474 



MISSISSIPPI. 



itate us into greater evils, as we must forfeit 

 all our rights under the Constitution when we 

 leave the Union and give to our Northern foes 

 all they need to render their aggressive policy 

 more effective." 



The election of members of the State Con- 

 vention took place on the 20th of December. 

 The number of members to be elected was 

 ninety-nine. Of these more than one-third 

 were cooperationists. This distinction into co- 

 operationists and secessionists only referred to 

 the manner of proceeding which the State should 

 adopt. The latter advocated immediate and 

 separate secession, the former preferred consul- 

 tation and cooperation with the other slave- 

 holding States. The ultimate object of each 

 was the same, as expressed in the following 

 language by one of the citizens : " These are 

 household quarrels. As against Northern com- 

 bination and aggression we are united. "We 

 are all for resistance. We differ as to the mode ; 

 but the fell spirit of abolitionism has no dead- 

 lier and we believe no more practical foes than 

 the cooperationists of the South. We are will- 

 ing to give the North a chance to say whether 

 it will accept or reject the terms that a united 

 South will agree upon. If accepted, well and 

 good ; if rejected, a united South can win all 

 its rights in or out of the Union." 



The State Convention organized on the 7th 

 of January, and immediately appointed a com- 

 mittee to prepare and report an ordinance of 

 secession with a view of establishing a new con- 

 federacy to be comprised of the seceded States. 



The committee duly reported the following 

 ordinance, and it was adopted on the 9th ayes 

 84, noes, 15: 



The people of Mississippi, in Convention assembled, 

 do ordain and declare, and it is hereby ordained and 

 declared, as follows, to wit : 



SEC. 1. That all the laws and ordinances by which 

 the said State of Mississippi became a member of the 

 Federal Union of the United States of America be, 

 and the same are hereby repealed, and that all obliga- 

 tions on the part of the said State, or the people there- 

 of, be withdrawn, and that the said State does hereby 

 resume all the rights, functions, and powers which by 

 any of the said laws and ordinances were conveyed 

 to the Government of the said United States, and 

 is absolved from all the obligations, restraints, and 

 duties incurred to the said Federal Union, and shall 

 henceforth be a free, sovereign,. and independent 

 State. 



SEC. 2. That so much of the first section of the sev- 

 enth article of the Constitution of this State, as requires 

 members of the Legislature and all officers, both legis- 

 lative and judicial, to take an oath to support the Con- 

 stitution of the United States be, and the same is here- 

 by abrogated and annulled. 



SEC. 3. That all rights acquired and vested under 

 the Constitution of the United States, or under any act 

 of Congress passed in pursuance thereof, or any law of 

 this State, and not incompatible with this ordinance, 

 shall remain in force, and have the same effect as if 

 the ordinance had not been passed. 



SEC. 4. That the people of the State of Mississippi 

 hereby consent to form a Federal Union with such of 

 the States as have seceded or may secede from the 

 Union of the United States of America, upon the basis 

 of the present Constitution of the United States, ex- 

 cept such parts thereof as embrace other portions than 

 such seceding States. 



Delegations from South Carolina and Ala- 

 bama were invited to seats in the Convention, 

 and were greeted with imich applause. Efforts 

 were made to postpone action, but these were 

 voted down, and only fifteen voted nay on the 

 final passage of the measure. The vote was 

 subsequently made unanimous. The first ag- 

 gressive movement was made by Governor Pet- 

 tus on the 12th of January, when he ordered a 

 piece of artillery to Yicksburg to hail and ex- 

 amine boats passing on the Mississippi. Move- 

 ments were at the same time commenced to 

 complete the organization of the military of the 

 State. Judge Gholson, of the United States 

 Court, resigned. South Carolina was recog- 

 nized by the Convention as sovereign and inde- 

 pendent ,and steps were taken to cut asunder 

 every tie to the United States, excepting the post- 

 al arrangements. The subsequent movements 

 were reported to the Legislature by the Gov- 

 ernor in a Message on the 15th of January. He 

 says : 



'' As soon as I was informed that the Gov- 

 ernor of Louisiana had taken the arsenal at 

 Baton Rouge, I sent Col. C. G. Armstead with 

 a letter to Gov. Moore, requesting him to fur- 

 nish Mississippi with ten thousand stand of 

 arms on such terms as he might deem just. 

 Col. Armstead informs me that his Excellency 

 has responded to my request by ordering eight 

 thousand muskets, one thousand rifles, and six 

 twenty-four pound guns, with carriages, and a 

 considerable amount of ammunition, to be de- 

 livered to him, which will be shipped to Mis- 

 sissippi as soon as possible. 



" 1 have drawn from the Treasury, on ac- 

 count of the appropriation, for the purchase of 

 arms, ammunition, &c., $38,311 21. Contracts 

 for a considerable amount of arms and muni- 

 tions of war have been made, which have not as 

 yet been complied with, the arms not having 

 been received or paid for. After paying all 

 contracts now made or authorized to be made, 

 there will be a considerable balance of the ap- 

 propriation of $150,000 made at the last regu- 

 lar session of the Legislature. 



" Patriotic citizens in various portions of the 

 State have extended to me pecuniary aid in 

 arming the State. Hon. A. G. Brown sent me 

 a bill on New York for $500. Col. Jeff. Davis 

 and Hon. Jacob Thompson have guaranteed the 

 payment, in May or June, of twenty-four thou- 

 sand dollars for the purchase of arms. 



" We have embarked upon a stormy sea, and 

 much of the peril which attends our voyage is 

 to be apprehended from the thoughtlessness 

 and passions of her new crew. Law and order 

 must prevail, or there is no safety for the 

 ship." 



In the Convention, a resolution was offered 

 on the 9th of February condemning the re-for- 

 mation of the Union, as follows : 



Resolved, by the people of the State of Mississippi, in 

 Convention assemMed, That the reconstruction of the 

 Union of the United States of America is impracticable 

 and unadvisable, and that hereafter Mississippi ought 



