of transit and sojourn, with their slaves, in States whose constitutions, aye, whose laws and public sentiment would not tolerate the same in their own citizens for a moment; a demand which, if granted, would enable Senator Toombs to realize his hope, sooner than he expected, of living to see the day when he should call over his roll of slaves at the foot of Bunker Hill Monument.

The "Crittenden Resolutions" were then offered under the guise of a mild and pleasant panacea, like those sugar-coated pills that children are said to cry for, and by those Union-savers, whose motto is "Union for the sake of the Union," regardless of principle, the free North was denounced as contumacious, and responsible for the rupture for not surrendering principle, honor, manhood, and right, and taking it at once, and asking for more of the same sort!

But what were they? An insult to Northern principle and sentiment. Compromise, forsooth! demanding of the free North the unholy concession to the South of the right to the extension of slavery into and over all the vast Governmental domain now owned, or ever to be acquired, either by purchase, fraud or plunder; and to guarantee its protection and defence there, virtually, for all coming time! And what was the quid pro quo that she was to receive for this humiliation?-what concession was the South to make in return?--for that is no compromise in which there is not something yielded on both sides. Hear it! O, ye of the North! Hear it! O, ye of the East! Hear it! O, ye of the West! the South was to agree to abide in connection with you during your good behavior and her good pleasure, and defer, for the present, ruining herself and tearing the Union

into infinitesimal fragments! Astonishing condescension!

O, East! O, West! O, North! Why were ye such stubborn asses as not to receive, at once, the proffered bit, and, crouching low, suffer your Southern would-be masters, booted and spurred, to mount your superserviceable backs and ride you to the devil?

But, cui bono? South Carolina had already plunged into the turbid cesspool of secession, and others of King Cotton's domain had followed; their drivers (not leaders) boldly avowing that were a carte blanche given them to write their own terms of adhesion to the Union, they would decline. They were but executing a long contemplated plan. As long as they were in power they could afford to stay in the Union, but no longer; out of power, out of the Union. Their practical motto—

"Better to reign in hell, than serve in heaven!"

Their policy-rule or ruin; their practice-rule and ruin!

That they had long premeditated a disruption of the Union, is a matter of undeniable history; though that purpose is quite generally supposed by people of the free States, to have originated in recent events. This erroneous supposition has arisen from a non-observance of the state of public sentiment at the South, especially that of South Carolina, as betrayed for several years, through their speeches and public prints, which, however, it must be admitted, have had but limited circulation among ordinary readers in the free States.

Thirteen years ago, at least, without reference to any earlier period, hostility to the Federal Government, as

expressed by the leaders of public opinion in South Carolina, was as vehement as it was during the year immediately preceding the late rebellion, called by them secession. It was well known, and by many of them had been openly avowed, that they had been engaged for years in treasonable designs, founded, as many believed, with some show of reason, on an abstract enmity to the Union.

The Charleston Courier's report of a debate in the Legislature of South Carolina, in 1850, on a proposition to convene a "Southern Congress," ostensibly for devising measures for the defence of the South, will give the reader an insight into the spirit which prevailed in that body:

"Mr. W. S. LYLES said he would not recapitulate the series of wrongs inflicted upon us; [for the very good reason there were none,] the only question he would consider was the remedy. The remedy is the union of the South, and the formation of a Southern Confederacy. The friends of the Southern movement in the other States look to the action of South Carolina, and he would make the issue in a reasonable time, and the only way to do so is by secession. There would be no concert among the Southern States until a blow is struck.

"Mr. SULLIVAN proceeded to discuss the sovereignty of the States and the right of secession, and denied the right or power of the General Government to coerce the State in the case of secession. He thought there never would be a union of the South until this State (South Carolina) strikes the blow and makes the issue.

“Mr. W. F. RICHARDSON would not recapitulate the evils which had been perpetrated upon the South. (Still harping upon my daughter.) Great as they have

been, they are comparatively unimportant, when compared with the evils to which they would inevitably lead. We must not consider what we have borne, but what we must bear hereafter. There is no remedy for these evils in the Government; we have no alternative left us, then, but to come out of the Government.

"Mr. PRESTON said he was opposed to calling a convention, because he thought it would impede the action of this State (South Carolina) on the questions now before the country. He thought it would impede our progress toward disunion. All his objections to a convention of the people applied only to the proposition to call it now. He thought conventions dangerous things, except when the necessities of the country absolutely demand them. He said he had adopted the course he had taken on these weighty matters simply and entirely with the view of hastening the dissolution of this Union."

"Mr. KEITT said he would sustain the bill for electing delegates to a Southern Congress, because he thought it would bring about a more speedy dissolution of this Union."

The following extracts from the debates had on the passage of the secession ordinance, in the late South Carolina convention, sufficiently prove our assertion:

Mr. PARKER. "Mr. President: it appears to me, with great deference to the opinions that have been expressed, that the public mind is fully made up to the great occasion that now awaits us. It is no spasmodic effort that has come suddenly upon us, but it has been gradually culminating for a long series of years, until at last it has come to that point when we may say the matter is entirely right."

Mr. INGLIS. "Mr. President: If there is any gen

tlemen present who wishes to debate this matter, of course this body will hear him; but as to delay for the purpose of discussion, I, for one, am opposed to it. As my friend (Mr. Parker) has said, most of us have had this matter under consideration for the last twenty years; and I presume we have, by this time, arrived at a' decision-upon the subject."

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Mr. KEITT. "Sir, we are performing a great act, which involves not only the stirring present, but embraces the whole great future of ages to come. have been engaged in this movement ever since I entered political life. I am content with what has been done to-day, and content with what will take place tomorrow. We have carried the body of this Union to its last resting place, and now we will drop the flag over its grave. After that is done, I am ready to adjourn, and leave the remaining ceremonies for tomorrow."

Mr. RHETT. "The secession of South Carolina is not the event of a day. It is not anything produced by Mr. Lincoln's election, or by non-execution of the Fugitive Slave Law. It has been a matter which has been gathering head for thirty years. * * *Now, in regard to the Fugitive Slave Law, I myself doubt its constitutionality, and I doubted it on the floor of the Senate, when I was a member of that body. The States, acting in their sovereign capacity, should be responsible for the rendition of fugitive slaves. That was our best security."

Thus, it will be seen that it was in furtherance of this long cherished scheme of South Carolina, that her secession convention was held in December, 1860; and in accordance with the conviction that a blow must be

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