in session at Savannah, Ga. It was drawn up by Rev. Dr. Fuller, of Baltimore, who had until recently had the reputation of being a firm friend of the Constitution and the Union :

We hold this truth to be self-evident, that governments are established for the security, prosperity, and happiness of the people. When, therefore, any government is perverted from its proper designs, becomes oppressive, and abuses its power, the people have a right to change it. As to the States once combined upon this continent, it is now manifest that they can no longer live together as one confederacy.

The Union constituted by our forefathers was one of coequal sovereign States. The fanatical spirit of the North has long been seeking to deprive us of rights and franchises guaranteed by the Constitution; and after years of persistent aggression, they have at last accomplished their purpose.

In vindication of their sacred rights and honor, in self-defence, and for the protection of all which is dear to man, the Southern States have practically asserted the right of seceding from a Union so degenerated from that established by the Constitution, and they have formed for themselves a Government based upon the principles of the original compactadopting a charter which secures to each State its sovereign rights and privileges. This new Government, in thus dissolving former political connections, seeks to cultivate relations of amity and good will, with its late confederates and with all the world; and they have thrice sent special Commissioners to Washington with | overtures for peace, and for a fair, amicable adjustment of all difficulties. The Government at Washington has insultingly repelled these proposals, and now insists upon letting loose hordes of armed soldiers to pillage and desolate the entire South, for the purpose of forcing the seceded States back into unnatural Union, or of subjugating them, and holding them as conquered provinces.

While the two sections of the land are thus arrayed against each other, it might naturally have been hoped that at least the churches of the North would interpose and protest against this appeal to the sword, this invoking of civil war, this deluging the country in fratricidal blood; but with astonishment and grief we find churches and pastors of the North breathing out slaughter, and clamoring for sanguinary hostilities with a fierceness which we would have supposed impossible among the disciples of the Prince of Peace. In view of such premises, this Convention cannot keep silence. Recognizing the necessity that the whole moral influence of the people, in whatever capacity or organization, should be enlisted in aid of the rulers who, by their suffrages, have been called to defend the endangered interests of person and property, of honor and liberty, it is bound to utter its voice distinctly, decidedly, emphatically; and your Committee recommend, therefore, the subjoined resolutions:

Resolved, That impartial history cannot charge upon the South the dissolution of the Union. She was foremost in advocating and cementing that Union. To that Union she clung through long years of calumny, injury, and insult. She has never ceased to raise her warning appeals against the fanaticism which has obstinately and incessantly warred against that Union.

Resolved, That we most cordially approve of the formation of the Government of the Confederate States of America, and admire and applaud the noble course of that Government up to this present time.

Resolved, That we shall assiduously invoke the Divine direction and favor in behalf of those who bear rule among us, that they may still exercise the same wise, prompt, elevated statesmanship which has hitherto characterized their measures; that their enterprises may be attended with success; and that they may attain a great reward, not only in seeing these Confederate States prosper under their administration, but in contributing to the progress of the transcendant kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Resolved, That we most cordially tender to the President of the Confederate States, to his Cabinet, and to the members of the Congress now convened at Montgomery, the assurances of our sympathy and entire confidence. With them are our hearts and our hearty coöperation.

Resolved, That the lawless reign of terror at the North, the violence committed upon unoffending citizens, above all, the threats to wage upon the South a warfare of savage barbarity, to devastate our homes and hearths with hosts of ruffians and felons burning with lust and rapine, ought to excite the horror of all civilized people. God forbid that we should so far forget the spirit of Jesus as to suffer malice and vindictiveness to insinuate themselves into our hearts; but every principle of religion, of patriotism, and of humanity, calls upon us to pledge our fortunes and lives in the good work of repelling an invasion designed to destroy whatever is dear in our heroic traditions; whatever is sweet in our domestic hopes and enjoyments; whatever is essential to our institutions and our very manhood; whatever is worth living or dying for.

Resolved, That we do now engage in prayer for our friends, brothers, fathers, sons, and citizen soldiers, who have left their homes to go forth for the defence of their families and friends and all which is dearest to the human heart; and we recommend to the churches represented in this body, that they constantly invoke a holy and merciful God to guard them from the temptations to which they are exposed, to cover their head in the day of battle, and to give victory to their arms.

Resolved, That we will pray for our enemies in the spirit of that Divine Master, who "when he was reviled, he reviled not again," trusting that their pitiless purposes may be

frustrated, that God will grant to them a more politic, a more considerate, and a more Christian mind; that the fratricidal strife which they have decided upon, notwithstanding all our commissions and pleas for peace, may be arrested by that Supreme Power, who maketh the wrath of man to praise him; and that thus, through a divine blessing, the prosperity of these sovereign and once allied States, may be restored under the two Governments to which they now and henceforth respectively belong.

Resolved, We do recommend to the churches of the Baptist denomination in the Southern States, to observe the first and second days of June, as days of humiliation, fasting, and prayer to Almighty God, that he may avert any calamities due to our sins as a people, and may look with mercy and favor upon us.

Resolved, That whatever calamities may come upon us, our firm trust and hope are in God, through the atonement of his Son, and we earnestly beseech the churches represented in this body, (a constituency of six or seven hundred thousand Christians,) that they be fervent and importunate in prayer, not only for the country, but for the enterprises of the Gospel which have been committed to our care. In the war of the Revolution, and in the war of 1812, the Baptist bated no jot of heart or hope for the Redeemer's cause. Their zeal and liberality abounded in their deepest afflictions. We beseech the churches to cherish the spirit and imitate the example of this noble army of saints and heroes; to be followers of them, who, through faith and patience, inherit the promises; to be steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for as much as they know that their labor is not in vain in the Lord.

Resolved, That these resolutions be communicated to the Congress of the "Confederate States" at Montgomery, with the signatures of the President and Secretaries of the Convention.

Doc. 160.

MAJOR MORRIS'S LETTER,

TO JUDGE GILES, AT BALTIMORE. AT the date of issuing your writ, and for two weeks previous, the city in which you live and where your Court has been held, was entirely under the control of revolutionary authorities. Within that period United States soldiers, while committing no offence, had been perfidiously attacked and inhumanly murdered in your streets; no punishment had been awarded, and I believe no arrests had been made for these atrocious crimes; supplies of provisions intended for this garrison had been stopped; the intention to capture this fort had been boldly proclaimed; your most public thoroughfares were daily patrolled by large numbers of troops armed and clothed, at least in part, with articles stolen from the United States; and the Federal flag, while waving over the Federal offices, was cut down by some person wearing the uniform of a Maryland soldier. To add to the foregoing, an assemblage elected in defiance of law, but claiming to be the legislative body of your State, and so recognized by the Executive of Maryland, was debating the federal compact. If all this be not rebellion, I know not what to call it. I certainly regard it as sufficient legal cause for suspending the writ of habeas corpus. Besides, there were certain grounds of expediency on which I declined obeying your mandate.

1st. The writ of habeas corpus in the hands of an unfriendly power might depopulate this fortification and place it at the mercy of "a Baltimore mob," in much less time than it could be done by all the appliances of modern warfare.

2d. The ferocious spirit exhibited by your community toward the United States army would render me very averse from appearing publicly and unprotected in the city of Baltimore to defend the interests of the body to which I belong. A few days since a soldier of this command, while outside the walls, was attacked by a fiend or fiends in human shape, almost deprived of life, and left unprotected about half a mile from garrison. He was found in this situation and brought in, covered with blood. One of your evening prints was quite jocose over this laughable occurrence.

And now, sir, permit me to say, in conclusion, that no one can regret more than I this conflict between the civil and military authorities. If, in an experience of thirty-three years, you have never before known the writ of habeas

True extract from the minutes.

W. CAREY CRANE, }

R. FULLER, President.

Secretaries.

-N. Y. Times, May 21.

a contingency in political affairs as the present has never before arisen. I claim to be a loyal citizen, and I hope my former conduct, both official and private, will justify this pretension.

In any condition of affairs, except that of civil war, I would cheerfully obey your order, and as soon as the present excitement shall pass away I will hold myself ready, not only to

produce the soldier, but also to appear in person to answer for my conduct; but, in the existing state of sentiment in the city of Baltimore, I think it your duty to sustain the federal military and to strengthen their hands, instead of endeavoring to strike them down. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, W. W. MORRIS, Major, Fourth United States Artillery, Commanding Fort McHenry.

Doc. 161.

SENATOR BAYARD ON SECESSION. To the People of the State of Delaware:

FELLOW-CITIZENS:-Though, like all men who have mingled actively in political contests, I have often been subjected to misrepresentations and calumnies, under no past circumstances have I ever felt it necessary to reply to merely personal attacks, but have been content to let my general character and course of action be the answer to my assailants. From occurrences, however, within the last ten days, and the excited state of popular feeling, which seems to accept the falsest and most absurd charges as truths, it is due to myself to make to you the following statement, which, though it will not satisfy the bitterness of partisan hostility or the malignity of personal hatred, will, I trust, vindicate, in the opinion of the mass of my fellow-citizens, both my motives and my acts, though I may differ from many of them in my political opinions.

In the speech which I made in the Senate in March last, you have my views and opinions expressed frankly and without reserve on the present unhappy and distracted condition of our country, and the course which I believed the happiness and welfare of the people of the United States required should be adopted by the General Administration. The views and opinions then expressed were the result of grave consideration and positive conviction, and subsequent events have not changed but confirmed that conviction. I preferred peaceful separation of a part of the States from the Union, leaving that Union unbroken as to the far greater number, and the Federal Government as the Government of a powerful and great nation, to the alternative of civil war. Time and the progress of events will, I confidently believe, vindicate the wisdom of my counsel. If the arguments and views presented in that speech and my past course cannot convince you of my attachment to the Union, it would be hopeless to urge others now.

On the 8th of April last, I left home on a short visit to New Orleans, solely for social and business purposes-a visit I had contemplated and promised to make more than a year before, but which my professional and public duties had compelled me to postpone. I had no political purpose or object in view in making that visit, nor did I, during my absence,

engage in any political arrangement or consultation intended or calculated to affect the action of the people of Delaware in relation to their allegiance and fidelity to the Union. I trust you have known me long enough, and I am sure you ought to have known me well enough, to be certain that, whatever political action I contemplated, I would openly and boldly avow and advocate before you. If I err in this, then it will be a vain hope for any public man to expect, however candid and open may have been his past course, that his fellow-men will justly estimate his character. When I left home, though the political horizon was clouded, no excitement existed beyond the ordinary conflict of party warfare, and I neither did nor could anticipate the events which occurred after my departure, or my visit certainly would not have been made. I took the Southern route, and reached Montgomery on Friday afternoon, the 12th of April, remained there till Sunday following, and left that day on the steamer for New Orleans. I saw many persons in Montgomery whom I had known well and intimately in Washington, but I had no political arrangements to make with them, nor were any proposed to me. After reaching New Orleans, in consequence of the rapid progress of events, I remained but three days, cut short my visit, and returned home as speedily as practicable up the river, though I had originally intended to return by sea to New York.

I make this statement, because I have been told that many fair-minded and well-intentioned men have attributed my visit to the South to political objects, and it is only to such it is intended to be addressed.

I reached home on Saturday, the 4th of May, and was met by a telegram, purporting to be from Middletown to Philadelphia, in which it was stated that I had been two weeks at Montgomery, in consultation with the leaders of the Confederate States. My answer is, that the telegram is utterly and unqualifiedly false, and whether it came from Middletown or elsewhere, it was the mere coinage of a reckless political partisan or a personal enemy. This was followed by an announcement placarded in Wilmington, and published in the papers, that a Prince of the Golden Circle had returned home, or some such absurd stuff. On principle, I never had the slightest connection with any secret association in my life; and, in my connection with the Democratic party, I have never been even a member of a club. I was told, also, that rumors had been spread in my absence, such as that I had gone to Montgomery to sell my State, and others of like kind. I paid little attention to these things, as I believed I could live them down, for I was not aware of the extent of passionate excitement to which the public mind had been strung, and still less did I dream that there was a deliberate intention by such means, to induce personal violence against me here, in my native town, or in Philadelphia.