gun, lost so much time, that when he knocked at the gate, it was close barred, for the enemy were very near. He jumped over a fence into a cornfield, where he lay concealed until the battle and the massacre had ended, and so he was saved. "He was courting me at that very time, boy as he was," said Mrs. Bailey, who related the circumstances to ine. She was six months older than her lover-"just old enough," she said "to make him draw the cider." Mrs. Bailey had many things to tell me about her experience there during the war of 1812. Decatur, with the Frigates United States and Macedonian, ran into the Thames up to New London and above, in the Summer of 1813, and was there blockaded by a British squadron. At one time when that squadron threatened to bombard New London, the military force that manned the forts, were deficient in flannel for cannon cartridges. Every family in the town was visited in search of the needed material, and considerable was cheerfully sent to the garrison. It was not enough. Groton, also, was searched. Mr. Latham, a neighbor of Mrs. Bailey, came to her, seeking more. She started out and collected all the little petticoats of children that she could find in the village. This is not half enough,' said Latham; "can't you find more?" "You shall have mine too," said Mrs. Bailey, as she cut with her scissors the string that held it to her waist, and handed it to Latham. "It was a heavy new one,' said the old lady, as her eyes sparkled with the recollection, "which I had spun and woven myself, but I didn't care a groat for that. All I wanted was to see it go through the Englishmen's insides!" When Latham, satisfied with his treasures, returned to the fort, which Decatur's men were assisting to garrison, some of them declared it would be a shame to cut up that garment into cartridge patterns; it ought to flutter at the mast-head of the United States or the Macedonian, as an ensign under which they would fight gallantly out on the broad ocean. But those frigates had no occasion to raise an ensign or open their ports, for they were kept prisoners in the Thames, for the remainder of the war, a period of about twenty months. Mrs. Bailey gave me an interesting account of the festivities at New London after the President's Proclamation of Peace, in 1815, was received, in which she and her husband participated. The town was brilliantly illuminated on the evening of the 21st of February, and a ball was given by the citizens in the court-house. Admiral Hotham was then the commander of the blockading squadron, and was held in esteem by the citizens, for like his predecessor, Commodore Hardy, his conduct had been marked by forbearance and courtesy. His flagship was the Superb. He determined to join in the festivities on that occasion. Announcing the parole on his ship to be "America," and the countersign "Amity," he and his officers went ashore, mingled freely and cordially with the inhabitants, and danced at the ball with the ladies of New London. Mrs. Bailey was one of his partner's in a cotillion. "I was then just fifty years old," she said, when telling me the story, "but I was as spry as any of the girls-plump and fair; dressed in a canton-crape gown, lownecked, short-waisted and short-sleeved. The Admiral was almost seventy, but he was as frisky as a fox, with a jolly red face and white hair. Captain Bailey said I was the prettiest woman in the room, and he was a good judge. Now don't laugh at me because of my vanity. I love to remember it because my husband said it.' I have no doubt of the justice of the captain's remark, for at the great age of eighty-six years there were, on the face of this remarkable woman remains of former beauty. She was still vivacious; her smile was winning, and her large blue eyes retained much of their lustre. Alas! poor Anna Bailey! On the 10th of January, 1851, a little more than three years after my visit, her clothes took fire and she was burned to death at the age of eighty-nine years. She died, the venerated Postmistress of Groton. THE SOUTH CAROLINA ORDINANCE OF SECESSION. Delegates from the several districts of South Carolina, assembled in the Baptist church, at Columbia, the Capital of the State, on the 17th of December, 1860. The late David F. Jamison, a delegate from Barnwell District, was chosen to preside temporarily, and was finally elected the permanent president of the Convention, with B. F. Arthur, as clerk. The Rev. Mr. Breaker invoked the blessing of Almighty God upon their proposed work, and they were about to proceed in their labors, when word came to the Convention that the small-pox was raging as an epidemic in Columbia. They adjourned to Charleston, where they reassembled on the 18th and proceeded at once to business. The members being nearly all agreed, there was very little delay. Their object was to sever the political connection of South Carolina with the United States. John A. Inglis R Barnale Thetf James Chesmith Bay : Faneuch Dunkan A committee was appointed to draft an ordinance of secession. It was composed of John A. Inglis, Robert Barnwell Rhett, James Chesnut, Jr., James L. Orr, Maxcy Gregg, Benjamin Faneuil Duncan and W. Ferguson Huetson. Another committee was appointed to prepare an Address to the people of the Southern States. It was composed of Robert Barnwell Rhett, John Alfred Calhoun, W. P. Finley, Isaac D. Wilson, W. F. De Saussure, Langdon Cheves and Merrick E. Carn. A third committee was appointed to draft a declaration of the causes that impelled and justified the secession of South Carolina. This committee was composed of C. L. Memminger, F. H. Wardlaw, R. W. Barnwell, J. P. Richardson, B. H. Rutledge, J. E. Jenkins and P. E. Duncan. Other committees were appointed, but those were the most important.' After the transaction of some business 1 A committee on the message of the President of the United States, relating to property; on Relations with the Slave-holding States of North America; on Foreign Relations; on Commercial Relations and Postal Arrangements, and on The Constitution of the State. having special reference to the formation of a confederacy of such states as might recede from the Union, the committee appointed to prepare an ordinance of secession reported. That was on the 20th of December, 1860. The report, submitted by Mr. Inglis, was brief, and embodied a draft of an ordinance of secession, in the following words: "We, the People of the State of South Carolina, in Convention assembled, do declare and ordain, and it is hereby declared and ordained, that the Ordinance adopted by us in Convention on the twentythird day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eightyeight, whereby the Constitution of the United States was ratified, and also all Acts and parts of Acts of the General Assembly of the State, ratifying Amendments of the said Constitution, are hereby repealed, and the Union now subsisting between South Carolina and other States, under the name of the United States of America, is hereby dissolved." No discussion followed the submission of this ordinance to the consideration of the Convention. At a quarter before one o'clock in the afternoon, it was adopted by the unanimous voice of the one hundred and sixty-nine delegates then present. It was moved that the Convention march in procession from St. Andrew's Hall where they had assembled, to Institute Hall on Meeting Street, and there, at seven o'clock in the evening sign the ordinance in the presence of the constituted authorities of the State, and of the people. The news of this action soon spread over Charleston. A placard was printed at the office of the "Mercury" half an hour after the vote was taken, bearing a copy of the ordinance, and the words, in large letters at the head-THE UNION IS DISSOLVED. It was scattered broad cast over the city. There seemed to be universal joy. All business was suspended, and huzzas for a Southern Confederacy were heard in many places. Ladies appeared on the streets in "secession bonnets," invented by a northern milliner in Charleston, and small Palmetto flags fluttered, with white handkerchiefs, out of many a window. Church bells rang merry peals, and cannon thundered loud approval. Some enthusiastic young men went to the grave of John C. Calhoun, in St. Philips' church-yard, and there made a solemn vow to devote their "lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor," to the "cause of South Carolina independence.' And a gifted poet of the "Palmetto State" wrote, before he slept, that night, a Song of Deliverance," in which was the following allusion to South Carolina and her position :" "See! See! they quail and cry! The dogs of Rapine fly, 66 Struck by the terror of her mien, her glance of lightning fire! And the mongrel, hurrying pack In whimpering fear fall back, With the sting of baffled hatred hot, and the rage of false desire. O, glorious Mother Land! In thy presence stern and grand, Unnumbered fading hopes rebloom, and faltering hearts grow brave. And a consentaneous shout To the answering heavens, ring out— 'Off with the livery of disgrace, the baldric of the Slave.'" The Convention took a recess at a quarter before four o'clock, and whilst leaving St. Andrew's Hall and going in regular procession through Broad Street to dinner, they were cheered by the people, and the chimes of St. Michael's church pealed forth several airs. At seven o'clock in the evening the Convention reassembled in the great hall of the South Carolina Institute. There was gathered on that occasion the Governor and his Council and both branches of the legislature, and a dense crowd of the men and women of Charleston. Meanwhile the Ordinance of Secession had been engrossed on parchment twentyfive by thirty inches in size, with the great Seal of the State of South Carolina attached. fifteen in number, are seen the name and coat of arms of a Slave-labor State. South Carolina forms the key-stone of the arch on which stands Power's statue of Calhoun, and displaying to spectators, a scroll on which are the words "Truth, Justice and the Constitution." On one side of Calhoun is an allegorical figure of Faith, and on the other, of Hope. Beyond each of these is a figure of a North American Indian armed with a rifle. Within the space formed by the two columns and the arch, is the device on the seal and flag of South Carolina, namely, a Palmetto tree with a rattle-snake coiled around its trunk, and at its base a park of cannon and some emblems of the state commerce. On a scroll fluttering from the body of the tree are the words "Southern Republic." Over the whole design, in a segment of a circle, are fifteen Stars, the then number of Slave-labor States. Underneath all, in large letters are the words, BUILT FROM THE RUINS. This banner foreshadowed the designs and expectations of the actors in. the scenes. It prophesied the destruction of the Union out of the ruins of which would rise a fair and permanent empire composed of the Slave-labor States, over which South Carolina would hold eminent control as the head and heart of the Confederacy. The following are the names of the delegates who signed the Ordinance, written in five columns in the following order: D. F. JAMISON, Delegate from Barnwell and President of the Convention. Thomas Chiles Perrin. Edward Noble. J. H. Wilson. Tho Thomson, R. S. Simpson. Thomas W. Noon. Isaac D. Wilson. James M. Timmons. Francis Hugh Wardlaw. Wm. W. Harllee. W. F. De Saussure, Attest, BENJAMIN F. ARTHUR, Clerk of the Convention. John M. Shingler. Gabriel Manigault. B. H. Rutledge. Edward M'Crady. Francis L. Porcher. T. L. Gourdin. John S. Palmer. John L Newell. John S. O'Hear. H. D. Green. John Julius Pringle SmithR. C. Logan. |