such laws as will prevent and punish any attempt whatever in such Chap. III. State to recognize or set on foot the lawless invasion of any other State or territory. "Resolved, That the President be requested to transmit copies of the foregoing resolutions to the Governors of the several States, with a request that they be communicated to their respective Legislatures." One proposition, and only one, obtained the concurrent assent of both Houses. It was as follows: "That the following Article be proposed to the Legislatures of the several States as an Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which, when ratified by three-fourths of said Legislatures, shall be valid, to all intents and purposes, as part of the said Constitution, namely :— "No Amendment shall be made to the Constitution which will authorize or give to Congress the power to abolish or interfere, within any State, with the domestic institutions thereof, including that of persons held to labour or service by the laws of said State.'" This vote was made abortive by the circumstances which immediately followed. All endeavours then to repair, by one more compromise, a breach which had been gradually widening in spite of repeated compromises proved utterly vain. They were, indeed, well nigh hopeless from the first. Originated chiefly by politicians from the Middle States, among which Kentucky took the lead, they offered no prospect of a solid and durable reconciliation. Few Republicans could have accepted them with a clear conscience, and they were really distasteful to the thorough-going secessionists, who took no part in the Peace Conference, and during the debates in Congress on Mr. Crittenden's scheme had either stood aloof or given it a cold and languid support. The object of their desires was not a redress of grievances; they had, indeed, none which legislation could redress. No action of Congress, no mere patching of the Constitution, could, they well knew, arrest the growth of population in the North and West, stifle in that population the freedom of thought and speech, or secure to the South a permanent lease of power. What they dreaded was this steady, irresistible Chap. III. advance of an interest and sentiment hostile to their own; what they aspired to was the foundation of an independent commonwealth which should absorb the Middle States, drain the resources of the North, and command the West. No fresh compromise could now dissipate that fear, or divert them from the pursuit of that chimera. NOTE. Among the Acts passed by the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States during its first Session are the following: 1861. February 9.-To continue in force certain laws of the United States of America. 14. To continue in office the officers connected with the collection of the Customs in the Confederate States of America. 20. To provide munitions of war and for other purposes. [Authorizes President or Secretary of War under his direction to make contracts for the purchase of heavy ordnance and small-arms, and manufacture of powder.] 21. To fix salaries of Vice-President and Heads of Depart ments. 21. To organize the Departments of State, and the Treasury, War, Navy, and Post-Office Departments, and a Department of Justice (six Acts). 23. To prescribe the Rates of Postage in the Confederate States of America. 25. 26. To declare the free navigation of the Mississippi. 26. For the establishment and organization of a General 28. To authorize the Secretary of the Treasury to establish ports and places of entry and delivery. 28. To raise money for the support of the Government, and to provide for the defence of the Confederate States of America. [Authorizes a loan of 15,000,000 Chap. III. February 28.-To raise Provisional Forces for the Confederate States 99 99 99 6.-To provide for the Public Defence. [Authorizes Presi- 6. To provide for the registration of vessels owned by 6. 6. To establish a Light-house Bureau. For the establishment and organization of the Army of 7 & 8.-To create the clerical force of the Executive Depart- 9. To authorize the issue of Treasury Notes. for twelve months, to be called into service at 15. To authorize the appointment of Commercial Agents 15. To authorize the construction or purchase of ten steam 99 "1st. For the pay of officers of the navy on duty and off duty, based upon the presumption that all the grades authorized by the Act of 1861 will be filled, 131,750 dollars. "2nd. For the pay of officers, non-commissioned officers, musicians, and privates of the marine corps, 175,512 dollars. "3rd. For provisions and clothing and contingencies in paymaster's department, 133,860 dollars. “4th. For the pay of warrant and petty officers, and of seamen, ordinary seamen, landsmen, and boys, and engineer's department, 168,000 dollars. "5th. For expenditures which will be required for coal for the use of steamers, 235,000 dollars. "6th. For the probable cost of 10 steam-gunboats for coast defences of the Confederate States, to be built or purchased as may be most convenient, 1,100,000 dollars. NOTE. Chap. III. NOTE. "7th. For the probable cost of completing and equipping the steam sloop Fulton, now at the Pensacola navy yard, 25,000 dollars. "8th. For the pay of officers and others at the navy yard, Pensacola, 54,363 dollars. "9th. For compensation of four clerks on duty at the Navy Department as per Act of 11th March, at 1,500 dollars each, 6,000 dollars."] March 16.-To provide for the organization of the Navy. [Authorizes President to appoint 4 Captains, 4 Commanders, 30 Lieutenants, &c., and to employ as masters, midshipmen, naval constructors, warrant and petty officers, and seamen, any number not exceeding 3,000.] 16. To establish the Judicial Courts of the Confederate States of America. [This Act, of 54 sections, provides a complete judicial machinery, modelled cn that of the United States. The District Courts to have admiralty and maritime jurisdiction.] ERSITY OF CHAPTER IV. Accession of President Lincoln.-His Character, and the Commencement of his Administration.-Attempt to provision Fort Sumter; followed by the Bombardment and Reduction of the Fort.-Proclamation calling for 75,000 Men.-Revolt of Virginia, North Carolina, Arkansas, and Tennessee.-Attitude of Kentucky, Maryland, and Delaware.-Events in Missouri.-The Arsenal at Harper's Ferry and the Norfolk Navy Yard fall into the hands of the Confederates.— Troops raised for the Defence of the Confederacy.-Mr. Davis's Proclamation offering Letters of Marque.-President Lincoln's Proclamations of Blockade.-Naval Resources of the United States; of the Confederacy.-Successive Levies of Troops by the Federal Government.-Military Operations.-Campaign on the Potomac.Observations on the Character and Magnitude of the Revolt. ON the 4th March, 1861, Mr. Lincoln took office as President of the United States. A native of Kentucky, born of poor parents, and bred up in a log cabin in what was then the Far West, he had struggled in early years for a livelihood, trying, as was common in that rough and primitive society, one occupation after another, until he finally attained the position of a country lawyer in good practice. He had been elected, when twenty-five years old, to the Legislature of his own State, Illinois; had sat for three years in Congress and been a candidate against Mr. Douglas for the Senatorship; and was known as a terse and ready speaker. The obscurity of his birth and early life, his homely air and rough humour, created, on his sudden elevation to the highest dignity in the United States, a prejudice against him which was really injurious to his office, and was never quite overcome. F |