646 



SOUTH CAKOLINA. 



An account of all provisions of whatsoever character 

 found on each plantation will be taken, and such pro- 

 visions will be used, so far as may be necessary, for 

 the sustenance of the laborers thereon. Any deficien- 

 cies of subsistence will be supplied by the United 

 States commissary, upon the requisition of the agent, 

 to whom they will be charged, and for which he will 

 account. 



The cotton and other articles, when prepared for 

 market, shall be shipped to New York, and, so far as 

 practicable, by the returning Government transports ; 

 and all shipments shall be consigned to the designated 

 agent at New York, unless otherwise specially directed 

 by the Secretary of the Treasury. 



A carefully detailed account will be kept by the 

 agent of all supplies furnished by the Government, and 

 of all expenditures made. 



Each agent will transmit a weekly report of his 

 proceedings to the Secretary of the Treasury, and 

 render his accounts in duplicate monthly for settle- 

 ment. 



All requisitions, bills of lading, and invoices will be 

 countersigned by the military commander or by such 

 officer as he may designate for the purpose. 



Each agent will so transact his business, and keep 

 his accounts that as little injury as possible may ac- 

 crue to private citizens who now maintain or may 

 within reasonable time resume the character of loyal 

 citizens of the United States. 



S. P. CHASE, Secretary of the Treasury. 



The following instructions to the Com- 

 mander-in-Chief, Gen. McClellan, relative to 

 the treatment of fugitive slaves coming within 

 the lines of the army of the Potomac, were 

 issued : 



DEPARTMENT OP STATE, ) 

 WASHINGTON, December 4, 1861. f 



To Major- General Geo. B. McClellan, Washington: 



GENERAL : I am directed by the President to call 

 your attention to the following subject : 



Persons claimed to be held to service or labor 

 under the laws of the State of Virginia, and actually 

 employed in hostile service against the Government 

 of the United States, frequently escape from the lines 

 of the enemy's forces, and are received within the lines 

 of the army of the Potomac. 



This Department understands that such persons 

 afterwards coming into the city of Washington are 

 liable to be arrested by the city police, upon the pre- 

 sumption, arising from color, that they are fugitives 

 from service or labor. 



By the 4th section of the act of Congress, approved 

 August 6, 1861, entitled "An Act to confiscate prop- 

 erty used for insurrectionary purposes," such hostile 

 employment is made a full and sufficient answer to 

 any further claim to service or labor. Persons thus 

 employed and escaping are received into the military 

 protection of the United States, and their arrest as 

 fugitives from service or labor should be immediately 

 followed by the military arrest of the parties making 

 the seizure. 



Copies of this communication will be sent to the 

 Mayor of the city of Washington, and to the Marshal 

 of the District of Columbia, that any collision between 

 the civil and military authorities may be avoided. 



I am. General, your very obedient, 



WILLIAM H. SEWARD. 



SOUTH CAKOLINA, one of the original 

 States of the Union, is bounded on the north 

 and northeast by North Carolina, southeast by 

 the Atlantic Ocean, and southwest by Georgia, 

 from which it is separated by the Savannah 

 Kiver. Its area is 30,213 square miles. Popu- 

 lation in 1860, 703,812, of whom 301,271 were 

 free, and 402,541 were slaves. The population 

 on which the State would be entitled to send 



representatives to the Federal Congress is 

 542,795. The value of real and personal prop- 

 erty in the State by the census of 1860 is 

 $548,138,774. The assessed value of the real 

 estate is $129,772,684. The Governor, Lieu- 

 tenant-Governor, and presidential electors are 

 chosen by the Legislature. The Senate consists 

 of 45 members, chosen by the people for four 

 years, and the House of Representatives, of 124 

 members, chosen in the same manner for two 

 years. The Constitution of the State was 

 framed in 1790. (See NEW AMERICAN CYCLO- 

 PAEDIA.) 



The Legislature of the State duly assembled 

 on the 4th of November, 1860, and having 

 chosen the presidential electors, adjourned. 



The political views of South Carolina have 

 always been openly and plainly declared by her 

 public men. In the year 1850 it was proposed 

 to convene a " Southern Congress " for the 

 initiation of measures looking to the defence of 

 the South. The subject was brought up in the 

 Legislature of the State, and the debate shows 

 the spirit which then prevailed in that body. 



Mr. W. S. Lyles said he would not recapitu- 

 late the series of wrongs inflicted upon South 

 Carolina, and the only question which he 

 would consider was the remedy. The remedy 

 is the union of the South and the formation 

 of a Southern Confederacy. The friends of the 

 Southern movement in the other States look to 

 the action of South Carolina ; and he would 

 make the issue in a reasonable time, and the 

 only way to do so was by secession. There 

 would be no concert among the Southern States 

 until a blow was struck. 



Mr. Sullivan proceeded to discuss the sover- 

 eignty of the States and the right of secession, 

 and denied the right or the power of the Gen- 

 eral Government to coerce the State in case of 

 secession. He thought there " never would be 

 a union of the South until this State strikes the 

 blow and makes the issue." 



Mr. F. D. Kichardson would not recapitulate 

 the evils which had been perpetrated upon the 

 South. Great as they have been, they are com- 

 paratively unimportant when compared with 

 the evils to which they would inevitably lead. 

 " We must not consider what we have borne, 

 but what we must bear hereafter. There is no 

 remedy for these evils in the Government ; we 

 have no alternative left us, then, but to come 

 out of the Government." 



Mr. Preston said he was opposed to calling a 

 convention, because he thought it would im- 

 pede the action of the State on the questions 

 now before the country. He thought it would 

 impede progress towards disunion. All his ob- 

 jections to a convention of the people applied 

 only to the proposition to call it now. He 

 thought conventions dangerous things, except 

 when the necessities of the country absolutely 

 demand them. He said he had adopted the 

 course he had taken on these weighty matters 

 simply and entirely with the view of hastening 

 the dissolution of this Union. 



