CHAP. XIII. military dictatorship over nine millions of "his people," he could declaim in fervid oratory against the despotism of a majority.

One of his most salient traits was the endeavor to maintain a double position on the question of disunion. His leadership of the "resistance" party in Mississippi in 1850-51 gave him a conspicuous starting-point as an instigator of sedition, and while laboring then and afterwards to unite the South in extreme political demands, and in armed preparation for war against the Union if those demands were not complied with, he as constantly declared that he was no disunionist. Of course he could do this only by setting at defiance the plainest meaning of words and the clearest significance of acts. As the slavery contest drew to its culmination, his recklessness of assertion and antagonism of declaration on these points reached an extreme entitling them to be classed among the curiosities of abnormal mental phenomena. As a blind man may not be held responsible for his description of a painting, or a deaf-mute be expected to repeat accurately the airs of an opera, so we can only explain Jefferson Davis's vehement denial of the charge of hypocrisy and conspiracy through a whole decade, by the supposition that he was incapable of understanding the accepted meaning of such words as "patriotism," "loyalty," "allegiance," "faith," "honor," and "duty." On no other hypothesis can we credit the honesty of convictions and sincerity of expression of sentiments so diametrically opposed as the following, which occur in the same speech:

Neither in that year [1852], nor in any other, have I ever advocated a dissolution of the Union, or a separa

tion of the State of Mississippi from the Union, except as CHAP. XIII. the last alternative, and have not considered the remedies which lie within that extreme as exhausted, or ever been entirely hopeless of their success. I hold now, as announced on former occasions, that whilst occupying a seat in the Senate I am bound to maintain the Government of the Constitution, and in no manner to work for its destruction; that the obligation of the oath of office, Mississippi's honor and my own, require that, as a Senator of the United States, there should be no want of loyalty to the Constitutional Union. . .

Whether by the House [of Representatives] or by the people, if an Abolitionist be chosen President of the United States, you will have presented to you the question of whether you will permit the Government to pass into the hands of your avowed and implacable enemies. Without pausing for your answer, I will state my own position to be that such a result would be a species of revolution by which the purposes of the Government would be destroyed, and the observance of its mere forms entitled to no respect. In that event, in such manner as should be most expedient, I should deem it your duty to provide for your safety outside of a Union with those who have already shown the will, and would have acquired the power, to deprive you of your birthright and reduce you to worse than the colonial dependence of your fathers. . . As when I had the privilege of addressing the Legislature a year ago, so now do I urge you to the needful preparation to meet whatever contingency may befall us. The maintenance of our rights against a hostile power is a physical problem and cannot be solved by mere resolutions. Not doubtful of what the heart will prompt, it is not the less proper that due provision should be made for physical necessities. Why should not the State have an armory for the repair of arms, for the alteration of old models so as to make them conform to the improved weapons of the present day, and for the manufacture on a limited scale of new arms, including cannon and carriages; the casting of shot and shells, and the preparation of fixed ammunition?1

1 Jefferson Davis, speech at Jackson, Mississippi, Nov. 11, 1858. In the "Daily Mississippian," Nov. 15, 1858.

CHAP. XIII.

1861.

That man is not to be envied whose reason can be quieted by a casuistry capable of discovering consistency between these and analogous propositions. From declarations of this quality he could prove his record black or white, as occasion demanded, and, in face of direct threats of secession in Mississippi, deny in the United States Senate, without wincing, that he had avowed disunion sentiments.

Montgomery having witnessed the glories of such an inauguration pageant as could be extemporized, Davis proceeded to the appointment of his Cabinet. Robert Toombs, of Georgia, was made Secretary of State; C. G. Memminger, of South Carolina, Secretary of the Treasury; L. P. Walker, of Alabama, Secretary of War; S. R. Mallory, of Florida, Secretary of the Navy; J. H. Reagan, of Texas, Postmaster-General; and J. P. Benjamin, of Louisiana, Attorney-General. Various acts of the Provisional Congress authorized the new executive to continue the organization of the provisional government of the Confederate States. A regular army of about 10,000 men was ordered to be established; a navy of 10 steam gun-boats authorized to be constructed or purchased; 100,000 volunteers for 12 months authorized to be enlisted, and existing State troops to be received into the provisional army. A loan of $15,000,000 was authorized, and an export duty on cotton of cent per pound levied, to pay principal and interest. Among the first executive acts, Davis assumed control of military operations in the several seceded States; and his Secretary of War (March 9) made a requisition for 11,000 volunteers, for contingent service at Charleston, Pensa

cola, and other points. Agents were dispatched to CHAP. XIII. Europe to purchase material of war; and to obtain if possible a recognition of the Confederate States by foreign powers. As a matter of the greatest immediate necessity, a commission of three persons was appointed to proceed to Washington, to bring about the peaceful acquiescence of the United States in the dismemberment of the Union.

CHAPTER XIV

CHAP. XIV.

1860.

WE

FAILURE OF COMPROMISE

E have seen under what discouraging circumstances the House Committee of Thirtythree entered upon its allotted work of preparing a Congressional compromise. The extreme Southern members had in advance announced the futility of any such effort, while the central cabal of the conspirators, in open contempt of the Dunn resolution, issued their secession manifesto of December 14. Nevertheless, the committee continued to meet from time to time, and with commendable industry attacked the chaos of conflicting propositions referred to it by the House, or submitted by its members. But a very few meetings rendered it evident that its labors were foredoomed to failure. Two of the members, Boyce, of South Carolina, and Hawkins, of Florida, refused to attend even a single session. Reuben Davis, of Mississippi, attended, to carry out his purpose, which, as announced openly in the House, was to act as a spy upon its proceedings, and to "prevent its being "Globe," made a means of deception " to "arrest the present Dec.10,1860, noble and manly movements of the Southern States." After the occupation of Sumter and the accession of the Cabinet régime, with its change of policy and

p. 59.