478 



MISSOURI. 



to secession, except to resist coercion. Mr. 

 Seward and Mr. Cameron had made their con- 

 ciliatory speeches in the Senate ; a loud voice 

 was heard all over the central States calling for 

 the immediate adoption of measures for the 

 salvation of the Union and the adjustment of 

 all questions of difference between the con- 

 tending sections ; assurances of Crittenden and 

 Douglas were made that an adjustment would 

 take place ; and the general belief out of Con- 

 gress was that in less than ninety days all the 

 difficulties would be honorably settled, unless 

 the extreme Republicans should defeat all con- 

 cessions, or unless South Carolina should deter- 

 mine to bring about a war by making an attack 

 upon the forts or forces of the United States. 



The result of the election of delegates to the 

 State Convention was the choice of a large 

 majority of Union men by a large majority in 

 the popular vote. 



The Convention met at Jefferson City on the 

 28th of February and organized by the choice 

 of a temporary chairman and committees on 

 credentials, and a permanent organization, and 

 adjourned to the next day. The report of the 

 Committee on Rules was unanimously adopted. 

 It included a rule requiring the officers of, and 

 the delegates to, the Convention to take an 

 oath to support the Constitution of the United 

 States and of the State of Missouri. A motion 

 was made to go into secret session, which was 

 almost unanimously defeated. 



A long and warm discussion ensued on a mo- 

 tion to reconsider the vote on the adoption of 

 the rule to take the oaths, after which the Con- 

 vention adjourned to meet in St. Louis. 



On the 4th of March the Convention assem- 

 bled at St. Louis, and, by a vote of 63 ayes to 

 53 noes, consented to hear Mr. Glenn, the 

 Commissioner from the State of Georgia. 



Mr. Glenn was then introduced to the Con- 

 vention. He read the articles of secession 

 adopted by Georgia, after which he made a 

 speech, stating the causes which induced her 

 to dissever her connection with the Federal 

 Government, and strongly urged Missouri to 

 join his State in the formation of a Southern 

 Confederacy. 



His remarks were greeted with hissing and 

 hooting from the lobby, which the Chairman 

 failed to suppress. 



On the next day resolutions were adopted 

 providing that a committee be appointed to 

 wait on the Commissioner from Georgia, and 

 inform him that Missouri dissented from the 

 position taken by that State, and very kindly, 

 but emphatically, declined to share the honors 

 of secession with her. 



On the 6 tli various resolutions were referred, 

 declining cooperation with Georgia in the se- 

 cession movement, &c. One, offered by ex- 

 Governor Stewart, declared that no overt act 

 by the Government justifying secession or rev- 

 olution had been committed. One, by Judge 

 Orr, said that " Ours is the best government 

 in the world, and we intend to preserve it." 



A great number of resolutions were offered 

 and referred on the next day. Among the most 

 important of them was one providing for a 

 committee to confer with the Border States as 

 to the best means of keeping the Western 

 States in the Northern Confederacy ; another, 

 declaring that secession was a dangerous politi- 

 cal heresy ; that the Constitution had never 

 failed to confer the blessings intended by its 

 founders ; that the Southern States had no ex- 

 cuse for seceding, and asking the Northern 

 States to repeal all acts making the rendition 

 of fugitive slaves difficult or impossible; an- 

 other, that, believing there was no excuse for 

 coercion, Missouri will furnish neither men nor 

 money for that purpose, and that a National 

 Convention be called, making the Crittenden 

 compromise resolutions the basis of action ; an- 

 other, that the General Government be re- 

 quested to yield up the custom-houses and 

 other offices in the seceded States to the peo- 

 ple, and withdraw the Federal officers and 

 forces occupying them. 



The report of the Committee on Federal Re- 

 lations was made on the 9th of March by the 

 Chairman, Gov. Gamble. It made an explana- 

 tion of all the circumstances surrounding the 

 position and affecting the interests of Missou- 

 ri ; recounted the evils of which the South 

 might rightfully complain ; admonished the 

 North that the hostile feelings towards South- 

 ern institutions manifested by a large number 

 of the people of that section were productive 

 of evil, and expressed the hope that a better 

 knowledge of the subject would remove their 

 prejudices. It did not assume a threatening 

 attitude towards either extreme section of the 

 country, but pointed out the errors of both, and 

 concluded with a series of resolutions declaring 

 that there was no cause to compel Missouri to 

 dissolve her connection with the Federal Union. 

 That the people of the State earnestly desired 

 a fair and amicable adjustment of difficulties 

 and the Union perpetuated ; that the Critten- 

 den resolutions afforded a basis of adjustment 

 that would forever remove the cause of the 

 difficulties from the arena of politics ; that a 

 National Convention to amend the Constitution 

 would promote the peace and quiet of the 

 country ; that the employment of military force 

 by the Federal Government to coerce the se- 

 ceding States, or the employment offeree by the 

 seceding States to assail the Government of the 

 United States would inevitably plunge the 

 country into civil war, and thereby extinguish 

 all hope of an amicable settlement of the issues 

 impending. They therefore earnestly entreat 

 the Federal Government, as well as the seced- 

 ing States, to stay the arm of military power, 

 and on no pretence whatever bring upon the 

 nation the horrors of civil war. 



The minority report from two of the com- 

 mittee was presented the next day. This re- 

 port opposed the National Convention recom- 

 mended by the majority report, and proposed 

 a convention of the Border Slave States in- 



