and acceptance of compact,' passed and approved by the General Assembly of the State of Arkansas on the 18th of October. A. D. 1836, whereby it was by said General Assembly ordained that, by virtue of the authority vested in said General Assembly, by the provisions of the ordinance adopted by the convention of delegates assembled at Little Rock, for the purpose of forming a constitution and system of government for said State, the propositions set forth in 'an act supplementary to an act entitled an act for the admission of the State of Arkansas into the Union, and to provide for the due execution of the laws of the United States within the same, and for other purposes, were freely accepted, ratified, and irrevocably confirmed articles of compact and union between the State of Arkansas and the United States,' and all other laws, and every other law and ordinance, whereby the State of Arkansas became a member of the Federal Union, be, and the same are hereby, in all respects, and for every purpose herewith consistent, repealed, abrogated, and fully set aside; and the Union now subsisting between the State of Arkansas and the other States under the name of the United States of America, is hereby forever dissolved.

"And we do further hereby declare and ordain that the State of Arkansas hereby resumes to herself all rights and powers heretofore delegated to the Government of the United States of America-that her citizens are absolved from all allegiance to said Government of the United States, and that she is in full possession and exercise of all the rights and sovereignty which appertain to a free and independent State.

"We do further ordain and declare that all rights acquired and vested under the Constitution of the United States of America, or of any act or acts of Congress, or treaty, or under any law of this State, and not incompatible with this ordinance, shall remain in full force and effect, in nowise altered or impaired, and have the same effect as if this ordinance had not been passed.

"Adopted and passed in open convention on the 6th day of May, Anno Domini 1861. "ELIAS C. BOUDINOT,

"Secretary of the Arkansas State Convention."

The disposition of North Carolina was on the whole friendly to the Union. The legislature, December 20th, gave audience to Messrs. Smith and Garrett, commissioners from Alabama, and also received a communication from the Hon. Jacob Thompson, a member of the Federal cabinet, and also commissioner from Mississippi, to urge co-operation in favor of the proposed Confederacy. This fact happening at a time when a large amount of bonds had been abstracted from his department, produced an influence in North Carolina not favorable to the Southern cause. As late as January 31st, the legislature elected Thomas L. Clingman United States Senator. On the previous day the people had voted by forty-six thousand six hundred and seventy-two yeas to forty-seven thousand three hundred and twenty-three nays, not to call a convention.

When the Confederate Congress met, February 4th, North Carolina was invited to send delegates. She replied that, as one of the Federal States, she had no right to do so; but she sent commissioners for the purpose of attempting to bring about an arrangement on the basis of the Crittenden resolutions as modified by the Virginia legislature. Those commissioners were invited to occupy seats.

The North Carolina legislature then passed unanimously a resolution, that, if reconciliation should fail, North Carolina would go with the other Slave States. But, though really reluctant to leave the Union, the State could not withstand the impulse given to secession by the events succeeding the surrender of Fort Sumter, and on the receipt of the President's call for troops, the legislature was ordered to convene on the 1st of May. It proceeded at once to call a convention, which

on the 20th passed the ordinance, by a unanimous vote, after a proposition to submit the matter to the people had been defeated by seventythree to thirty-four. The following is the ordinance adopted :

"We, the people of the State of North Carolina, in convention assembled, do declare and ordain, and it is hereby declared and ordained, that the ordinance adopted by the State of North Carolina, in the Convention of 1789, whereby the Constitution of the United States was ratified and adopted, and also all acts and parts of acts of the General Assembly, ratifying and adopting amendments to the said Constitution, are hereby repealed, rescinded, and abrogated.

"We do further declare and ordain that the Union now subsisting between the State of North Carolina and the other States, under the title of the United States of America, is hereby dissolved, and that the State of North Carolina is in the full possession and exercise of all those rights of sovereignty which belong and appertain to a free and independent State.

"Done at Raleigh, 20th day of May, in the year of our Lord 1861."

The following ordinance, ratifying the Confederate Constitution, was also passed :

"We, the people of North Carolina, in Convention assembled, do declare and ordain, and it is hereby declared and ordained, that the State of North Carolina does hereby assent to and ratify the 'Constitution for the Provisional Government of the Confederate States of America,' adopted at Montgomery, in the State of Alabama, on the 8th of February, 1861, by the Convention of Delegates from the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, and that North Carolina will enter into the Federal Association of States upon the terms therein proposed, when admitted by the Congress or any competent authority of the Confederate States. "Done at Raleigh, 20th day of May, in the year of our Lord 1861."

The State of Tennessee long held out against secession, and on February 8th, by a vote of sixty-seven thousand three hundred and sixty to fifty-four thousand one hundred and fifty-six, decided not to call a convention. But under the influences which had impelled other States to secede, its legislature, on May 7th, adopted a declaration of independence and ordinance, dissolving the Federal relations between Tennessee and the United States, and an ordinance ratifying the Confederate Constitution, the two latter to be voted for by the people on June 8th; on May 8th, a military league was formed with the Confederate States, in virtue of which the forces of Tennessee were to act in aid of the Confederates. On June 24th, Governor Isham G. Harris declared Tennessee out of the Union, the vote for separation being one hundred and four thousand and nineteen against forty-seven thousand two hundred and thirty-eight. The latter was mostly thrown in East Tennessee. The State of Kentucky passed no acts of secession, but adopted a neutral policy. On the 20th of May, Governor Magoffin issued a proclamation, solemnly forbidding any movement of troops upon Kentucky soil. On the receipt of the President's requisition, the Governor issued a proclamation calling the legislature together, to place the State in a defensive position.

Early in December, a commissioner, appointed by a resolution of the legislature of Mississippi, visited Maryland to ask her co-operation in the formation of a new government. Governor Hicks replied that, "when he was convinced that the power of the Federal Government was to be perverted for the destruction, instead of being used for the protection of their rights, then, and not till then, could he consent so to exercise any power with which he was invested, as to afford even

the opportunity for such a proceeding." The Maryland legislature met at Frederick in extra session on April 27th, and, notwithstanding the feverish excitement in which the secessionists had plunged the country, refused by a very decided majority to call a convention. The members, however, seemed to have acted from policy rather than love of the Union, and clung to the delusion of peace at any price, and neutrality between the Federal Government and the seceded States. They passed the following preamble and resolutions, May 10th, 1861:— "Whereas, The war against the Confederate States is unconstitutional and repugnant to civilization, and will result in a bloody and shameful overthrow of our institutions; and whilst recognizing the obligations of Maryland to the Union, we sympathize with the South in the struggle for their rights-for the sake of humanity, we are for peace and reconciliation, and solemnly protest against this war, and will take no part in it:"Resolved, That Maryland implores the President, in the name of God, to cease this unholy war, at least until Congress assembles; that Maryland desires and consents to the recognition of the independence of the Confederate States. The military occupa tion of Maryland is unconstitutional, and she protests against it, though the violent interference with the transit of Federal troops is discountenanced; that the vindication of her rights be left to time and reason, and that a convention, under existing circumstances, is inexpedient."

We have here given the acts of secession of the several Slave States, in succession, before giving an account of the convention which met at Montgomery, in February, to form the Confederate Government of seven Cotton States, in order that the reader may see under what circumstances each State prepared to participate in the proceedings of that body. The Border States, it will be observed, did not secede until after the Confederacy was formed, and the new Administration had adopted a decided coercive policy.

On the 4th of February, the Confederate Congress, composed of delegates from the States of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina, met at Montgomery, Alabama. the same day, a convention, composed of commissioners from twentyone States, appointed at the instance and solicitation of the legislature of Virginia, met in Washington, District of Columbia, to endeavor to devise some plan of retaining the Border States in the Union, and winning back those which had already seceded. The purpose was a praiseworthy one, but it was soon evident that the task they had undertaken was impracticable. The resolutions of compromise, which they finally passed by a bare majority, composed almost entirely of members from the Border States, failed to satisfy either party in the controversy; the Northern States felt that they were asked to yield what they ought not, and the seceded States were unwilling to come back under any circumstances.

On the meeting of the delegates to the Southern Convention, Howell Cobb, Esq., late Secretary of the Treasury for the United States, was elected chairman. In his address he said, that they had met as the representatives of sovereign and independent States, which had dissolved all political connection with the Government of the United States. The separation was complete and perpetual, and their duty was now to provide for future security and protection.

The following were the

DELEGATES TO THE MONTGOMERY CONVENTION, ALABAMA,

FEBRUARY 4TH.

ALABAMA.-Robert H. Smith, Colin J. McRae, W. R. Chilton, David P. Lewis, Richard W. Walker, John Gill, S. F. Hale, Thomas Fearn, J. L. M. Curry.

FLORIDA. Jackson Morton, J. Patton Anderson, James Powers.

GEORGIA. Robert Toombs, Francis Barton, Martin Crawford, Judge Nesbitt, Benjamin Hill, Howell Cobb, Augustus R. Wright, Thomas R. R. Cobb, Augustus Keenan, A. H. Stephens.

LOUISIANA. John Perkins, Jr., C. M. Conrad, Duncan F. Kenner, A. Declouet, E. Sparrow, Henry Marshall.

MISSISSIPPI.-Wiley P. Harris, W. S. Wilson, A. M. Clayton, Walker Brooke, W. S. Barry, J. T. Harrison, J. A. P. Campbell.

SOUTH CAROLINA.-T. J. Withers, R. B. Rhett, Jr., L. M. Keitt, W. W. Boyce, James Chestnut, Jr., R. W. Barnwell, G. G. Memminger.

Three commissioners from North Carolina, sent to "effect an honorable and amicable adjustment of all the difficulties that disturb the country, upon the basis of the Crittenden Resolutions," were admitted to seats in the convention.

After some discussion the convention adopted provisionally the Constitution of the United States, with some important changes, adapted to the altered circumstances and peculiar views of th seceding States. The preamble reads as follows:

"We, the deputies of the sovereign and independent States of South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, invoking the favor of Almighty God, do hereby, in behalf of these States, ordain and establish this constitution for the provisional government of the same, to continue one year from the inauguration of the President, or until a permanent constitution or confederation between the said States shall be put in operation, whichsoever shall first occur."

The seventh section, first article, is as follows:

"The importation of African negroes from any foreign country other than the Slaveholding States of the United States, is hereby forbidden, and Congress is required to pass such laws as shall effectually prevent the same.

Article second.-Congress shall also have power to prohibit the introduction of slaves from any State not a member of this Confederacy."

Article fourth, of the third clause, of the second section, says :

"A slave in one State escaping to another, shall be delivered up on the claim of the party, to whom said slave may belong, by the executive authority of the State in which such slave may be found; and in case of any abduction or forcible rescue, full compensation, including the value of the slave, and all costs and expenses, shall be made to the party by the State in which such abduction or rescue shall take place."

Article sixth, of the second clause, says :—

"The government hereby instituted shall take immediate steps for the settlement of all matters between the States forming it, and their late confederates of the United States, in relation to the public property and public debt at the time of their withdrawal from them; these States hereby declaring it to be their wish and earnest desire to adjust every thing pertaining to the common property, common liabilities, and common obligations of that union, upon principles of right, justice, equity, and good faith."

The tariff clause provides that

"The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises for revenue necessary to pay the debts and carry on the government of the Confederacy, and all duties, imposts, and excises shall be uniform throughout the Confederacy."

This was adopted on February 9th. Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi, was elected President, and Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia, VicePresident, by unanimous votes.

The inauguration of Mr. Davis took place February 18th. In his inaugural address, he stated that the change of the government illustrates the American idea of the consent of the governed, elaborated at great length and with considerable taot the popular State-rights views of the secession leaders, and defined the prospects and policy of the new confederation.

On the 21st, he nominated the following members of his cabinet: Secretary of State-Robert Toombs; Secretary of the TreasuryC. J. Memminger; Secretary of War-L. Pope Walker; Secretary of the Navy-Stephen R. Mallory; Attorney-General-Judah P. Benjamin; Postmaster-General-John H. Reagan; all of whom were confirmed.

Acts were adopted by the Congress, taking charge of all questions with the United States in relation to public property; continuing in force all laws of the United States, not inconsistent with the new constitution, and continuing in office all incumbents with the same duties and salaries; levying duties on goods coming from the United States, unless shipped before March 28th; and authorizing a loan of fifteen million dollars, secured by an export duty on cotton.

On the 11th of March a permanent constitution was unanimously adopted, which was substantially a copy of the Federal Constitution. The preamble reads, "We, the people of the Confederate States, each State acting in its sovereign and independent character," &c.; the President and Vice-President were to be chosen for six years, and to be ineligible for re-election while in office; cabinet ministers were allowed seats in Congress, with the privilege of debating; the term slave was studiously paraded where, in the Federal Constitution, it is expressed by a paraphrase; and the instrument provided that the vote of five States should suffice for its ratification.

The first measures of the Confederate Congress were evidently intended to exhibit to the world moderation and a disposition to conciliate. The renewed condemnation of the slave-trade was almost unanimously conceded, no doubt to set the Confederacy morally right before society. The next important measure was evidently for the benefit of the Western States; it declared the navigation of the Mississippi free to any State on its borders, or the borders of its navigable tributaries. This enactment was a necessity, even in the event of success attending the Southern movement. It is impossible to imagine that the Western States would ever permit their chief outlet to the ocean to be closed by the tourniquet of a foreign custom-house. Even in Europe, the Danube, which passes through the territories of various and often hostile races, has been made free. The people living on the head-waters of the Mississippi, on the Ohio, the Missouri, and even the Arkansas, would be most indignant if any attempt were made to interfere with the traffic between the Gulf and the heart of the American continent. Hence the Confederate Congress enacted that all ships and boats which may enter the waters of the Mississippi, within the limits