If this Senatorial outburst had come from a Northern Democrat, it would have fallen with comparatively small effect upon the Southern men; but that a Southern Democrat, and that Southern Democrat a Senator who had sustained Breckinridge, should hurl such thunderbolts about their heads was unendurable. No higher tribute could be paid to the effect of Johnson's speech than the rapacity with which he was assailed by the sentinels of treason in the Senate.

CHAPTER XIV.

ACTION in South Carolina-Ordinance of Secession Passed - Major Anderson's Transfer from Moultrie to Sumter-Secretary Floyd Resigns Commissioners from South Carolina arrive at Washington - Communication with the President - Fort Sumter Reinforced Secret Meeting of the Conspirators, their Programme - Davis, Slidell and Mallory to carry it out -The President throws the Responsibility on Congress - Secretaries Jacob Thompson and Thomas resign - Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Texas Secede No Vote of the People Taken - Montgomery Convention, Jeff. Davis elected President and Alexander H. Stephens VicePresident of "The Confederate States" - Congressional Action - Desire of an Adjustment-Seward's Remarkable Avowals - Continued Violence of Wigfall, Benjamin, Toombs, Iverson, and others Johnson replies on 5th and 6th February, 1861 The Political Heresy of Secession - Defends his previous Declarations - Effective Replies to Benjamin, Lane and Davis' inuendoes The Ally of all True Men - Exposes Davis' Vote against Slavery Protection - Two Sketches of Character - Johnson and Davis Contrasted-Intense Closing Scene of the Debate - Punishment of Treason - Excitement in the Galleries - Cheering for Johnson and the Union His Speeches an Era in the Senate."

WHILE Senator Johnson was yet forging immutable bands around the Union cause in the Union Capital, South Carolina was unriveting the link that bound her to it, or thought she was. The Convention called by the State Legislature on the 4th of December, met on the 17th in Columbia, but the small-pox hunted the Palmetto patriots to Charleston, where, on the 20th, the ordinance of secession was passed, repealing the ordinance of May 23, 1788, which ratified the Constitution of the United States; and on the 24th, Governor E. W. Pickens proclaimed South Carolina to be a "Separate, Sovereign, Free and Independent State." Events followed rapidly. On the 26th, Major Robert Anderson transferred his garrison from Fort Moultrie to (220)

Fort Sumter. On the 27th, Hon. John B. Floyd, Secretary of War, requested the President to withdraw the garrison from Charleston, which not having been complied with the Secretary resigned on the 29th. On the same day, Messrs. R. W. Barnewall, J. H. Adams and J. L. Orr, Commissioners from South Carolina, arrived at Washington, and opened a communication to the President demanding that forts and other Government property at Charleston should be delivered to the authorities for which they acted. On the next day, the President replied, stating that Major Anderson had acted on his own responsibility, that his first impulse was to order him home, a feeling rendered impossible by the occupation of the fort and the seizure of the United States arsenal by South Carolina. On the 1st of January the Commissioners called on the President to redeem his pledge to maintain the status of affairs previous to Major Anderson's removal from Moultrie. The President declined to receive this communication. On the 5th of January, the Star of the West was sent by Government with supplies to Fort Sumter. This aroused the conspirators who, on the night of the same day, held a secret meeting in Washington, at which the Senators from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi and Texas were present. It was determined to accelerate the secession of the Southern States, to hold a convention of such as had seceded at Montgomery, Ala., not later than the 15th of February; and that the Senators and Representatives from these States should retain their seats in Congress as long as judicious to check such measures as might be undertaken against secession. Davis, Slidell and Mallory of Florida were intrusted with the carrying out of this programme. On the 8th, the President, by message, advised Congress of the state of affairs and threw upon it the responsibility of meeting the emergency, stating at the same time that while he had no right to make aggressive war upon any State, it was his duty to use military force de

fensively against those who resisted Federal officers in the execution of their duty and those who assail Government property. On this day, the Hon. Jacob Thompson alleging that Government violated the decision of the Cabinet in succoring Fort Sumter, resigned his office as Secretary of the Interior. On the 9th, Mississippi passed an ordinance of secession. On the 10th, Hon. P. F. Thomas, who had succeeded Cobb in the Treasury, resigned.* On the 11th, Alabama and Florida passed ordinances of secession, and was followed by Louisiana on the 26th, and by Texas on the 5th of February. In none of these States was the vote of the people taken on the issue which plunged them into civil The convention assembled in Montgomery on the 4th of February and there adopted a provisional constitution under which Jefferson Davis was elected President and Alexander H. Stephens of Georgia Vice-President of the "Confederacy."

war.

The debate in the Senate had meanwhile continued with mingled violence, pathos, ability and vigor. As indicative of the great desire of Congress to make an adjustment, the Committee of Thirty-three in the House reported some admirable resolutions, the production of Dunn of Indiana and Rust of Arkansas, and Senator Seward made a remarkable speech in which, after declaring that he would follow "the example of the noble Senator from Tennessee [Mr. Johnson], and avow his adherence to the integrity of the Union and all its parts with his friends, State and party, or without them, he avowed himself in favor of: 1. The repeal of all

The Cabinet changes during the last three months of Mr. Buchanan's Administration were:

State Department, ....J. S. Black vice General Cass, resigned.

. Philip T. Thomas vice H. Cobb, resigned; J. A. Dix vice Thomas, resigned.

....J. Holt vice T. B. Floyd, resigned.

...Jacob Thompson, resigned.

....Horatio King vice Holt.

Attorney-General, ...Edwin M. Stanton rice Black, to the State Department.

personal liberty bills contravening the Constitution. 2. As slavery in the States ought to be left to the States, he was willing to amend the Constitution so that Congress can never abolish or interfere with slavery in the States. 3. While believing that Congress had unquestionable authority to legislate upon slavery in the Territories, yet the exercise of that power should be determined on practical grounds. 4. He was willing to make laws to arrest John Brown raids; and 5. Was in favor of two Pacific railroads, one of which should connect the ports around the mouths of the Mississippi, and the other the towns on the Missouri and the lakes, with the harbors on our western coasts. If the expression of these views Senator Seward did not meet the expectations of some, he claimed in offering them to have sacrificed many of his own cherished convictions. Jefferson had taught him that we cannot always do what seems to us absolutely best in politics. Undoubtedly his speech-coming from one who had accepted the leading position in Mr. Lincoln's Cabinet― embraced and conveyed many concessions. But secession, not concession, was the demand of those "discontented citizens" who had obtained political power in the Southern States.

On the other side the violence of Senators Wigfall, Benjamin, Toombs, Iverson and others was unabated; and on the 5th and 6th of February Senator Johnson replied to the acrimonious assaults, the sneering interruptions, the pointed ridicule and unmanly innuendoes which were leveled at him. His reply was elaborate and dignified. In it he more completely and effectually drove home the historical facts and logical conclusions of his previous effort. In making that speech his intention was—and all thought he succeeded in it-to place himself upon the principles of the Constitution and the doctrines inculcated by Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe and Jackson. Having examined the positions of those distinguished fathers of the Republic, and