The lieutenant then went to the gangway where his boats were, the commissioners going at the same time to their state rooms on the next deck below, followed by Captain Moir and by the other passengers. The lieutenant returned with a party of his men, a portion of whom were armed with side-arms, and others, appearing to be a squad of marines, having muskets and bayonets. Mr. Slidell was in his state room immediately by and in full view. The lieutenant then said to Mr. Mason that, having his force now present, he hoped to be relieved from the necessity of calling it into actual use. The gentleman again answered that he would only subinit to actual force greater than he could overcome, when the lieutenant, and several of his men, by his order, took hold of him, and in a manner and in numbers sufficient to make resistance fruitless; and Mr. Slidell joining the group at the same time, one or more of the armed party took like hold of him, and those gentlemen at once went into the boat.

One account says, an exciting scene took place between Mr. Slidell, his eldest daughter, a noble girl devoted to her father, and Lieutenant Fairfax. With flashing eyes and quivering lips, she threw herself in the doorway of the cabin where her father was, resolved to defend him with her life, till, on the order being given to the marines to advance, which they did with bayonets pointed at this poor defenceless girl, her father ended the painful scene by escaping from the cabin by a window, when he was immediately seized by the marines and hurried into the boat. The commissioners were taken by the San Jacinto to Fort Warren, in Boston harbor, where they remained as prisoners.

A most intense excitement was aroused in England upon the arrival of the news of the transaction. Preparations for war with the United States were commenced, troops were sent to Canada, and a formal demand was made for the surrender of the commissioners, and an apology for the act by the Government. (See DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE.)

A vote of thanks to Captain Wilkes passed the House of Representatives subsequently, but the authorities at Washington sent instructions to the commandant at Fort Warren to deliver the Confederate commissioners to the represent atives of the British Government. They were, therefore, quietly placed on board of a small steamer and taken to an English steam vessel at anchor near Provincetown, some distance from Boston. In her they were conveyed to the island of St. Thomas, and thence by the line of steam packets took passage to England, where they safely arrived, and were landed without any special official attention.

TUCKER, GEORGE. A Virginian jurist, born in 1775, died 1861. He was elected to Congress in 1819, from the district composed of the counties of Pittsylvania, Halifax, and Campbell, at that time one of the twenty-two districts of Virginia. While in Congress, Mr. Tucker oc

cupied a high position as a debater and a constitutional lawyer, and his constituents manifested their appreciation of his merits by reelecting him in 1821 and 1823. In 1825, he retired from Congress to accept the Professorship of Law in the University of Virginia, which position he filled for a number of years. In his retirement from public life, Professor Tucker continued to render himself useful to his countrymen by the preparation of several works, the most important of which were a Life of Jefferson, and a Political History of the United States.

TYBEE ISLAND. Tybee Island is in Tybee Bay, on the south side of the entrance to Savannah River, in Georgia. The Savannah River is the dividing line between the States of South Carolina and Georgia. This island is southward of the bar, and about twenty miles southwest of Port Royal. It is one of the chain of sea islands which stretch all along the coast of Georgia and the adjoining States. The island is small, not as large as Port Royal Island. Cockspur Island lies immediately to the north of it, on which is situated Fort Pulaski-a very strong work, that defends the entrance to the Savannah River, and the defensive outpost of the city of Savannah itself. Tybee Island has been notable chiefly with mariners on account of its light-house, (Tybee Light,) one of the most prominent on the Southern coast. It was a fixed light, 108 feet above the sea, on the northeast end of the island, and in clear weather it might be seen at the distance of sixteen miles. This beacon was extinguished by the Georgians shortly after they had seceded from the Union. Tybee is long, narrow, and somewhat marshy, in the coast county of Chatham, and in climate and scenery is very much like Port Royal and the other Carolina sea islands. A small amount of sea island cotton is raised upon it, and its inhabitants are few. It has a beautiful creek to the west of it, where a ship of any burden may lie at anchor in perfect safety.

On the 26th of November, General Sherman, from the Port Royal expedition, determined to make a reconnoissance of the island, and landed with a small party. They discovered, on the point of land reaching out beyond the lighthouse, a fortification which had apparently been deserted for about eight days. It was a mere redan with flanking curtains, and had been mounted with not more than four or five guns. These had been moved. Behind it was a martello tower, with embrasures, altogether unfit for use. The light-house was deserted, and no trace of occupation discovered anywhere in its vicinity. The island is about two miles wide by five long, and its nearest point is distant only about a mile from Fort Pulaski. The lighthouse and battery are on the opposite corner from the fort. General Sherman, with an escort of marines, having examined the lower and deserted battery, approached the point of the island nearest to the fort, and was honored

with a shell or two from Fort Pulaski, which came quite near them. Lieutenant Magner, however, was allowed to examine another small work situated so as to cover the whole line of the beach between its two angles. He found no guns left, but that the position was admirable for defensive purposes. The enemy had evidently been aware of its importance; as once in possession of Federal forces, it would be very easy to throw shells into Fort Pulaski. The remains of a hutted encampment large

UNITED STATES. The population of the United States is numbered at the end of each ten years. The first census was taken in 1790, at which time the whole population was 3,929,827. The last census was taken in the month of June, 1860. The whole population, consisting of white, free colored, and slave, and the ratio of increase of each class since the previous census in 1850, were as given below.

The election for a President of the United States took place on the 4th of November, 1860.

enough for a hundred men were to be seen from this place, but they bore no trace of having been recently occupied. There was no flag on the island, and it had evidently been completely abandoned. The fact that Federal vessels could come under the lee of the island and anchor in sight of Fort Pulaski, (only fifteen miles from Savannah,) and that shells could be thrown into the fort without difficulty, made its possession, at any cost, a matter of importance to the Federal force.

The candidate of the Republicans was Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois. The distinctive principle which he represented was the non-extension of slavery to the territories of the United States, and its speedy removal from all places belonging to, or under the exclusive control of the Federal Government.

Stephen A. Douglas was the candidate representing the principle of non-intervention, which was understood to mean that Congress should not interfere with the question of slavery

the power vested in the marshals." This imposes upon the President the sole responsibility of deciding whether the exigency has arisen which requires the use of military force; and in proportion to the magnitude of that responsibility will be his care not to overstep the limits of his legal and just authority.

The laws referred to in the act of 1795 are manifestly those which are administered by the judges and executed by the ministerial officers of the courts for the punishment of crime against the United States, for the protection of rights claimed under the Federal Constitution and laws, and for the enforcement of such obligations as come within the cognizance of the Federal Judiciary. To compel obedience to these laws the courts have authority to punish all who obstruct their regular administration, and the marshals and their deputies have the same powers as sheriff's and their deputies in the several States in executing the laws of the States. These are the ordinary means provided for the execution of the laws, and the whole spirit of our system is opposed to the employment of any other except in cases of extreme necessity, arising out of great and unusual combinations against them. Their agency must continue to be used until their incapacity to cope with the power opposed to them shall be plainly demonstrated. It is only upon clear evidence to that effect that a military force can be called into the field. Even then its operations must be purely defensive. It can suppress only such combinations as are found directly opposing the laws and obstructing the execution thereof. It can do no more than what might and ought to be done by a civil posse, if a civil posse could be raised large enough to meet the same opposition. On such occasions, especially, the military power must be kept in strict subordination to the civil authority, since it is only in aid of the latter that the former can act at all.

But what if the feeling in any State against the United States should become so universal that the Federal officers themselves (including judges, district attorneys, and marshals) would be reached by the same in fluences and resign their places? Of course the first step would be to appoint others in their stead, if others could be got to serve. But, in such an event, it is more than probable that great difficulties would be found in filling the offices. We can easily conceive how it might become altogether impossible. We are therefore obliged to consider what can be done in case we have no courts to issue judicial process, and no ministerial officers to execute it. In that event troops would certainly be out of place, and their use wholly illegal. If they are sent to aid the courts and marshals, there must be courts and marshals to be aided. Without the exercise of those functions, which belong exclusively to the civil service, the laws cannot be executed in any event, no matter what may be the physical strength which the Government has at its command. Under such circumstances, to send a military force into any State with orders to act against the people would be simply making war upon them.

The existing laws put and keep the Federal Govern ment strictly on the defensive. You can use force only to repel an assault on the public property, and aid the courts in the performance of their duty. If the means given you to collect the revenue and execute the other laws be insufficient for that purpose, Congress may extend and make them more effectual to that end.

If one of the States should declare her independence, your action cannot depend upon the rightfulness of the cause upon which such declaration is based. Whether the retirement of a State from the Union be the exercise of a right reserved in the Constitution or a revolutionary movement, it is certain that you have not in either case the authority to recognize her independence or to absolve her from her Federal obligations. Congress, or the other States in convention assembled, must take such measures as may be necessary and proper. In such an event I see no course for you but to go straight onward in the path you have hitherto trodden, that is, execute the laws to the extent of the defensive means placed in your hands, and act generally upon

the assumption that the present constitutional relations between the States and the Federal Government continue to exist, until a new order of things shall be established, either by law or force.

On the right of Congress to make war upon a State, and require the President to carry it on, the views of the Attorney-General were also given. Subsequent events attach interest to these views, which they would otherwise hardly possess. They were doubtless the opinions which controlled the action of the Administration until the close of its term.

Whether Congress has the constitutional right to make war against one or more States, and require the Executive of the Federal Government to carry it on by means of force to be drawn from the other States, is a question for Congress itself to consider. It must be admitted that no such power is expressly given; nor are there any words in the Constitution which imply it. Among the powers enumerated in Article L., section 8, is that "to declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and to make rules concerning captures on land and water." This certainly means nothing more than the power to commence and carry on hostilities against the foreign enemies of the nation. Another clause in the same section gives Congress the power to provide for calling forth the militia," and to use them within the limits of the State. But this power is so restricted by the words which immediately follow, that it can be exercised only for one of the following purposes: 1. To execute the laws of the Union; that is, to aid the Federal officers in the performance of their regular duties. 2. To suppress insurrections against the States; but this is confined by Article IV., sec. 4, to cases in which the State herself shall apply for assistance against her own people. 3. To repel the invasion of a State by enemies who come from abroad to assail her in her own territory. All these provisions are made to protect the States, not to authorize an attack by one part of the country upon another; to preserve their peace, and not to plunge them into civil war. Our forefathers do not seem to have thought that war was calculated "to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity." There was undoubtedly a strong and universal conviction among the men who framed and ratified the Constitution that military force would not only be useless but pernicious as a means of holding the States together.

If it be true that war cannot be declared, nor a system of general hostilities carried on by the Central Government against a State, then it seems to follow that an attempt to do so would be ipso facto an expulsion of such State from the Union. Being treated as an alien and an enemy, she would be compelled to act nocordingly. And if Congress shall break up the pres ent Union by unconstitutionally putting strife and en mity and armed hostility between different sections of the country, instead of the "domestic tranquillity” which the Constitution was meant to insure, will not all the States be absolved from their Federal obliga tions? Is any portion of the people bound to contribute their money or their blood to carry on a contest like that?

The right of the General Government to preserve itself in its whole constitutional vigor by repelling a direct and positive aggression upon its property or its officers cannot be denied. But this is a totally differ ent thing from an offensive war to punish the people for the political misdeeds of their State government, or to prevent a threatened violation of the Constitution, or to enforce an acknowledgment that the Government of the United States is supreme. The States are cl leagues of one another, and if some of them shall conquer the rest and hold them as subjugated provinces, it would totally destroy the whole theory upon which they are now connected.

During the month of November, the State of South Carolina had passed an act requiring a State Convention to assemble on the 17th of December. Preparations were commenced in other States bordering on the Gulf of Mexico, to secure similar conventions. These preparations consisted of proclamations by the Governors calling an extra session of the legislatures, or of the demonstrations of citizens in favor of the same object. Evidently a boastful and violent spirit was becoming aroused, which was determined to effect a separation of the States of the Union. Its development could be seen almost daily, and the first apprehensions awakened were, that it might acquire so much force and violence as to overwhelm those sentiments of attachment to the Union, which were known to be alive in the bosom of the mass of the people in each of the Southern States. In the border States of Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Arkansas, the love for the Union was supposed to be sufficient to check the violence of every hostile passion, and retain them under the Federal Government, unless new motives for secession should arise. So it for a time proved. But in those farther south, the Union demonstrations, although numerous, could not withstand the torrent of passion with which they were assailed. The calm and manly eloquence of Stephens, uttered at the request of members of the Legislature of Georgia, on the evening of November 14, was soon forgotten amid the excitement of passion that followed, and he himself was swept away by it. At that hour, standing in the hall of the House of Representatives of Georgia, he said:

"I look upon this country, with our institutions, as the Eden of the world, the paradise of the universe. It may be that out of it we may become greater and more prosperous, but I am candid and sincere in telling you that I fear if we rashly evince passion, and without sufficient cause shall take that step, that instead of becoming greater or more peaceful, prosperous, and happy-instead of becoming gods, we will become demons, and at no distant day commence cutting one another's throats. This is my apprehension. Let us, therefore, whatever we do, meet these difficulties, great as they are, like wise and sensible men, and consider them in the light of all the consequences which may attend our action. Let us see first clearly where the path of duty leads, and then we may not fear to tread therein."

He then proceeded to meet and refute the popular argument in favor of secession in these direct and plain words:

"The first question that presents itself is, Shall the people of the South secede from the Union in consequence of the election of Mr. Lincoln to the Presidency of the United States? My countrymen, I tell you frankly, candidly, and earnestly, that I do not think that they ought. In my judgment, the election of no man, constitutionally chosen to that high office, is sufficient cause for any State to separate from the

Union. It ought to stand by and aid still in maintaining the Constitution of the country. To make a point of resistance to the Government, to withdraw from it because a man has been constitutionally elected, puts us in the wrong. We are pledged to maintain the Constitution. Many of us have sworn to support it. Can we, therefore, for the mere election of a man to the Presidency-and that too in accordance with the prescribed forms of the Constitution-make a point of resistance to the Government without becoming the breakers of that sacred instrument ourselves, by withdrawing ourselves from it? Would we not be in the wrong? Whatever fate is to befall this country, let it never be laid to the charge of the people of the South, and especially to the people of Georgia, that we were untrue to our national engagements. Let the fault and the wrong rest upon others. If all our hopes are to be blasted, if the Republic is to go down, let us be found to the last moment standing on the deck, with the Constitution of the United States waving over our heads. Let the fanatics of the North break the Constitution, if such is their fell purpose. Let the responsibility be upon them. I shall speak presently more of their acts; but let not the South, let us not be the ones to commit the aggression. We went into the election with this people. The result was different from what we wished; but the election has been constitutionally held. Were we to make a point of resistance to the Government and go out of the Union on that account, the record would be made up hereafter against us."

Hours passed during which a crowded audience listened to his arguments and eloquence in favor of the Union. Three months later, and this man becomes the Vice-President of a Southern Confederacy. The Union, in his view, is dissolved, the past is forgotten, the future spreads a glorious vision before his eyes. (See CONFEDERATE STATES, page 129.)

The secession of the Southern States was not accomplished by a movement of the people. It was a preconceived and arranged purpose on the part of many prominent public men, cherished until the favorable hour should come for its execution. The hour thus selected was that upon which the election of Mr. Lincoln took place. Then the plan was put in execution without regard to the forms of law, or the numbers of the Union men.

The Congress of the United States assembled on the 3d of December, 1860, (see CONGRESS U. S.,) and the Message of President Buchanan was immediately delivered. (See PUBLIC Docu MENTS.) In this Message he denied in strong and unanswerable language the right of secession, and indicated his purpose to collect the revenue and defend the forts of South Carolina.

The attitude of South Carolina already excited the apprehensions of the Government. The subject of sending reënforcements to the