22 



ARKANSAS. 



ARKANSAS, in its location, is one of the 

 Western States, but its productions are similar 

 to those of the Southern States, It is bounded 

 on the north by Missouri, on the east by the 

 Mississippi River, which separates it from the 

 States of Tennessee and Mississippi, on the south 

 by Louisiana and Texas, and on the west by 

 Texas and the Indian Territory. The Governor 

 is elected by the people once in four years. The 

 Senate consists of twenty -five members elected 

 for five years, and the House consists of seventy- 

 five members elected for two years. The Leg- 

 islature meets on the first Monday in November. 

 The population of the State in 1860 was 435,- 

 427, of whom 137 were free colored, and lll r - 

 104 slaves. The views of the people of the 

 State were strongly in favor of the Union, and 

 no movement aiming at secession took place in 

 the State until the 20th of December, when 

 David Hubbard, a Commissioner from the State 

 of Alabama, addressed the Legislature of Arkan- 

 sas at Little Rock. He argued that Alabama 

 would secede from the Union whether other 

 States did or not. 



The largest meeting ever held at Van Buren 

 took place on the 5th of January. The resolu- 

 tions adopted with great unanimity, opposed 

 separate State action, and were in favor of co- 

 operation. The election of Mr. Lincoln was 

 regarded as not in itself a sufficient cause for a 

 dissolution of the Union reasonable time should 

 be allowed to the non-slaveholding States to 

 retrace their steps. A Large majority of the 

 people of all former party associations were 

 considered, at this time, as in favor of making 

 all honorable efforts to preserve the Union. 

 The demonstrations to the contrary, thus far 

 made, were looked upon as reflecting only a 

 small fraction of the public sentiment. 



On the 16th of January the Legislature unan- 

 imously passed a bill submitting the Convention 

 question to the people on the 18th of February. 

 If a majority were in favor of a Convention, the 

 Governor should appoint the time for its election. 



On the day appointed an election was held 

 throughout the State, and the vote in favor of 

 holding a Convention was 27,412 ; against it, 

 15,826. Majority for a Convention, 11,586. The 

 vote of the State at the Presidential election 

 in November was, for Douglas, 5,227 ; Breck- 

 inridge, 28,732 ; Bell, 20,094. 



At the election of delegates to the Conven- 

 tion, the Union vote was 23,626; Secession, 

 17,927; Union majority, 5,699. 



The Convention assembled on the 4th of 

 March, and organized by the election of Union 

 officers, by a majority of six. On the 6th, the 

 inaugural of President Lincoln was received, 

 and produced an unfavorable impression on 

 the minds of the people. Secession was strongly 

 urged upon the Convention, which had been re- 

 garded as containing forty members opposed to 

 it, and thirty -five in favor of it. 



Various resolutions were offered and referred 

 to appropriate committees, looking to an en- 

 dorsement, on the one hand, of the doctrine of 



secession, and the right and duty of Arkansaa 

 to secede, and on the other to a clear definition 

 of the position Arkansas should take, stopping 

 short of secession, with a view to the security 

 of her rights in the Union. 



A conditional ordinance of secession was 

 debated, with a clause referring it back to the 

 people for ratification or rejection. This was 

 defeated by a vote of ayes, 35 ; noes, 39. The 

 Convention was disposed to pass resolutions 

 approving the propositions of Missouri and Vir- 

 ginia for a conference of the border slave States, 

 and providing for sending five delegates to said 

 Conference or Convention, and agreeing with 

 Virginia to hold said Conference at Frankfort, 

 Kentucky, on the 27th of May. 



At Van Buren a salute of thirty-nine guns 

 was fired in honor of the thirty-nine members 

 of the Convention who voted against the seces- 

 sion ordinance. The same number of guns 

 were fired at Fort Smith. 

 - On the 17th, an ordinance was reported by a 

 self-constituted committee composed of seven 

 secessionists, and seven cooperationists, as a 

 compromise measure between the two parties. 

 It was adopted as reported, unanimously, in the 

 Convention. It provided for an election to be 

 held on the first Monday of August, at which 

 the legal voters of the State were to east their 

 ballots for " secession," or for " cooperation." 

 If on that day a majority of the votes were cast 

 for secession, that fact was to bo considered in 

 the light of instructions to the Convention to 

 pass an ordinance severing the connection of 

 Arkansas with the Union. If, on the other 

 hand, a majority of the votes of the State were 

 cast for cooperation, that fact would be an in- 

 struction to the Convention immediately to take 

 all necessary steps for cooperation with the 

 border or unseceded slave States, to secure a 

 satisfactory adjustment of all sectional contro- 

 versies disturbing the country. 



The next session of the Convention was to be 

 held on the 17th of August; and to secure the 

 return of all the votes of each county, eacb 

 delegate was made a special returning officer 

 of the Convention to bring the vote of his 

 county to the Capitol. 



Besides this ordinance submitting the propo- 

 sition of "secession" or "cooperation" to the 

 vote of the people, resolutions were passed pro- 

 viding for the election of five delegates to the 

 border slave State Convention, proposed by the 

 States of Virginia and Missouri, to be held some 

 time during the month of May. Thus the pro- 

 ceedings of that Convention would be before 

 the people, amply canvassed and understood, 

 when the vote of the State was cast on the first 

 Monday of August. 



The result of the labors of the Convention, 

 although not exactly what either party desired, 

 was regarded as probably more nearly satisfac- 

 tory, to the public than any other action which 

 could have been taken by that body. Time 

 was given for investigation and deliberation as 

 to consequences. 



