SOUTH CAROLINA. 



649 



of the Convention, on the fourth ballot, David 

 F. Jamison received 118 votes, J. L. Orr 30, 

 and Jaines Chesnut, jr., 3. Mr. Jamison was 

 elected. 



A motion was next made that the Conven- 

 tion adjourn, to meet in Charleston on the af- 

 ternoon of the next day, owing to the preva- 

 lence of small-pox in Columbia. This motion 

 was opposed by W. Porcher Miles, who said : 



' We would be sneered at. It would be asked 

 on all sides, Is this the chivalry of South Caro- 

 lina ? They are prepared to face the world, but 

 they run away from the small-pox. Sir, if eve- 

 ry day my prospects of life were diminished by 

 my being here, and if I felt the certain convic- 

 tion that I must take this disease, I would do 

 so, and die, if necessary. I am just from Wash- 

 ington, where I have been in constant, close, 

 continual conference with our friends. Their 

 unanimous, urgent request to us is, not to delay 

 at all. The last thing urged on me, by our 

 friends from Georgia, Mississippi, Florida, 

 North Carolina, Alabama, Texas, and Louisi- 

 ana, and every State that is with us in this 

 great movement, was, take out South Carolina 

 the instant you can. Now, sir, when the news 

 reaches Washington that we met here, that a 

 panic arose about a few cases of small-pox in 

 the city, and that we forthwith scampered off 

 to Charleston, the effect would be a little lu- 

 dicrous, if I might be excused for that expres- 

 sion." 



The motion was adopted, and the Convention 

 assembled on the next day at Charleston. 



The following committee was then appointed 

 to draft an ordinance of secession : Messrs. In- 

 glis. Rhett. sen., Chesnut, Orr, Maxcy Gregg, 

 B. F. Dunkin. and Hutson, and another com- 

 mittee, as follows, to prepare an address to the 

 people of the Southern States, viz. : Messrs. 

 Rhett. sen.. Calhoun, Finley, J. D. Wilson, W. 

 F. De Saussure. Cheves, and Cam. 



The following committees were also appoint- 

 1, each to consist of thirteen members: 



A Committee on Relations with the Slave- 

 aiding States of North America ; a Committee 

 on Foreign Relations : a Committee on Com- 

 mercial Relations and Postal Arrangements : 

 and a Committee on the Constitution of the 

 State. 



On the same day Mr. Magrath, of Charleston, 

 offered the following resolution : 



Eesohal, That so much of the Message of the Presi- 

 dent of the United States as relates to what he desig- 

 nates ''the property of the United States in South Car- 

 olina," be referred to a committee of thirteen, to report 

 of what such property consists, how acquired, and 

 whether the purpose for which it was so acquired can 

 be enjoyed by the United States after the State of 

 South Carolina shall have seceded, consistently with 

 the dignity and safety of the State. And that said 

 committee" further report the value of the property of 

 the United States not in South Carolina; and the value 

 of the share thereof to which South Carolina would be 

 entitled upon an equitable division thereof among the 

 United States. 



Upon offering the resolution, he said : 



" As I understand the Message of the Presi- 



dent of the United States, he affirms it as his 

 right and constituted duty and high obligation 

 to protect the property of the United States 

 within the limits of South Carolina, and to en- 

 force the laws of the Union within the limits of 

 South Carolina. He says he has no constitu- 

 tional power to coerce South Carolina, while, 

 at the same time, he denies to her the right of 

 secession. It may be, and I apprehend it will 

 be, Mr. President, that the attempt to coerce 

 South Carolina will be made under the pre- 

 tence of protecting the property of the United 

 States within the limits of South Carolina. I 

 am disposed, therefore, at the very threshold, 

 to test the accuracy of this logic, and test the 

 conclusions of the President of the United 

 States. There never has been a day no, not 

 one hour in which the right of property with- 

 in the limits of South Carolina, whether it 

 belongs to individuals, corporations, political 

 community, or nation, has not been as safe un- 

 der the Constitution and laws of South Caro- 

 lina as when that right is claimed by one of our 

 own citizens ; and if there be property of the 

 United States within the limits of Sonth Caro- 

 lina, that property, consistently with the dig- 

 nity and honor of the State, can, after the 

 secession of South Carolina, receive only that 

 protection which it received before." 



Mr. Miles, who had jnst returned from 

 Washington, stated the position of affairs to be 

 as follows : 



" I will confine myself simply to the matter 

 of the forts in the harbor of Charleston, and I 

 will state what I conceive to be the real condi- 

 tion of things. I have not the remotest idea 

 that the President of the United States will 

 send any reenforcement whatsoever into these 

 forts. I desire no concealment there should 

 be no concealment but perfect frankness. I 

 will state here that I, with some of my col- 

 leagues, in a conversation with the President 

 of the United States, and subsequently in a 

 written communication, to which our names 

 were signed, after speaking of the great excite- 

 ment about the forts, said thus to him : 



Mr. President, it is our solemn conviction that, if 

 you attempt to send a solitary soldier to these forts, 

 the instant the intelligence reaches our people, (and 

 we shall take care thaf it does reach them, for we have 

 sources of information in Washington, so that no or- 

 ders for troops can be issued without our getting in- 

 formation,) these forts will be forcibly and immediately 

 stormed. 



" We all assured him that, if an attempt was 

 made to transport reinforcements, our people 

 would take these forts, and that we would go 

 home and help them to do it ; for it would be 

 suicidal folly for us to allow the forts to be 

 manned. And we further said to him that a 

 bloody result would follow the sending of 

 troops to those forts, and that we did not be- 

 lieve that the authorities of South Carolina 

 would do any thing prior to the meeting of this 

 convention, and that we hoped and believed 

 that nothing would be done after this body met 

 until we had demanded of the General Govern- 



