dains that in case, before the 1st of August, 1862, the Governor chosen by this Convention shall consider the public exigencies demand, he shall order a special election for the members of the State Legislature. It recommends the passage of an ordinance repealing the following bills, passed by the Legislature in secret session, in May last: The military fund bill, the bill to suspend the distribution of the school fund, and the bill for cultivating friendly relations with the Indian tribes. It repeals the bill authorizing the appointment of one major-general of the Missouri militia, and revives the militia law of 1859. A resolution was passed that a committee of seven be appointed by the President to prepare an address to the people of the State of Missouri. November 26th. Jefferson Davis transmitted to the "Confederate" Congress a message concerning the secession of Missouri. It was accompanied by a letter from Governor Jackson, and also by an act dissolving the union with the United States, and an act ratifying the Constitution of the Provisional Government of the Confederate States; also, the Convention between the Commissioners of Missouri and the Commissioners of the Confederate States. Congress unanimously ratified the Convention entered into between the Hon. R. M. T. Hunter for the rebel Government and the Commissioners for Missouri. Mississippi. To South Carolina, C. E. Hooker. To Virginia, Fulton Anderson. 9th. Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi, elected Provisional President of the Confederate States of America, and Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia, Vice-President. The question of attacking Fort Sumter has been referred to the Congress. 11th. Mr. Stephens announced his acceptance. Committee appointed to prepare a permanent Constitution. 12th. The Congress assumed " charge of all questions and difficulties now existing between the sovereign States of this Confederacy and the Government of the United States, relating to the occupation of forts, arsenals, navy yards, custom-houses, and all other public establishments." The resolution was directed to be communicated to the Governors of the respective States of the Confederacy. 15th. Official copy of the Texas Ordinance of Secession presented. 16th. President Davis arrived and received with salute, etc. 18th. President Davis inaugurated. 19th. Tariff law passed. 21st. Robert Toombs appointed Secretary of the State; C. G. Memminger, Secre tary of the Treasury; L. Pope Walker, of 4th. Whenever the word "Union" occurs in the United States Constitution the word "Confederacy" is substituted. THE FOLLOWING ARE THE ADDITIONS. without vetoing the whole bill in which it is con1st. The President may veto any separate appropriation tailed. 2d. The African slave-trade is prohibited. 3d. Congress is empowered to prohibit the introduction of slaves from any State not a member of this Confed- 6th. David L. Swain, M. W. Ransom, and John L. Bridgers, were admitted as Commissioners from North Carolina, under resolutions of the General Assembly of that State, passed January 29th, 1861, to eracy. effect an honorable and amicable adjustment of all the difficulties that disturb the country, upon the basis of the Crittenden resolutions, as modified by the Legislature of Virginia," and to consult with the delegates to the Southern Congress for their common peace, honor and safety." 66 7th. Congress notified that the State of Alabama had placed $500,000 at its disposal, as a loan to the provisional government of the Confederacy of Seceding States. 8th. The Constitution of the Provisional Government adopted. * *The Provisional Constitution adopted by the Seceded 3tates differs from the Constitution of the United States in several important particulars. The alterations and additions are as follows: ALTERATIONS. 1st. The Provisional Constitution differs from the other In this: That the legislative powers of the Provisional Government are vested in the Congress now assembled. and this body exercises all the functions that are exercised by either or both branches of the United States Government. 2d. The Provisional President holds his office for one year, unless socner superseded by the establishment of a permanent Government. 3d. Each State is erected into a distinct judicial district, the judge having all the powers heretofore vested in the district and circuit courts; and the several district judges together compose the supreme bench-a majority of them constituting a quorum. OMISSIONS. 1st, There is no prohibition on members of Congress holding other offices of honor and emolument under the Provisional Government. location of a seat of government, or for sites for forts, arsenals, and dock-yards; consequently there is no reference made to the territorial powers of the Provisional Government. 2d. There is no provision for a neutral spot for the 3d. The section in the old Constitution in reference to capitation and other direct tax is omitted; also, the secin providing that no tax or duty shall be laid on any exports. 4th. The prohibition on States keeping troops or ships of war in time of peace is omitted 5th. The Constitution being provisional merely, no provision is made for its ratification. Alabama, Secretary of War; Stephen R. Mallory, Secretary of the Navy; Judah P. Benjamin, Attorney-General, and John H. Reagan, Postmaster-General; Philip Clayton, of Georgia appointed Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, and Wm. M. Browne, late of the Washington Constitution, Assistant Secretary of State. March 2d. The Texas Deputies received. The Confederate States. ving singleness of purpose, aided by the telegraph, secured a rapidity of execution to which no other very extensive conspiracy of history can afford a parallel. The ordinance of secession was a negative instrument, purporting to withdraw the state from the Union and to deny the authority of the federal government over the people of the State; the cardinal object of the senatorial group was to hurry the formamation of a new national government, as an organized political reality which would rally the outright secessionists, claim the The Confederate States was the name of allegiance of the doubtful mass, and coerce the government formed in 1861 by the those who still remained recalcitrant. At seven States which first seceded. Bellige- the head of the senatorial group, and of rent rights were accorded to it by the lead- its executive committee, was Jefferson ing naval powers, but it was never recog- Davis, Senator from Mississippi, and natunized as a government, notwithstanding rally the first official step toward the forthe persevering efforts of its agents near mation of a new government came from the principal courts. This result was mainly the Mississippi Legislature, where a comdue to the diplomacy of the federal Sec-mittee reported, January 19th, 1861, resoretary of State, Wm H. Seward, to the lutions in favor of a congress of delegates proclamations of emancipation in 1862-3, which secured the sympathy of the best elements of Great Britain and France for the federal government, and the obstinate persistence of the federal government in avoiding, as far as possible, any recognition of the existence, even de facto, of a confederate government. The federal generals in the field, in their communications with confederate officers, did not hesitate, upon occasion, even to give "president" Davis his official title, but no such embarrassing precedent was ever admitted by the civil government of the United States. It at first endeavored, until checked by active preparations for retaliation, to treat the crews of confederate privateers as pirates; it avoided any official communication with the confederate government, even when compelled to exchange prisoners, confining its negotiations to the confederate commissioners of exchange; and, by its persistent policy in this direction, it succeeded, without any formal declaration, in impressing upon foreign governments the belief that any recognition of the confederate States as a separate people would be actively resented by the government of the United States as an act of excessive unfriendliness. The federal courts have steadily held the same ground, that the confederate states was an unlawful assemblage, without corporate power;" and that, though the separate States were still in existence and were indestructible, their state governments, while they chose to act as part of the confederate States, did not exist, even The Internal legislation of the provi de facto. Early in January, 1861, while sional congress was, at first, mainly the only South Carolina had actually seceded, adaptation of the civil service in the Souththough other Southern States had called ern States to the uses of the new governconventions to consider the question, the ment. Wherever possible, judges, postSenators of the seven States farthest South masters, and civil as well as military and practically assumed control of the whole naval officers, who had resigned from the movement, and their energy and unswer-service of the United States, were given from the seceding States to provide for a southern confederacy, and to establish a provisional government, therefore. The other seceding States at once accepted the proposal, through their State conventions, which also appointed the delegates on the ground that the people had intrusted the State conventions with unlimited powers. The new government therefore began its existence without any popular ratio of representation, and with only such popular ratification as popular acquiescence gave. The provisional congress met Feb. 4th, at Montgomery, Ala., with delegates from South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Florida and Mississippi. The Texas delegates were not appointed until Feb. 14th. Feb, 8th, a provisional constitution was adopted, being the constitution of the United States, with some changes. Feb. 9th, Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi, was unanimously chosen provisional president, and Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia, provisional vice-president, each State having one vote, as in all other proceedings of the body. By acts of Feb. 9th and 12th, the laws and revenue officers of the United States were continued in the confederate States until changed. Feb. 18th, the president and vice-president were inaugurated. Feb. 20th-26th, executive departments and a confederate regular army were organized, and provision was made for borrowing money. March 11th, the permanent constitution was adopted by Congress. The provisional Congress held four sessions, as follows: 1. February 4-March 16th, 1861; 2. April 29-May 22d, 1861; 3. July 20-August 22d, 1861; and 4. November 18th, 1861-February 17th, 1862. an equal or higher rank in the confederate | Mississippi, February 21st, 1865; John H. service. Postmasters were directed to make Reagan, Texas, March 6th, 1861, and their final accounting to the United States, March 22d, 1862. May 31st, thereafter accounting to the Confederate States. April 29th, the provisional congress, which had adjourned March 16th, re-assembled at Montgomery, having "been convoked by President Davis in consequence of President Lincoln's prepa- Under the permanent Constitution there rations to enforce federal authority in the were two Congresses. The first Congress South. Davis' message announced that held four sessions, as follows: 1. Februall the seceding States had ratified the ary 18-April 21st, 1862; 2. August 12permanent constitution; that Virginia, October 13th, 1862; 3. January 12-May which had not yet seceded and entered in- 8th 1863; and 4. December 7, 1863-Febto alliance with the confederacy, and that ruary 18th, 1864. The second Congress other States, were expected to follow the held two sessions, as follows: 1. May 2same plan. He concluded by declaring June 15th, 1864; and 2. From November that "all we ask is to be let alone." May 7th, 1864, until the hasty and final ad6th, an act was passed recognizing the ex-journment, March 18th, 1865. istence of war with the United States. In the first Congress members chosen by Congress adjourned May 22d, re-convened at Richmond, Va., July 20th, and adjourned August 22d, until November 18th. Its legislation had been mainly military and financial. Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Arkansas, had passed ordinances of secession, and been admitted to the confederacy. (See the States named, and secession.) Although Missouri and Kentucky had not seceded, delegates from these States were admitted in December 1861. Nov. 6, 1861, at an election under the permanent constitution, Davis and Stephens were again chosen to their respective offices by a unanimous electoral vote. Feb. 18th, 1862, the provisional congress (of one house) gave way to the permanent congress, and Davis and Stephens were inaugurated February 22nd. The cabinet, with the successive Secretaries of each department, was as follows, including both the provisional and permanent cabi Treasury Department.-Charles G. Memminger, South Carolina, February 21st, 1861, and March 22d, 1862; James L. Trenholm, South Carolina, June 13th, 1864. War Department.-L. Pope Walker, Mississippi, February 21st, 1861; Judah P. Benjamin, Louisiana, November 10th, 1861; James A. Seddon, Virginia, March 22d, 1862; John C. Breckinridge, Kentucky, February 15th, 1865. Navy Department. Stephen R. Mallory, Florida, March 4th, 1861, and March 22d. Attorney General.—Judah P. Benjamin, Louisiana, February 21st, 1861; Thomas H. Watts, Alabama, September 10th, 1861, and March 22nd, 1862; George Davis, North Carolina, November 10th, 1863. Postmaster-General.-Henry J. Elliot, rump State conventions, or by regiments in the confederate service, sat for districts in Missouri and Kentucky, though these States had never scceded. There were thus thirteen States in all represented at the close of the first Congress; but, as the area of the Confederacy narrowed before the advance of the Federal armies, the vacancies in the second Congress became significantly more numerous. At its best estate the Confederate Senate numbered 26, and the house 106, as follows: Alabama, 9; Arkansas, 4; Florida, 2; Georgia, 10; Kentucky, 12; Louisiana, 6; Mississippi, 1; Missouri, 7; North Carolina, 10; South Carolina, 6; Tennessee, 11; Texas, 6; Virginia, 16. In both Congresses Thomas S. Bocock, of Virginia, was Speaker of the House.* For four months between the Presidential election and the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln those favoring secession in the South had practical control of their section, for while President Buchanan hesitated as to his constitutional powers, the more active partisans in his Cabinet were aiding their Southern friends in every practical way. In answer to the visiting Commissioners from South Carolina, Messrs. R. W. Barnwell, J. H. Adams and Jas. L. Orr, who formally submitted that State's ordinance of secession, and demanded possession of the forts in Charleston harbor, Buchanan said: "In answer to this communication, I have to say that my position as President of the United States was clearly defined in the message to Congress on the 3d inst. In that I stated that apart from the execution of the laws, so far as this may be practicable, the Executive has no authority to decide what shall be the relations between the Federal Government and South Carolina. He has been invested with no such discretion. He possesses no power to From Lalor's Encyclopædia of Political Science, pub. ished by Rand McNally. Chicago, Ill. change the relations heretofore existing between them, much less to acknowledge the independence of that State. This would be to invest a mere executive officer with the power of recognizing the dissolution of the Confederacy among our thirtythree sovereign States. It bears no resemblance to the recognition of a foreign de facto Government, involving no such responsibility. Any attempt to do this would, on his part, be a naked act of usurpation. It is, therefore, my duty to submit to Congress the whole question in all its bearings.' "Such is my opinion still. I could, therefore, meet you only as private gentlemen of the highest character, and was entirely willing to communicate to Congress any proposition you might have to make to that body upon the subject. Of this you were well aware. It was my earnest desire that such a disposition might be made of the whole subject by Congress, who alone possess the power, as to prevent the inauguration of a civil war between the parties in regard to the possession of the Federal | forts in the harbor of Charleston." Further correspondence followed between the President and other seceding State Commissioners, and the attitude of the former led to the following changes in his Cabinet: December 12th, 1860, LEWIS CASS resigned as Secretary of State, because the President declined to reinforce the forts in Charleston harbor. December 17th, JEREMIAH S. BLACK was appointed his suc cessor. December 10th, HoWELL COBB, resigned as Secretary of the Treasury-"his duty to Georgia requiring it." December 12th, PHILIP F. THOMAS was appointed his successor, and resigned, January 11th, 1861, because differing from the President and a majority of the Cabinet, "in the measures which have been adopted in reference to the recent condition of things in South Carolina," especially "touching the authority, under existing laws, to enforce the collection of the customs at the port of Charleston." January 11th, 1861, JOHN A. DIX appointed his successor. 29th, JOHN B. FLOYD resigned as Secretary of War, because, after the transfer of Major Anderson's command from Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter, the President declined "to withdraw the garrison from the harbor of Charleston altogether." December 31st, JOSEPH HOLT, Postmaster-General, was entrusted with the temporary charge of the War Department, and January 18th, 1861, was appointed Secretary of War. January 8th, 1861, JACOB THOMPSON resigned as Secretary of the Interior, because "additional troops, he had heard, have been ordered to Charleston" in the Star of the West. December 17th, 1860, JEREMIAH S. BLACK resigned as Attorney-General, and EDWIN M. STANTON, December 20th, was appointed his successor. January 18th, 1861, JOSEPH HOLT resigned as Postmaster-General, and HoRATIO KING, February 12th, 1861, was appointed his successor. President Buchanan, in his annual message of December 3d, 1860, appealed to Congress to institute an amendment to the constitution recognizing the rights of the Southern States in regard to slavery in the territories, and as this document embraced the views which subsequently led to such a general discussion of the right of secession and the right to coerce a State, we make a liberal quotation from it: "I have purposely confined my remarks to revolutionary resistance, because it has been claimed within the last few years that any State, whenever this shall be its sovereign will and pleasure, may secede from the Union in accordance with the Constitution, and without any violation of the constitutional rights of the other members of the Confederacy. That as each became parties to the Union by the vote of its own people assembled in convention, so any one of them may retire from the Union in a similar manner by the vote of such a convention. "In order to justify secession as a constitutional remedy, it must be on the principle that the Federal Government is a mere voluntary association of States, to be dissolved at pleasure by any one of the contracting parties. If this be so, the Confederacy is a rope of sand, to be penetrated and dissolved by the first adverse wave of public opinion in any of the States. In this manner our thirty-three States may resolve themselves into as many petty, jarring, and hostile republics, each one retiring from the Union without responsibility whenever any sudden excitement might impel them to such a course. By this process a Union might be entirely broken into fragments in a few weeks, which cost our forefathers many years of toil, privation, and blood to establish. Such a principle is wholly inconsistent with the history as well as the character of the Federal Constitution. After it was framed with the greatest deliberation and care, it was submitted to conventions of the people of the several States for ratification. Its provisions were discussed at length in these bodies, composed of the first men of the country. Its opponents contended that it conferred powers upon the Federal Government dangerous to the rights of the States, whilst its advocates maintained that, under a fair construction of the instrument, there was no foundation for such apprehensions. In that mighty struggle between the first intellects of this |