12 



ALABAMA. 



eracy, and relating to the property in the pos- 

 session of Alabama, which belonged to the 

 United States of America before the with- 

 drawal of Alabama from that Union. 



" From this course of the President it is to be 

 presumed that he has abandoned all claim, or 

 resolved no); to make any, in his official charac- 

 ter, to that property in behalf of his Govern- 

 ment ; or that, repelling every offer of amica- 

 ble and peaceable adjustment, he desires that it 

 shall be retaken by the sword. 



" But, no matter what motive has prompted 

 his unexpected treatment of me, I should be 

 wanting in proper reverence for my State, and 

 proper appreciation of my present relations to 

 her, to sue for peaceful negotiations, since the 

 right of Alabama to send me, and my right 

 to speak for her, have been denied. And if 

 negotiation is to settle our difficulties touching 

 those forts and arsenals, it must be proposed 

 by the President to the Governor at her capital, 

 whither I shall go and report the result of my 

 mission. 



" Whilst I regret this action of the President, 

 it is gratifying to know that the State of Ala- 

 bama, by her prompt efforts to do that justice 

 in the premises which has been thwarted by 

 him, will stand justified before the world. And 

 that State having now been placed right upon 

 the record, and, under the circumstances, noth- 

 ing more remaining for me to attempt to ac- 

 complish as her Commissioner, my mission. 

 ceases with this letter." 



The State Convention again assembled on 

 the 4th of March, and took up for approval the 

 Constitution adopted by the Confederate Con- 

 gress. In all the seceding States it was adopted 

 by the State Convention, without being sub- 

 mitted to the people to vote for or against it. 

 The Convention of Alabama was the first to 

 adopt it, and almost immediately after its pro- 

 mulgation. At the time it was under consid- 

 eration in that body, the following resolutions 

 were offered, relative to the right of the people 

 to express an opinion on the subject: 



" Resolved, 1. That the political power in all free 

 Governments is inherent in the people, and that an at- 

 tempt to infringe this great principle is dangerous in 

 policy and directly subversive of civil liberty. 



" 2. That the right of every people to frame the sys- 

 tem of government under which they are to live is a 

 fundamental doctrine in all free Governments, and 

 should not be questioned or impaired. 



" 3. That the acknowledgment of these established 

 principles, the spirit and genius of American institu- 

 tions, and the well-ascertained precedents of republican 

 usage, imperatively demand that the ' Constitution of 

 the Confederate States of America' shall be submitted 

 to the people of this State for their ratification or re- 

 jection." 



They were rejected, by being laid on the 

 table. Ayes, 54; noes, 33. 



The vote in the Convention on ratifying the 

 Constitution, was taken on the 13th of March, 

 and was as follows : ayes, 87 ; noes. 5. 



The Convention also adopted an ordinance 

 transferring to the Provisional Government the 

 arms and munitions of war acquired from the 



United States, and also all authority over the 

 forts and arsenals in the State. It also passed 

 an ordinance substituting stocks of the Confed- 

 erate States for those of the United States, to 

 be held by the banks as a basis for their paper 

 circulation, and allowing the issue of two dol- 

 lars for one of capital. Foreigners and for- 

 eign corporations were forbidden to hold 

 stocks belonging in the State. The Convention 

 adjourned on the 20th of March. 



The Legislature of the State met, and was or- 

 ganized on the 15th of January. Its action was 

 confined, as far as possible, to business arising 

 from the action of the Convention. The Gov- 

 ernor in his message, urged the necessity of 

 placing the State at once upon the most effi- 

 cient war footing. It very promptly and effi- 

 ciently, with large majorities, aided the seces- 

 sion movement by all such acts as were necessary. 

 On the 19th of January, the House passed an act 

 to provide against the invasion of the State by 

 sea. It declared that pilots bringing vessels 

 into Mobile should be liable to a fine and impris- 

 onment in the penitentiary, and also author- 

 ized the commander of Fort Morgan to destroy 

 the beacon and landmarks at his discretion, and 

 contract for the construction of a telegraph line 

 to Point Clear, in order to more speedily com- 

 municate with Fort Morgan. 



On the 5th of February, an act was passed 

 appropriating $500,000 to aid the cause of 

 Southern Independence. 



After the formation of the Confederate Gov- 

 ernment the charge of precipitation was made 

 against it in the border States. To this the 

 official press of the State took occasion to re- 

 ply. The answer was, that so far from being 

 precipitate, the movement had been in con- 

 templation for ten years. The ordinance of se- 

 cession of Alabama declares that the election 

 of Abraham Lincoln was such a wrong as to 

 require the adoption of prompt and decided 

 measures for their future peace and security. 

 (See also DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE OF CON- 

 FEDERATE STATES, and Letter of the Southern 

 Commissioners to Lord Eussell, p. 278.) 



The reply to the charge of precipitation was 

 in these words: 



" Has it been a precipitate revolution ? It 

 has not. "With coolness and deliberation the 

 subject has been thought of for forty years; 

 for ten years it has been the all-absorbing theme 

 in political circles. From Maine to Mexico all 

 the different phases and forms of the question 

 have been presented to the people, until nothing 

 else was thought of, nothing else spoken of, and 

 nothing else taught in many of the political 

 schools. 



" Civil war, with its attendant disasters, may 

 mar the happiness of the men of the present 

 time; carnage and slaughter may convert our 

 hitherto happy and beautiful homes into barren 

 and dreary wastes for a time ; they may become 

 the rendezvous of a devastating enemy; but 

 who would now forego all the enchantment of 

 the present scene for the security and prosper- 



