Then, if we fail, and a Convention is called under these circumstances, I and all of us will stand by the action of that Convention. Whatever may be our individual opinions, we will obey the mandate of the State thus pronounced.

"Whenever she, after exhausting all proper and becoming efforts for union, resolves upon her course, we will have no option, as we will have no desire, to do otherwise than rally under her banner. If the State, in her sovereign capacity, determines that her secession will produce the cooperation which we have so earnestly sought, then it shall have my hearty approbation. And if, in the alternative, she determines to let us forego the honor of being first, for the sake of promoting the common cause, let us declare to Georgia, the Empire State of the South-the Keystone of the Southern Arch, which is our nearest neighbor westward, and lying for a great distance alongside of our own territory-that we are willing to follow in her lead, and together take our place among the nations of the earth.

"If South Carolina, in Convention assembled, deliberately secedes-separate and alone, and, without any hope of cooperation,

decides to cut loose from her moorings, surrounded as she is by Southern sisters in like circumstances-I will be one of her crew, and, in common with every true son of hers, will endeavor, with all the power that God has given me, to

'Spread all her canvas to the breeze,
Set every threadbare sail,

And give her to the God of storms,

The lightning and the gale.""

Mr. Mullins, of Marion, followed; and his reply to McGowan's speech is worthy of record here, since it clearly betrays the consciousness of the disunionists that they were a lean minority of the Southern people, who might be precipitated, bullied, or dragged into treason, but whom there was no rational hope of reasoning or even seducing into it. He said

"South Carolina had tried Cooperation, but had exhausted that policy. The State of Virginia had discredited the cause which our Commissioner went there to advocate, although she treated him, personally, with respect; but she had as much as said there were no indignities which could drive her to take the leadership for Southern rights. If we wait for Cooperation, Slavery and State Rights would be abandoned, State Sovereignty and the cause of the South lost forever, and

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we would be subjected to a dominion the parallel to which was that of the poor Indian under the British East India Company. When they had pledged themselves to take the State out of the Union, and placed it on record, then he was willing to send a Commissioner to Georgia, or any other Southern State, to announce our determination, and to submit the question whether they would join us or not. We have it from high authority, that the representative of one of the Imperial Powers of Europe, in view of the prospective separation of one or more of the Southern States from the present confederacy, has made propositions in advance for the establishment of such relations between it and the Government about to be established in this State, as will insure to that power such a supply of Cotton for the future as their increasing demand for that article will require : this information is perfectly authentic."

Thus, it will be seen that foreign intrigue was already hand-and-glove with domestic treason in sapping the foundations of our Union and seeking peculiar advantages from its overthrow.

Mr. Edmund Ruffin, of Virginia, had for many years been the editor of a leading Agricultural monthly, and had thus acquired a very decided influence over the planters of the South. A devotee of Slavery, he had hastened to Columbia, on the call of the Legislature, to do his utmost for Secession. He was, of course, serenaded in his turn by the congregated Union-breakers, on the evening of the 7th, and addressed them from the balcony of the Congaree House. The following is a synopsis of his

response:

"He said the question now before the country he had studied for years. It had been the one great idea of his life. The defense of the South, he verily believed, was only to be secured through the lead of South Carolina. As old as he was, he had come here to join them in that lead. He wished Virginia was as ready as South Carolina, but, unfortunately, she was not; but, circumstances being different, it was perhaps better that Virginia and all other border States remain quiescent for a time, to serve

as guard against the North. The first drop of blood spilled on the soil of South Carolina, would bring Virginia and every Southern State with them. By remaining in the Union for a time, she would not only prevent coercive legislation in Congress, but any attempt for our subjugation. No argument in favor of resistance was wanted now. As

soon as he had performed his duty in Virginia as a citizen, he came as fast as steam

could bring him to South Carolina. He was satisfied if anything was to be done, it was to be done here. He had no doubt it would be done, and the sooner the better. Every day delayed was a day lost to the cause. They should encourage and sustain their friends, and they would frighten their enemies.

"There was no fear of Carolina remaining alone. She would soon be followed by other States. Virginia and half a dozen more were just as good and strong, and able to repel the enemy, as if they had the whole of the slaveholding States to act with them. Even if Carolina remained alone-not that he thought it probable, but supposing soit was his conviction that she would be able to defend herself against any power brought against her. Multitudes spoke and said the issue was one of courage and honor, or of cowardice, desertion, and degradation."

A number of second and third-rate traitors followed this Ruffin in a similar vein, but their remarks were not deemed worth reporting.

But, that evening, the busy tele graph reported from Charleston the more important resignation of the leading Federal officers for South Carolina, in anticipation of her seceding. The U. S. District Court had met there in the morning, District Judge Magrath presiding. The Grand Jury-of course, by preconcert-formally declined to make any presentments, because of

"The verdict of the Northern section of

the confederacy, solemnly announced to the country, through the ballot-box, on yesterday, having swept away the last hope for the permanence, for the stability of the Federal Government of these sovereign States; and the public mind is constrained to lift itself above the consideration of details in the administration of Law and Justice,

up to the vast and solemn issues which have been forced upon us. These issues involve

the existence of the Government of which this Court is the organ and minister. In these extraordinary circumstances, the Grand Jury respectfully decline to proceed with their presentments. They deem this explanation due to the Court and to themselves."

Judge Magrath received this communication with complaisance, and thereupon resigned his office; saying:

"The business of the term has been disposed of, and, under ordinary circumstances, it would be my duty to dismiss you to your several avocations, with my thanks for your presence and aid. But now I have something more to do, the omission of which would not be consistent with propriety. In the political history of the United States, an event has happened of ominous import to fifteen slaveholding States. The State of which we are citizens has been always understood to have deliberately fixed its purpose whenever that event should happen. Feeling an assurance of what will be the action of the State, I consider it my duty, without delay, to prepare to obey its wishes. That preparation is made by the resignation of the office I have held. For the last time, I have, as a Judge of the United States, administered the laws of the United States within the limits of the State of South Carolina.

"While thus acting in obedience to a sense of duty, I cannot be indifferent to the emotions it must produce. That department which, I believe, has best maintained its integrity and preserved its purity, has been suspended. So far as I am concerned, the Temple of Justice, raised under the Constitution of the United States, is now closed. If it shall never be again opened, I thank

God that its doors have been closed before its altar has been desecrated with sacrifices

to tyranny."

C. J. Colcock, Collector at Charleston, and James Conner, U. S. District Attorney, likewise resigned; and it was announced that B. C. Pressley, Sub-Treasurer, would follow, "so soon as was consistent with due respect and regard for our present excellent Chief Magistrate [Buchanan], by whose appointment he holds the office."

In the face of such multiform and high-seasoned incitements to go ahead, the efforts of those members of the