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As I have stated, the truth of this principle may be slow in development, as all truths are, and ever have been in the various branches of science. It was so with the principles announced by Galileo; it was so with Adam Smith and his principles of political economy; it was so with Harvey and his theory of the circulation of the blood. It is stated that not a single one of the medical profession, living at the time of the announcement of the truths made by him, admitted them. Now they are universally acknowledged. May we not, therefore, look with confidence to the ultimate universal acknowledgment of the truths upon which our system rests. It is the first government ever instituted upon principles of strict conformity to nature, and the ordination of Providence, in furnishing the materials of human society. Many governments have been founded upon the principle of certain classes, but the classes thus enslaved were of the same race, and in violation of the laws of nature. Our system commits no such violation of nature's laws. The negro, by nature, or by the curse against Canaan, is fitted for that condition which he occupies in our system. The architect, in the construction of buildings, lays the foundation with the proper materials, the granite; then comes the brick or the marble. The substratum of our society is made of the materials fitted by nature for it, and by experience we know that it is best, not only for the superior,

"The great objects of humanity are best attained when conformed to His laws and decrees, in the formation of governments, as well as in all things else. Our confederacy is founded upon principles in strict conformity with these laws. This stone which was rejected by the first builders is become the chief stone of the corner' in our new edifice.

"The progress of disintegration in the old Union may be expected to go on with almost absolute certainty. We are now the nucleus of a growing power, which, if we are true to ourselves, our destiny, and high mission, will become the controlling power on this continent. To what extent accessions will go on in the process of time, or where it will end, the future will determine."

With President Davis and Vice-President Stephens were associated in the executive department of the confederacy Robert Toombs, of Georgia, as secretary of state; C. S. Memminger, of South Carolina, as secretary of the treasury; Leroy Pope Walker, of Alabama, as secretary of war; Judah P. Benjamin, of Louisiana, as attorneygeneral; Stephen M. Mallory, of Florida, as secretary of the navy; and John H. Reagan as postmaster-general.

Toombs was born in Wilkes County, Georgia, on the 2d of July, 1810. His early education was received in his native State, but after a short collegiate career at the University of Georgia, he was transferred to Union College, at Schenectady, in New York, where he graduated. After studying for the bar, his restless hankering for adventure induced him to volunteer to serve in the Creek war, and he was chosen captain. On his return home he was elected to the Legislature, and subsequently a member of the United States House of Representatives and of the United States Senate. He was conspicuous always as an intemperate advocate of slavery and of the sovereign rights of the Southern States. It was he who boasted that he would call the roll of his slaves at the base of the Bunker Hill Monument in Boston. He was among the first to move in behalf of secession, and while still a senator of the United States, did not cease to conspire and stir up his fellow-citizens in rebellion against the Union. Possessed of an impulsive temper, and unscrupulous in the use of means to gratify his passion, he is one of the most audacious and active, if not the most capable, of the confederate leaders.

Charles Gustavus Memminger was born in Wurtemburg, Germany, on the 7th of January, 1803. At the age of two years he was brought to Charleston by his mother, a poor widow, who soon after died and left him destitute. Found a vagrant child in the streets, he was sent to the orphan asylum of

the city, where he remained until he was nine years old. His lively parts attracted the notice of Governor Thomas Bennett, who received him into his family and sent him to Columbia College, the university of the State, where he graduated in 1820. He now studied law, and was admitted to practice in 1825.

His first political action was as an opponent of South Carolina nullification, which he resisted strenuously and so conspicuously, that he was recognized a leader of the Union party. He aided the cause with pen as well as speech, and not only wrote against nullification in the political journals, but ridiculed it in a work entitled, "The Book of Nullification," written in Scriptural style.

In 1836 he was first elected to the Legislature, and continued to serve unremittingly until 1852. Being appointed chairman of the committee on financea position he retained for many yearshe made that subject an especial study. He opposed the suspension of specie payment by the banks of South Carolina in 1839, and on the question coming before the courts, was employed to assist the attorney-general in the prosecution of a case. Though opposed by the ablest counsel of the State, he gained his cause, and the banks were declared to have forfeited their charters. While in the Legislature, he advocated the adoption of the Sub-treasury scheme, and abandoning his early opinions, sustained the peculiar political views of Calhoun.

In 1852 he retired from public life, but again in 1854 sought and obtained

his election to the Legislature, with the view of effecting a reform in the system of public schools, in which he finally succeeded, in spite of an obstinate opposition.

In 1859 he was appointed a commissioner of South Carolina to the State of Virginia, to induce co-operation, on the part of the slave States, in resistance to the abolitionists of the North, a fear of whom had been awakened by the insurrectionary attempt of John Brown at Harper's Ferry. Memminger has always borne the character of an upright man in private life, though for a long time his political integrity was suspected by the constant disunionists, as they recalled his early efforts in favor of the Union and his tardy conversion to the doctrine of State Rights. His active interest in the Episcopal Church, to whose general convention he was frequently a delegate, and his earnest efforts to advance the public education and improve the charitable institutions of his city and State, have given him a character for piety and benevolence which none are disposed to question. His practised capacity as a financier, and his general accomplishments, make him one of the most efficient of President Davis' cabinet.

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cially devoted to the interests of the slave States. He ranks high as a lawyer, is a man of eloquence and capacity in business, and was among the first and most ardent to espouse the cause of secession in his State.

The attorney-general, Judah P. Benjamin, attained to great eminence as a jurist and an advocate in Louisiana. While a senator of the United States, he was a professed Whig, but always a State Rights' partisan. He is a brilliant rhetorician, a subtle lawyer, a man skilled in political intrigue, and unscrupulous in the use of means to effect the objects of party or to reach the aim of his personal ambition.

Stephen M. Mallory was for a long period a United States senator from Florida, and though unobtrusive, bore the character of a useful member of the upper house of Congress. He was always considered a conservative man in his political views, and supposed to be strongly attached to the Union. He is thought to have linked his fortunes to secession rather from the force of circumstances, than from any personal predilections for the cause. He was probably appointed secretary of the navy of the Confederate States in consequence of his presumed experience obtained as chairman of the committee of the United States Senate on naval affairs.

world that "he owes no man a dollar;" they lounged in the parlor and took an inventory of Brussels carpet, sofa, piano, and of Mrs. Lincoln, in her newest silk. They dogged Mr. Lincoln everywhere, from his breakfast, through the town to his daily round of business, and back again to his dining-table, duly reporting that "he loves a good dinner, and eats with the appetite which goes with a great brain, but his food is plain and nutritious; he never drinks intoxicating liquors of any sort."

Meanwhile, they had fixed every line and tint, every light and shadow, of the man upon their memorandum-books and photographic plates. Thus his fellowcitizens throughout the country could see at a glance that "his features, though they are those of a man of mark, are not such as belong to a handsome man; that his eyes are "dark grey, and fine when lighted up;" his hair black and, though thin, wiry; "his head sits well on his shoulders, but beyond that, defies description;" that his "head is unlike either Webster or Clay's, but is very large and phrenologically well proportioned, betokening power in all its developments;" that he has "a slightly Roman nose, a wide-cut mouth, and a dark complexion, with the appearance of having been weather-beaten."

There was, however, notwithstanding the free exposition of Mr. Lincoln to his inquisitive visiters on most points, a resolute reticence in regard to his future. action toward the secession States of the South. To the "hundreds of people" who had flocked to Springfield and met

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him at a public reception in the townhall, he frankly declared that the time had not come for a definition of the policy of his administration, and that they must be satisfied for the present with a hearty greeting, which he proceeded to give by "shaking hands with most of the attendants."*

Public curiosity was aroused to the highest pitch, and although Lincoln resolutely kept silence, some of the newspapers, unable to resist the universal eagerness for an oracular response, spoke for him: "I will suffer," said his newspaper interpreter in behalf of Lincoln, "death before I will consent, or will advise my friends to consent, to any concession or compromise which looks like buying the privilege of taking possession of this government, to which we have a constitutional right, because whatever I might think of the merit of the various propositions before Congress, I should regard any concession in the face of menace the destruction of the Government itself, and a consent on all hands that our system shall be brought down to a level with the existing disorganized state of affairs in Mexico. But this thing will hereafter be as it is now, in the hands of the people; and if they desire to call a convention to remove any grievances complained of, or to give new guarantees for the permanence of vested rights, it is not mine to oppose."

When his election was, however, duly declared, Mr. Lincoln ventured to speak for himself. for himself. On the 11th of February

New York Times, Feb. 4th, 1861.