it was her duty, for it was in her power, to do so. Other speakers followed Mr. Rives in the cause of the Union. This demonstration succeeded one of another and more violent character, which transpired during the afternoon of the same day, in behalf of the cause of disunion, and as the beginning of a series of "expressions" especially designed to incite a spirit of violence towards the Unionists. 66 Every sentiment of disapprobation of the action of the Convention, every sentiment in favor of secession, was received enthusiastically, and when Mr. Douglas, at the conclusion of his remarks, declared that Virginia would stand with her face to the foe and fall into a glorious grave, before she would permit the march of Lincoln's myrmidons through Virginia, or permit coercion, the people responded to the sentiment with vociferous applause. Mr. Douglas was followed by Mr. Gordon, Mr. Wil loughby Newton, Mr. Charles Irving, and Mr. Cropper, and we noted especially that when some of those gentlemen asked what would Virginia do, the people answered, with loud acclamation, 'Secede! 'Secede!' Mr. Irving, in the course of his remarks, impressed on the people that resistance to coercion was not enough; that the true policy was to drive the Convention out of the city. Scarcely had Mr. Irving uttered these words when the people shouted, 'That's it!''that's right!' drive them out!' and these cries were followed by a thundering cheer. After Mr. Cropper concluded, the crowd, which was an immense one, marched to the music of the band of the Exchange Hotel, where Mr. Isbell took his The Reign of the Canaille. stand on the steps of the hotel, and was cheered most warmly. He addressed the multitude in a thoroughly Southern rights, secession, and anticoercion speech, and was applauded to the echo throughout. The people then took up their line of march through Franklin Street to the Examiner office, where they stopped and gave three hearty cheers for John M. Daniel, editor of the Examiner." This John M. Daniel was one of Mr. Buchanan's favorite foreign representatives, who had returned to the charge of his journal, at the call of the Secessionists, to "help in carrying the State out of the accursed Union"—a Union which he had not failed to misrepresent and malign when abroad. His course, after his return, was one of mingled malignancy and baseness towards every man who presumed to question the propriety of the secession of Virginia. He was a fit embodiment of the spirit of disunion. The Whig further added: "At the meeting of the people held at the Old Market yesterday, we heard a desire expressed by many of the crowd that the people should march en masse to the Mechanics' Hall, where the Convention was in session, and then and there have their say about the course this old Commonwealth should pursue, and teach the old women in pantaloons of our Convention that they had better become true men at once, or vamose." There were brave and determined spirits in that Convention, who truly represented their people; but they, ere long, became powerless, if not silenced, before the leaders having the canaille at their back. It was the drama of the French Revolution attempted on American soil-differing nothing in spirit from it, only lacking its sans culotte force of arms. The Virginian who shall truthfully write the story of those forty days will illuminate the page of History with characters and deeds which will prove the "Mother of Presidents" also to have been the mother of Conspirators. CHAPTER III. THE THE CONGRESS OF THE SECEDED STATES. COERCION OF BORDER STATES. VIRGINIA'S INTEREST IN SLAVE-BREEDING. PERMANENT CONSTITUTI ON OF THE CONFEDERATE THE TYRANNY STATES. PRACTICED IN ITS ADOPTION BY CONVENTIONS. VOTES ON ITS ADOPTION. CONDITION OF THE BORDER STATES DURING MARCH. CONGRATULATIONS OVER THE FALL OF SUMTER. The Confederate pocket. THE Confederate Con- Mr. Curry proposed to reach the Virginia gress remained in session conscience through the vital channel of her up to March 16th. Its Star-Chamber proceedings only transpired when it became necessary to divulge the laws enacted. It debated and acted with profound secrecy. The States were living under a régime as irresponsible and dictatorial as the rule of the old Venetian Republic which it typified. On the 6th, (March,) Mr. Curry, of Alabama, introduced and had adopted the following, in open session : "Resolved, That the Committee on the Judiciary be instructed to inquire into the expediency of prohibiting the importation of Slaves into the Confederate States from the United States, except by persons emigrating there to for the purpose of settlement or residence." This looked like แ coercing" Virginia whose best source of income was in the production of negroes for a Southern market. Missouri and Kentucky sent some negroes South, but only such as were sold in the breaking up of estates, or were disposed of by owners fearful of the slaves escaping to the North. The Old Dominion alone, of all the States of the Confederacy, made the raising of negroes for market a leading business.* The Richmond Examiner gave publicity to the figures of this traffic in negro "stock," which we are sure will take many by surprise : March 7th, the Congress confirmed Jefferson Davis' appointments, as follows: Colonel Braxton Bragg, of Louisiana, to be BrigadierGeneral, and Colonel William J. Hardee, of Georgia, to be Colonel in the army of the Confederate States. On the 8th the Texan Deputies signed the Provisional Constitution. The Permanent Constitution of the Confederate States, under discussion for several weeks, was finally The Permanent Constitution of the Confederate States. adopted, March section pays in taxation, on persons and personal of the negroes are in cismontane Virginia, and that property, lands and lots, and licenses, $1,750,000, against $1,000,000 of transmontane Virginia, or threefourths more. "From about 1815 to 1845 emigration to the South was greatest. In that time Virginia emigrated some $450,000,000 worth of slaves; in the middle decade of the term, $180,000,000; and, notwithstanding the low price at which, with one short interval, slaves ruled in the three decades, and the consequent encouragement to home agriculture, cismontane lands went down 12 per cent. in the face of a transmontane appreciation of 50 per cent.a comparative loss to Eastern Virginia of 62 per cent!" This last confession, it is presumed, was made unintentionally. That Eastern Virginia lands, which produced most of the slaves for a market, should have depreciated, while lands in Western Virginia, a region comparatively free of slaves, should have increased enormously in value, certainly is a thundering argument both against Slave breeding and Slave "There are now in this State negroes of the estimated value of nearly $400,000,000. Upon an inside estimate, they yield in gross surplus produce, from sales of negroes to go South, $10,000,000; tobacco, $8,000,000; flour, $8,000,000; corn, cotton, and other products, $2,000,000-a total of $28,000,000. Most labor. No person who is foreign, and not a citizen of the Confederate States, is allowed to vote for any officer, civil or political, State or Federal. Usurpations of the 10th. It assumed as its basis the Consti- the people, without their tution of the United States, but differed direct consent- as Ordifrom that instrument in important points. nances of Secession had been One of its added provisions recognized and adopted without their submission to a vote protected Slavery. A synopsis of the Cousti- of the people-as the Confederate Congress tution read as follows: was made up of members whom the people had no voice in selecting-as a new Government had been put in force, upon which the people were not permitted to vote-it was expected by the Southern communities that, when the Permanent Constitution was to be ordained, the people would have a vote upon it, thus to give their endorsement to the new order of things. But, never were hopes, rationally formed, doomed to a more certain disappointment. In not a single instance was the Constitution allowed to go before the people for their vote! The same high-handed tyranny which had prevailed to bring about the revolution, was now too secure in its power to fear the popular clamor; and the State Con “Under the first clauses South Carolina is entitled to 5 Representatives in Congress; Georgia 10; Alabama 9; Florida 2; Mississippi 7; Louisiana 6; Texas 6; and each State to two Senators. "The State Legislatures may impeach Judicial or Federal officers resident and acting in said States by a two-thirds vote. “Both Houses of Congress may grant seats on the floor to either of the principal officers of each executive department, with the privilege of discuss ing measures of his department. 'Representation on the basis of three-fifths for slaves is continued. "Congress is not allowed, through duties, to foster ventions alone assumed the right to pass any branch of industry. "The foreign slave-trade is prohibited. upon the final organic law. Thus, men chosen merely to consider the question of Union or Disunion or, if the latter was decided upon, to agree upon an Ordinance of Secession, upon which the voters alone should be permitted to pass judgment-usurped dictatorial powers, remained "No extra compensation is to be allowed to any in permanent session, passed Ordinances of Secession, inaugurated a new Government, and, Congress is prohibited from making appropriations unless by a vote of two-thirds of both Houses, except the appropriations be asked by the head of some department, or the President. contractor, or officer, or agent, after the contract is made, or the service rendered. 'Every law shall relate to but one subject, and finally, sealed their revolutionary proceedings, by be expressed by titles. "The President and Vice-President are to hold office for six years. "The principal officers of departments and the diplomatic service are removable at the pleasure of the President. Other civil officers are removable when their services are unnecessary, or other good causes and reasons. Removals must be reported to the Senate when practicable. No captious removals are tolerated. "Other States are to be admitted to the Confederacy by a vote of two-thirds of both Houses. adopting the new Constitution-all without once allowing the popular voice any expression! A parallel for such proceedings can only be found in the bayonet-rule of the First Consul of France, and, like his rule, but prepared the way for the next step in tyranny the assumption of regal power, by one man. The Alabama Convention ratified the Permanent Constitution March 11th, "The Confederacy may acquire Territory, and by a vote of 87 to 5. Slavery shall be acknowledged and protected by "When five States shall ratify the Permanent Constitution, it shall be established for said States, until Ratifications of the The South Carolina Convention, having taken a recess to April 1st, did not immediately pass the instrument. It was ratified April 6th, by a vote of 114 to 16. The Louisiana Convention, March 16th, voted down an ordinance for submitting the Constitution to the people--yeas 26; nays 74. The instrument was not adopted until March 21st. It was very bitterly opposed by ELECTIONS IN THE BORDER STATES. 23 upon the order of the Secretary of the Treasury of the minority, who did not hesitate to pro- | dred and sixty-seven dollars, and forty-six cents, nounce the rule of the Confederate States an now in the hands of A. J. Guirot, State Depositary, unmitigated oligarchy. It was finally adopt- and known as the Bullion Fund, be transferred to ed by a vote of 101 to 7-many of those in the Government of the Confederate States of Amerthe minority having withdrawn rather than ica; and that said State Depositary be, and he is sit under the pressure brought to bear on them. hereby authorized, and instructed to pay said sum, The Georgia State Convention remained said Confederate States. in session until March 23d, to adjust all relations with the new Government. It adopted the Permanent Constitution nearly unanimously, and, before adjournment, passed over to the Confederate Government all the forts, arsenals, custom-houses, &c., "seized" from the United States. It also provided for a loan of five hundred thousand dollars, to be raised on State securities, for the benefit of the Central Government. The Mississippi Convention ratified the Constitution March 30th, by a vote of 78 to 7. The Florida Convention, having adjourned, reassembled in April, and then, by an almost unanimous vote, accepted the Constitution. Finances. "SEC. 2. It is further ordained, That the sum of one hundred and forty-seven thousand, five hundred and nineteen dollars, and sixty-six cents, being the balance received by said State Depositary from the Custom-House, the 31st of January last, be transferred to said Government, and paid by said Depositary upon the order of said Secretary." property: Five hundred and thirty-six thousand, seven hundred and eighty-seven dollars, and twelve cents-what a windfall! Truly, those Southern men, "endowed with such keen sense of honor and lofty respect for private virtue," were great rogues, nevertheless—or, rather, their ideas of meum and tuum were those of the highwayman. "By their plunder shall ye know them," grew to become a The loan called for by well-received aphorism, as applied to the The Confederate the Confederate Congress Confederates, early in the year 1861. The was reported, at first, as Louisville Journal thus humorously, but sehaving been eagerly absorbed, at par; a few verely, adverted to the Southern mania for days later it was reported that "a few mil-"seizures" and "appropriations" of Federal lions had been reserved, for the people to have the privilege of investing in ;" still later, the Charleston papers began to scold the banks for their tardiness in subscribing to it; and, by March 10th, it was confessed that the Confederate Treasury was able to obtain from the loan scarcely enough for current expenses over and above the Customs receipts. Georgia, as stated above, came to the rescue, with a loan to the Government of five hundred thousand dollars-Alabama having, several weeks previously, voted a like sum. But, in neither case was the money forthcoming. Hence, the Treasury grew weak, and the directors turned longing eyes towards the money belonging to the United States, still in the Mint and Sub-Treasury at New Orleans. How must the hearts of those unpaid patriots have rejoiced on the receipt of the following refreshing document ! “An Ordinance to transfer certain funds to the Govern ment of the Confederate States of America: "SECTION 1. It is hereby ordained, That the sum of three hundred and eighty-nine thousand, two hun "Crime is progressive, and after the first plunge nothing is more easy than to go from bad to worse. A cotemporary says the fatally demoralizing effect of the first step is seen in the easy transition to other wrongful acts, as in De Quincey's case of the man who, beginning the downward path with murder, last to procrastination; so the Seceding States, bewent on by degrees until he came to lying, and at ginning with treason and levying war, find it easy to go on until at last they come to downright theft - not of forts only, but of vessels, arms, and money." Arkansas. The elections ordered in Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee, to test the sentiments of the people on the question of secession, resulted, in the first, in the choice of thirty-five "unconditional Secessionists" and forty "Union men" as delegates to the Convention called. The Union men, however, were known to be so only conditionally. The officers of the Convention were chosen from among the "Unionists." It was represented that Arkansas would be governed entirely by the course of Virginia | to form an Association for the purpose of maintaining Southern rights and placing Kentucky in her proper position with the South.' North Carolina. and Missouri. The Convention, after a not very exciting session, adjourned March 20th, having passed no Ordinance of Secession. It ordered, however, an election to be held in August, in which the people should vote simply "Secession" or "No Secession." This result did not add to the satisfaction of the Confederate leaders, who confidently expected to have Arkansas in their embraces. It was understood, however, that the State was "all right" for the Southern cause, in event of hostile measures being resorted to by the Federal Government. [See Chapter IV.] In North Carolina the vote taken was for "Convention" or "No Convention," and, being very warmly contested by the Secessionists, resulted in a larger vote for Convention than was anticipated, though many who voted for the calling of such a body did so with no intention of voting for disunionists as delegates. The final result, as proclaimed, gave the non-Conventionists a small majority. This result was no sooner determined than the Secessionists called a "State Rights Convention" at Raleigh, which, it was resolved by the intriguants, should do what people had refused to do carry the State out of the Union. The Convention assembled March 22d, and was attended by large delegations from almost every county in the State. There were also present several influential leaders from South Carolina, Virginia, &c. From the very first day's proceedings it became evident that the usual usurpation was to be practiced to commit the State to the revolution-to proclaim the "Ordinance" in spite of the people's acknowledged rejection of it. the Evacuation of Sumter. Sumter delighted the Secessionists greatly; and the leading journals of the Seceded States were not slow to use the announcement as evidence of the virtual recognition of Southern independence. The Charleston Mercury said: "Sumter is to be ours without a fight. All will be rejoiced that the blood of our people is not to be shed in our harbor, in either small or great degree. To those who have troubled themselves with vague fears of war on a large scale, and the horrors of war extensively, the relief will be as great as the appre hension has been grievous. "For ourselves, notwithstanding all the Northern thunder, we have never been able to bring ourselves seriously to believe in the probability of any more |