SOUTH CAROLINA. 



653 



world in which a people have deliberately re- 

 solved upon an act of political dissolution. 

 Even our fathers did not, and blood had been 

 shed from Massachusetts to Georgia before 

 there was the political intrepidity to assert 

 their independence. And so it ever has been, 

 that in States, as in men, the conservatisms of 

 life have been stronger than the motives to 

 destroy it. The stimulant of physical collision 

 has been necessary to political movement, and 

 blood has been ever required to the baptism of 

 a regenerated nation. But in South Carolina 

 \ve thought there was the chance of political 

 action. For years we have been without the 

 distractions of party issues ; for years our at- 

 tentions have been fixed upon the aggressions 

 of the General Government. Our readiness to 

 detect the danger was greater, perhaps, than 

 that of the other States, and if any State could 

 ever hope to act upon a political issue we could 

 hope to act upon the issues presented by the 

 election of Mr. Lincoln ; but there were also 

 fortuitous circumstances that concurred to aid 

 us. It was a fortuitous circumstance that the 

 Federal officers within our State were too spir- 

 ited to hold commissions upon the implication 

 of a willingness to perform the service aggres- 

 sion might exact, and upon the incident of that 

 election were ready to renounce them. It was 

 a fortuitous circumstance that our Legislature 

 was in session, and was ready to respond to the 

 feeling of our people. It was a fortuitous cir- 

 cumstance that no other event had occurred to 

 preoccupy the public mind ; and so it was that, 

 as the feelings of our people became aroused, 

 that as amid these circumstances there gleamed 

 the hope of political action, we sprang to the 

 occasion. "We pressed the measure onward. 

 We did all we could to inspire the popular heart 

 to the great achievement, and we yet believe 

 that in so acting only was there a possibility 

 of success. If, instead of acting for ourselves, 

 e had named some future time for the cooper- 

 ion of the other States, we believe the meas- 

 e would have failed. We believe that other 

 Southern State* themselves would have looked 

 upon it as a backing-down, and would have lost 

 the courage necessary to concurrence ; and I 

 myself believe that if the State of South Caro- 

 lina had stated some distant day for future ac- 

 tion, to see if other States would join us, and 

 had thus allowed the public feeling to subside, 

 she herself would have lost the spirit of adven- 

 ture, and would have quailed from the shock 

 of this great controversy ; but we did not do so. 

 We pressed sternly onward, trusting that other 

 States, with a generous confidence befitting the 

 occasion, would properly conceive our motives." 

 A debate ensued in the Convention upon this 

 declaration of grievances, which manifested 

 quite a diversity of sentiment on the causes of 

 secession. (See CONTKDEEATE STATES, page 122.) 

 On the 24th the address was adopted, after a 

 motion to lay it on the table had failed by a 

 vote of ayes 30. nays 124. On this day Gov. 

 Pickens issued the following proclamation : 



Whereas, The good People of this State, in Conven- 

 tion assembled, by an ordinance, unanimously adopted 

 and ratified on the twentieth day of December, in the 

 year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty, 

 repealed an ordinance of the people of this State adopt- 

 ed on the twenty -third day of May, in the year of our 

 Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight, 

 and hare thereby dissolved the Union between the 

 State of South Carolina and other States under the 

 name of the United States of America : 



I, therefore, as Governor and Commander-in- Chief 

 in and over the State of South Carolina, by virtue of 

 authority in me vested, do hereby proclaim to the 

 wqrld. that this State is, as she has a right to be, a 

 separate, sovereign, free, and independent State, and, 

 as such has a right to levy war, conclude peace, 

 negotiate treaties, leagues, or covenants, and to do all 

 acts, whatsoever, that rightfully appertain to a free 

 and independent State. 



Given under my hand and the seal of the State, at 

 Charleston, this twenty -fourth day of December, 

 in the year of our Lord one thousand eight 

 hundred and sixty, and in the eighty-fifth vear of 

 the sovereignty and independence of South Caro- 

 lina. F. W. PICKENS. 



On the 25th the committee on the relations 

 with the slaveholding States of Xorth America 

 made a report, and concluded by recommend- 

 ing the adoption of the following resolutions : 



Sesohed, First, that this Convention do appoint a 

 Commissioner to proceed to each of the slaveholding 

 States that may assemble in Convention, for the pur- 

 pose of laying "our ordinance of secession before the 

 same, and" respectfully invite their cooperation in the 

 formation with us of a Southern Confederacy. 



Second, That our Commissioners aforesaid be further 

 authorized to submit, on our part, the Federal Con- 

 stitution as the basis of a Provisional Government for 

 such States as shall have withdrawn their connection 

 with the Government of the United States of North 

 America. 



Third. That the said Commissioners be authorized 

 to invite the seceding States to meet in Convention at 

 such time and place as may be agreed upon, for the 

 purpose of forming a permanent Government for such 

 States. 



On the next day the Convention adopted an 

 ordinance, making provisional arrangements for 

 the continuance of commercial facilities in 

 South Carolina. Custom-house officers were 

 retained in office under the State authority; 

 the Governor was authorized to fill all vacan- 

 cies ; the revenue collection and navigation 

 laws of the United States were adopted until 

 otherwise ordered ; public documents, registers 

 of vessels, &c., to be styled in the name of the 

 State of South Carolina : and all duties col- 

 lected to be paid into the State Treasury. 



On the 27th an ordinance was adopted, au- 

 thorizing the Governor to receive ambassadors, 

 ministers, consuls, &c., and to appoint similar 

 officers. Arc. 



The committee on the State Constitution on 

 the 29th prepared an ordinance, transferring to 

 the Legislature the powers lately vested in 

 Congress, except during the existence of the 

 Convention, when it shall not extend, without 

 the Convention's direction, to duties on imports, 

 post-offices, declaration of war, treaties, con- 

 federation, &c. The judicial powers of the 

 United States courts are vested in the State 

 courts. The General Assembly may direct that 

 the court sitting in Charleston may have origi- 



