try. After suffering various hardships, and a portion of them making an ineffectual attempt to escape by sea, they were all compelled to lay down their arms. They finally gave their parole and were allowed to return to the North. More than a million of dollars' worth of property-mules, horses, wagons and various materials of war-was directly transferred by General Twiggs to the Rebel Commissioners. The loss of the government property of various kinds at the forts and stations in the State was estimated at about three millions. On the 1st of March, one of the last few days of the retiring Administration, the following Order, signed by Secretary Holt, was issued from the War Department at Washington:-"By the direc tion of the President of the United States, it is ordered that Brigadier-General David E. Twiggs be, and is hereby dismissed from the army of the United States, for his treachery to the flag of his country, in having surrendered on the 18th of February, 1861, on the demand of the authorities of Texas, the military posts and other property of the United States in his department and under his charge." CHAPTER IV. SECESSION IN CONGRESS. THE speeches and proceedings of the National Congress offered, meanwhile, a curious reflection of the disordered state of the public mind. On the part of the Southern members, there was a singular tone of assurance as to the progress and triumph of the Secession movement. They appeared to regard it from the first as an established fact, something which could neither be gainsayed nor refuted, which was proof equally against argument and arms, which they had but to assert to maintain. Looking into those two remarkable volumes of the Congressional Globe in which the acts and debates of the session are recorded, and which will be eagerly studied, with mingled feelings of sorrow and astonishment by posterity, to pluck out the heart of this mystery, we know not which most to wonder at; the reckless, wanton conduct of the secessionists, or the patient sub missiveness with which their language was listened to by the patriotic members. Bold assailants of the nation, the very audacity of the course of the Southerners was their safety. The loyalty of the people had hitherto been so well preserved, that the Government for a while appeared incapable of receiving the deadly blow, and made no defence against the stroke. The debate on the President's Message in the Senate at once called forth the most decided expressions. The language of Iverson of Georgia was sufficiently direct and treasonable, if treason had been understood. The right of secession, he frankly admitted, was not given in the Constitution either expressly or by reservation; it was simply an act of revolution. With equal candor, he proclaimed that the repeal of the personal liberty bills of the North would be of no consequence in stopping the progress incubus that stands between the people of disunion. It is not because," said and their sovereign will." A prompt he, "that in their practical operation and vigorous method, surely, of expeditthey ever do any harm." Nor did he ing the good work of secession by the look for any overt act of injury upon the assassination of a governor. part of Mr. Lincoln. The danger to be dreaded was in the disposition of the North on the subject of slavery, and the influence which could be exerted by the dominant party for its extinction. "Why, sir," was his language, "the power of this Federal Government could be so exercised against the institution of slavery in the Southern States as that, without an overt act, the institution would not last ten years. We know that, sir; and seeing the storm which is approaching, although it may be seemingly in the distance, we are determined to seek our own safety and security before it shall burst upon us and overwhelm us with its fury, when we are not in a situation to defend ourselves." This, at least, was a candid admission of the motives of the course to be pursued. 66 But the Senator from Georgia said something further of the calculations of rebellion, of what it intended, and upon what it relied. "We intend, Mr. President," he continued, "to go out peaceably if we can, forcibly if we must; but I do not believe with the Senator from New Hampshire, (Mr. Hale,) that there is going to be any war. If five or eight States go out, they will necessarily draw all the other Southern States after them. That is a consequence that nothing can prevent. If five or eight States go out of this Union, I should like to see the man who would propose a declaration of war against them, or attempt to force them into obedience to the Federal Government at the point of the bayonet or the sword. If one State alone was to go out, unsustained by her sister States, possibly war might ensue, and there might be an attempt made to coerce her, and that would give rise to civil war; but, sir, South Carolina is not to go out alone. In my opinion she will be sustained by all her Southern sisters. They may not all go out immediately; but they will in the end join South Carolina in this important movement; and we shall, in the next twelve months, have a Confederacy of the Southern States, and a government inaugurated and in successful operation, which, in my opinion, will be a government of the greatest prosperity and power the world has ever seen."* Such was the well-calculated description of the destruction of his Now, sir," he added defiantly, "we intend to go out of this Union. I speak what I believe upon this floor, that before the 4th of March, five of the Southern States at least-" he had already enumerated them, with a glowing panegyric of their progress in secession--" will have declared their independence; and I am satisfied that three others of the Cotton States will follow as soon as the action of the people can be had." There was "a clog," he admitted, in the case of Texas, whose aged Governor Houston had shown considerable reluctance so lightly to abandon the old flag; but for that he had a remedy in this classic intimation: "If he does not yield to public ser.timent some Texan Brutus will arise to rid his country of the hoary-headed 1860. *Remarks of Mr. Iverson in the Senate, December 5, ridge, the Vice President of the nation, in the chair, and which, for aught that appears on the record, was suffered to pass without remonstrance or rebuke. country, presented to John C. Brecken-Nelson of Tennessee, Rust of Arkansas, and others of note. Mr. Powell of Kentucky, the mover of the Resolution, presided over the Senate Committee, of which, Hunter of Virginia, Crittenden of Kentucky, Seward of New York, Toombs of Georgia, Douglas of Illinois, Collamer of Vermont, Jefferson Davis of Mississippi, Wade of Ohio, Bigler of little of Wisconsin and Grimes of Iowa, were members. To these committees various propositions involving more or less of compromise were referred. They were taken into consideration, and nothing came of them but further dissatisfaction. The Senate Committee, after ten days' discussion, reported their inability to agree upon any general plan of adjustment. The remarks of Louis T. Wigfall, Senator from Texas, jocosely uttered, were to the same effect. "I know," said he, "that there is much truth, there is much philosophy in Dogberry's saying, 'An Pennsylvania, Rice of Minnesota, Dootwo men ride of a horse, one must ride behind;' and if we proposed to remain in this Union, we should undoubtedly submit to the inauguration of any man who was elected by a constitutional majority. We propose nothing of that sort. We simply say, that a man who has been distasteful to us has been elected, and we choose to consider that as a sufficient ground for leaving the Union, and we intend to leave the Union. desire it, bring us back. When you undertake that, and have accomplished it, you may be like the man who purchased the elephant-you may find it rather difficult to decide what to do with the animal." Then, if you The House Committee held out longer, though with little better result. After more than a month's anxious deliberation. a majority report was submitted by Mr. Corwin, proposing various recommendations, such as a request to the non-slaveholding States to repeal all laws in conThe House of Representatives began flict with the laws for the recovery of the discussions of the session in a more fugitives, and on the other hand, a modipromising mood. Their first act, on the fication of the fugitive slave law itself; reception of the Message was, on motion an amendment to the Constitution, denyof Mr. Boteler, of Virginia, "to refer so ing for ever to Congress any power to much of it as related to the present interfere with slavery in the States till perilous condition of the country to a every State in the Union shall consent special committee of one from each to its exercise; and a settlement of the State." By the side of this committee question of slavery in the territories by of thirty-three, a similar committee of at once admitting New Mexico as a State thirteen was presently appointed in the "on an equal footing with the original Senate, with the design of devising some States." A minority report of Washplan of reconciliation, to relieve the burn of Wisconsin and Tappan of New country of the threatening disunion. Hampshire, scouted the proposed palliaMr. Corwin, of Ohio, was at the head tives. "South Carolina," was its lanof the House Committee, which included guage, "is our 'sick man,' that is laborCharles Francis Adams of Massachusetts, ing under the influence of the most COMPROMISE RESOLUTIONS. distressing of maladies. A morbid disease which has been preying upon that State for a long series of years has at last assumed the character of acute mania, and has extended to other members of the Confederacy, and to think of restoring the patient to health by the nostrums proposed, is, in our judgment, perfectly idle." It closed with a resolution, "that the provisions of the Constitution are ample for the preservation of the Union and the protection of all the material interests of the country; that it needs to be obeyed rather than amended, and our extrication from present difficulties is to be looked for in efforts to preserve and protect the public property and enforce the laws, rather than in new guarantees for particular interests, or compromises or concessions to unreasonable demands." The most important or best known of the many propositions submitted to Congress were, doubtless, the Resolutions offered by the venerable Senator Crittenden, of Kentucky, who, with the most patriotic intentions and unwearied zeal, sought to reconcile all differences by a comprehensive system of concession and compromise. He proposed several articles of Amendment to the Constitution, providing for the prohibition of slavery in all territory north of the line 36 degrees 30 minutes, and its protection to the south of that line, leaving the admission of all future new States out of any portion of the territory, north or south, to be uncontrolled in respect to the peculiar institution; denying to Congress the power to abolish slavery in places, (the forts, dockyards, &c.) under its exclusive jurisdiction, and situate within the limits of States that permit the holding of slaves; restricting the power to abol 53 ish slavery in the District of Columbia while it exists in Virginia and Maryland, or either, or without the consent of the inhabitants or remuneration to owners; and further, that Congress shall have no power to prohibit or hinder the transportation of slaves from one State to another, or to a Territory in which slaves are, by law, permitted to be held, whether that transportation be by land, navigable rivers, or by the sea. By a fifth article, Congress was to provide for the payment to the owner of the value of a fugitive slave whose return was prevented by violence or intimidation. A sixth article provided that these provisions should never be affected by any future amendment of the Constitution. An accompanying series of Resolutions. recommended the enforcement of the existing fugitive slave law, its improvement to the extent of making the commissioner's fee equal in amount in the cases decided by him, whether his decision be in favor of or against the claimant, and the repeal by the States of the personal liberty bills, and that the laws forbidding the African slave trade, be made effectual. Arguments and debates were held on these Resolutions during the greater part of the session. Other resolutions and amendments were offered. There were caucuses of members from the Border States outside of Congress; there were conferences within; there were ingenious schemes of individuals, by Johnson, in the Senate, and others. No less than seventeen members of the House, at different times proposed Amendments to the Constitution, beside the labors of the Committee of thirty-three, and other simple resolutions, deprecating hostilities and suggesting terms of adjustment of existing difficulties. There was a Peace Con stands by and sees his house in flames, and says to himself, perhaps the fire will stop before it consumes all.'"* ference of commissioners from twentyone States, sitting at Washington during the month of February. It was held at the instance of Virginia, and was presided over by Ex-President Tyler, who presented to Congress a series of Amendments to the Constitution, similar to the Crittenden Resolutions. Every form of guarantee which could be thought of was agitated, to assure the South of the full preservation of its rights under the Constitution. Beyond this, the majority was not willing to go; nor did it appear that any concession which could be proposed, would satisfy the Southern temper which was sternly bent on independence, and respected, and the laws on the subject of the consequent destruction of the Gov-slavery observed. In consonance with ernment. . . On one of the last days of the session, in a final effort, Mr. Crittenden raised his voice in the Senate, "We are about to adjourn. We have done nothing. Even the Senate of the United States, beholding this great ruin around them, beholding dismemberment and revolution going on, and civil war threatened as the result, have been able to do nothing; we have done absolutely nothing. This will make a strange sound in the history of Governments, and in the history of the world. Some are for coercion ; yet no army has been raised, no navy has been equipped. Some are for pacification; yet they have been able to do nothing; the dissent of their colleagues prevents them; and here we are in the midst of a falling country, in the midst of a falling State, presenting to the eyes of the world the saddest spectacle it has ever seen. Cato is represented by Addison as a worthy spectacle, a great man falling with a falling State; but he fell struggling. We fall with the ignominy on our heads of doing nothing, like the man who At last, at the end of the term, a few propositions were passed by which nothing essential was yielded or conceded. The Corwin resolutions were stripped of their important provision of a permanent boundary line for the protection of Slavery; and Mr. Crittenden's Resolutions were lost in the Senate by a single vote. All, in fact, that could be obtained from the Senate or the House, was a recommendation to the States that the spirit of the Constitution should be this willingness to abide by the existing The patience, "the melancholy assiduity," as it was subsequently characterized by Mr. Everett, with which these topics were discussed by the loyal members, in face of the startling evidences of * Speech in the Senate, March 2, 1861. |