Southern Confederacy, made a speech at Millidgeville, Georgia, declaring against secession because of Mr. Lincoln's election, but approving the call for a Convention to act, saying that his fortune should be cast with that of Georgia. He plead in eloquent terms the cause of the Union, and thought Georgia safer and more prosperous in than out of it. Mr. Toombs, who was present, frequently interrupted Mr. Stephens to show his own disunion sentiments. As the members of the Georgia Legislature were present, the speech THE MOBILE DECLARATION OF CAUSES. Anti-Slavery fanaticism has lifted to the Chief Ma In the pause after the battle, and before the enemy takes possession of the Government, it behooves us danger in the face, and in the spirit of men who, to consider what our safety demands, to look the knowing their rights, dare to maintain them at any and all hazards. The gravity of the occasion admonishes us neither was heralded at the North as evidence of a In The question is, can the honor, dignity, and equality of the Southern States, and the rights of their citizens, be preserved by remaining in the Union? Are we not constrained to choose between a dis graceful submission, and a separation from those of our fathers? The following brief but truthful history of the Black Republican party, its acts and purposes, af It claims to abolish Slavery in the districts, forts, arsenals, dockyards, and other places ceded to the United States. To abolish the inter-State Slavetrade, and thus cut off the Northern Slave States from their profits of production, and the Southern of their resources of supply of labor. It claims to forbid all equality and competition of settlement in the common Territories, by the citizens of Slave States. Mr. Stephens himself soon gave way before It repels all further admission of new Slave States. It has denied the extradition of murderers, and It has concealed and shielded the murderer of masters or owners in pursuit of fugitive slaves. It has refused to prevent or punish by State authority the spoiliation of slave property; but, on the contrary, it has made it a criminal offense in the citi zens of several States to obey the laws of the Union for the protection of slave property. It has advocated negro equality, and made it the ground of positive legislation hostile to the Southern States. It opposes protection to slave property on the high seas, and has justified piracy itself in the case of the Creole. It has kept in our midst emissaries of incendiarism THE MOBILE DECLARATION OF CAUSES. to ccrrupt our slaves and induce them to run off, or incite them to rebellion and insurrection. It has run off millions of slave property, by a system of what are called "underground railroads," and has made its tenure so precarious in the border Slave States as nearly to have abolitionized two of them-Maryland and Missouri; and it is making similar inroads constantly upon Virginia and Kentucky. 89 Its candidate elect to the Chief Magistracy has proclaimed that "the Government cannot endure half slave and half free"-that there is an "irrepressible conflict between opposing and enduring forces-that the United States must and will, sooner or later, become a slaveholding nation, or entirely a free-labor nation." Thus it is seen that their declared policy is a settled and determined hostility to the social fabric of It is incessantly scattering firebrands of incendiary the Southern States, a policy at war with the theoappeals in our midst. It has extended fanaticism into our own borders. It has invaded a Territory by arms furnished by Emigrant Aid Societies, under State patronage, and by funds furnished by foreign enemies, in Canada and Great Britain. ry of our Government and the design of its framersregardless of the Compromises of the Federal Constitution, ignoring the rights of property, and destructive of the harmony of our Federal system, and the equality of the States. The success, therefore, of that party in the late It has invaded Virginia and shed the blood of her election is an open and official avowal by a popular citizens on her own soil. It has published its plan for the abolition of Slavery everywhere. To rescue slaves at all hazards, form associations to establish presses, to use the vote and ballot, to raise money and military equipments, to form and discipline armed companies, to appeal to non-slaveholders and detach them from slaveholders in Slave States, to communicate with the slaves, to encourage Anti-Slavery emigrants to the South and West, to seize other property of siaveholders to compensate for the cost of running off their slaves, to force emancipation by all means, especially by limiting, harassing, and frowning upon Slavery in every mode and form, and finally by the Executive, by Congress, by the postal service, and in every way to agitate without ceasing until the Southern States shall be abandoned to their fate, and, worn down, shall be compelled to surrender and emancipate their slaves. majority of the non-Slaveholding States that there will be no pause in their aggressive warfare, until the full success of their fell purposes. The time, therefore, has come for us "to put our house in order," and, if need be, to stand by our arms. We will not give the enemy time to collect his strength and wield the powers of Government against us, by waiting for any further "overt act." Therefore, be it Resolved, 1. That the election of Abraham Lincoln to the Presidency upon the principles avowed by the Black Republican party, is, in our opinion, a virtual overthrow of the Constitution and of the equal right of the Statcs. 2. That the idea of submission by the South to the rule of such a man and such a party should be repudiated from one end of her borders to the other. 3. That in the language of the Constitution of Ala It has repudiated the decisions of the Supreme bama, under which she was admitted into the Union, Court. It assails us from the pulpit, the press, the school room. It divides all sects and religions, as well as parties. It denounces slaveholders as degraded by the lowest immoralities, insults them in every form, and holds them up to the scorn of mankind. It has already a majority of the States under its domination; has infected the Federal as well as the State Judiciary; will, ere long, have a majority of the House of Representatives of the Congress of the United States; will soon have, by the new census, a majority of the Senate; and before it obtains the Senate, certainly will obtain the Chief Executive power of the United States. It has announced its purpose of total abolition in the States and everywhere, as well as in the Territories, and districts, and other places ceded. "All political power is inherent in the people, and all free governments are founded on their authority, and intended for their benefit; and, therefore, they have at all times an inalienable and indefeasible right to alter, reform, or abolish their form of government in such manner as they may think expedient." 4. That, in the present state of things, it is the de liberate opinion of this meeting, assembled without distinction of parties, that the State of Alabama should withdraw from the Federal Union without any further delay than may be necessary to obtain in the speediest manner a consultation with other Slaveholding States, in the hope of securing their coope ration in a movement which we deem essential to our safety. This document shows some (6 master hand" in its preparation. The list of specifications. It has proclaimed an "irresistible conflict" of was truly formidable enough to answer the higher law with the Federal Constitution itself! query, "What are your wrongs?" Governor Hicks' Po Governor Hicks, of Ma- "Identified, as I am, by birth, and every other tie, rage Southern independence of interest and feeling, lature. The Legislature of North North Carolina Legis. Carolina did not act, during November, definitely on the questions of relations with the Federal Government. Resolutions were introduced on the 22d, by Mr. Ferrebee, strongly Union in their nature, denying the right of secession, &c., &c. Various substitutes were offered, but all were tabled, and no action taken. On the 24th, Mr. Slade introduced a resolution which was referred to the Committee on Federal Relations, as follows: “That without intending any menace or threat, it is the opinion of this General Assembly, that in case any State shall, through the voice of her people, withdraw from the Union, the General Government ought not to attempt coercion, and that the people of this State ought not only to refuse to take part in any such attempt, but to resist the same by all means in their power." This was the only indication, thus far, of the feeling in the Legislature, while it was remarked that the people of the State were largely in favor of the Union, and of righting their wrongs on the floors of Congress. be benefited by a constitutional administration of Tennessee's Con. Tennessee assumed no Florida indicated her position as beside' The immediate secession movement, so far as the proceeding of November indicated, seemed to be confined to the Gulf States and South Carolina. The Border Slave States, 1 CONDITION OF THE BANKS. 41 sympathising strongly with their fellow Slave Well would it have been for Virginia, "MoStates, still preferred some arrangement by which the Union should be preserved, and directed their influence to that end. Adjoining the Free States on the North, they must become chief sufferers in event of hostilities; hence, whatever might have been the secret desires of their people, policy dictated the wise course of laboring for adjustment of difference in the Union, not out of it. ther of Presidents," if she had never known the baleful influence of such men as Henry A. Wise, Jas. M. Mason, Roger A. Pryor, and John Tyler! Well was it for Kentucky, that she had such men as John J. Crittenden, Rev. Dr. Breckenridge, and Joseph Holt! Alas for Tennessee that the counsels of Andrew Johnson, Emerson Etheridge, and Judge Nelson should not have prevailed! CHAPTER V. THE FINANCIAL CONDITION OF THE COUNTRY.-STATE OF FEELING AT THE NORTH. The Monetary Crisis. Ir became evident, early | thought proper to report "safe." The Southin the fall of 1860, that a ern man could buy all he wanted-it would monetary crisis was im- not have been "courteous" to question his pending. As a consequence, business was ability to pay. This certainly was the feelrestricted, and capital began to withdraw from ing in the trade, and, as must inevitably have investment. Manufacturers and importers been the result, when the crisis came, it was became eager to close off stocks on hand, and found that the South was an immense debtor crowded the market with goods beyond its to the North for goods bought on long credits. want. The Southern market for goods sud- Many a house which, in the summer of 1860, denly ceased, early in November, except in was considered good for a million, in Novemfirearms and military wares, and the feeling ber found its name in the list of "discredited of insecurity in regard to debts due from the firms." This generous confidence had been South by November 15th, changed to a feeling its ruin. of alarm, since remittances almost totally ceased. Exchange on New York and Philadelphia became so high, and Southern banknotes grew so discredited, that, even those creditors of the Northern factors and merchants who were honorable enough to meet their engagements, could only do so at ruin Good Condition of the Notwithstanding this general dry goods disaster, the condition of the banks was most satisfactory. The crises of 1837 and '57 found them with small assets and large circulations: the crisis of 1860 found them with heavy assets and narrowed circulations. The following table will exhibit the comparative statements of the several “panic" seasons: ous discounts. The result was disastrous in the extreme to the lenient tradesmen and manufacturers of the North, who, in their anxiety to "do a Southern business," would credit large amounts on long time. The January, 1837. Western buyer was considered "favored" Capital.....$290,000,000 $368,000,000 $469,600,000 Circulation. 151,900,000 177,000,000 1857. 1860. with a four months' credit; the Southern Deposits.. 144,300,000 255,900,000 ... 197,234,000 248,780,000 months' bills. The Western man could not buyer was "accommodated" with eighteen Loans...... 553,000,000 buy more than the sharp Mercantile Agency Specie.. 745,700,000 685,161,000 37,900,000 Real Estate.. 19,000,000 No. of banks 788 The New York Banks As will be seen by our Summary of Events | forward much trouble was experienced in (page 3), bank suspensions throughout the getting rid of the vast stores of grain and country became very general about the mid- cotton awaiting shipment in New York, Bos dle of November; and, in all circles, the want ton, Philadelphia and Baltimore. of money was seriously felt. There was money enough in the country;-never, since the Government was organized were the people so generally in "easy circumstances;" but, the distrust which prevailed, the political ruin which stared the nation in the face, the distressed condition of the United States Treasury and the want of confidence in the Treasurer's management, the action of Southern State Legislatures in authorizing not only suspension of specie payment by the banks, but a suspension of payment of debts due to the North-all contributed to that contraction of capital which is the inevitable result of a "panic." An Overstocked Market. On the 21st of November the New York banks, in order further to relieve the stringency prevailing, particularly among merchants, resolved upon a liberal line of discounts, by a consolidated fund arrangement through the Clearing House. Ten million dollars were thus set loose-with a promise of more if necessary—to the great relief of the community, and many a first-class house was spared the mortification of “a failure." Notwithstanding this relief, "second class" paper was only negotiated at fearful rates-as high as 18 per cent. being a common rate. The condition of the banks, in the great commercial centres, was as follows, at the dates named: Loans. Specie. Circul❜n. Deposits. Nov 17 $123,271,25 $19,464,410 $9,268,317 $76,190,663 N. York. Nov. 19. 20,775,878 4,115,932 2,791,762 15,833,121 N. Or's, Boston, Nov 10. 23,443,541 10,219,756 8,005,239 16,304,467 Previous But, the tide of exchange and trade was so immensely in our favor that, by the latter part of November, coin commenced flowing in such amounts as to astonish even the most sanguine of money prophets. On the 22d of November one of the leading authorities in New York commercial reports declared that the superabundant wealth actually clogged the The avenues of business. reason was, that exports so immensely exceeded imports that foreign exchange could not be used in the purchases, and pending the arrival of specie from Europe, to replace the unsought bills of exchange, much embarrassment ensu-vernment Treasury was caled. The exports of cotton and grain were particularly heavy. The South, preparing for a stagnation in business, or compelled by its wants, hastened forward its product, while the propitious year for grain-growth swelled the great granaries of the West to such fullness that operators had to push forward wheat, flour, and corn for a market in order to buy again at the West. On Monday, November 19th, the pressure on the market of unsalable foreign exchanges became so great, and the wants of commission men became so importunate, that the New York bank presidents met, and, after much discussion, resolved to purchase $2,500,000 of foreign exchange, upon which the gold would be realized in thirty days. This afforded a orief relief only, and until gold could come Decrease $1,685,055 The condition of the Go $658,360 $3,542,681 The United States culated to excite alarm. |