PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S PROCLAMATION IN 1861.

I do not question either the propriety or the duty which devolved on Mr. Lincoln for making a call for troops under the circumstances that existed and that were patent to all men's minds. Whether it was for the protection of the Capitol, or for the enforcement of the laws in the revolted states, or for the recovery of the property, which, if taken by individuals, would have constituted a felony-and yet I consider that proclamation in many respects as the most unfortunate state paper that ever issued from any Executive since the establishment of the government. It was unfortunate in this: first, that while it was manifest to any reflecting man that Mr. Lincoln could not have called for so small a body of troops with any calculation of overrunning or subduing the seven states that had already virtually declared war against the government, yet it failed to state what was the object of the call, and thereby it was left in the power of the demagogues with which the land was filled to make any and every misrepresentation of its purpose that was best adapted to excite the apprehensions and resentment of the South. General Jackson under similar circumstances, in the height of his popularity and power, did not venture to take the step he did without an address and an appeal to the patriotism of the people to stand by and sustain him in a determination to save the Union from the hands of traitors who aimed at its destruction. How much more important, then, was it that Mr. Lincoln, against whom such a storm of prejudice had been raised as to his purpose of striking a deadly blow at the institutions of the South, should have declared his views on this subject in the most distinct and emphatic form! when he would have kept himself beyond the reach of the demagogues and de

famers, and retained the support of the Union party of the South, who seemed to be all paralyzed by this single dash of his pen. It is not saying too much, I think, when I say such was the state of excitement and enthusiasm for war that was aroused among the citizens of Richmond, that I was perhaps the only one who raised his voice above a whisper against the ordinance at that moment. Again, it was unfortunate in this, that, if it only could have been postponed for three days, this commonwealth would have been in a state of revolution from the causes I have just recited, but it came just in the very nick of time to save the disorganizers the task of a revolutionary movement.

Three days later, and Mr. Lincoln might have received a call from the executive of this state for the aid of the general government to sustain the lawful authorities of Virginia, when all the other powers under the sun could not have driven Virginia or the other Border States into a participation with the Cotton States.

When that proclamation reached Richmond on the evening of the 15th, the city was crammed with secessionists. from all parts of the state, in obedience to the call of the secret circular. I came down myself on the same day from Washington, and I had scarcely set my foot upon the threshhold of my own door before I was visited by friends who admonished me that I had better not go upon the street; that the whole city was in a blaze of excitement, and it would be dangerous for me, with my well-known opinions and devotion to the Union, to be seen in public. I ridiculed the idea and spurned the suggestion, hastened to get my dinner, and walked down to the governor's house, where I found a room crowded with members of the Convention of both parties; they were all in a high state of excitement, governor and all. To reason with them would be like dart

ing straws against the wind. I soon found that my presence was not agreeable to the gentlemen assembled, and if they had not left I should; but they did not give me the opportunity; for soon after my arrival, and upon the utterance of the first sentiment I expressed upon the subject, they began, one by one, to leave the room, until the governor and myself were left alone. I found all reason in vain, and I did not remain long, but extended my walk through. Capitol Square and down Main Street to ascertain the extent of my danger, as predicted by my friends. Many looked askance, some seemed to avoid me, but none ventured to offer me offense. I never felt more proud or stepped more boldly, for I felt the most comfortable and confiding assurance that I was in the right. I felt that I was in the midst of a despicable set of traitors on the one hand, and of timid, misguided men, who had suffered their fears, in some instances, their prejudices and their passions, in others, to get the better of their judgments. I walked home proudly and defiantly; but when safely pillowed under my own roof, my pride and defiant spirit both forsook me, and I involuntarily burst into tears over what I too clearly saw the calamities that were in store for my country.

There has been no one act of the administration of Mr. Lincoln, perhaps, that has been more severely censured and condemned throughout the South as a high-handed usurpation of power and disregard of all constitutional and legal authority, than the call of seventy-five thousand troops by his proclamation of April 15, 1861. It was commented upon by the press and talked of by the leading secessionists, until the belief became universal in the South that the war was by this means designedly made upon the South without the sanction of law; while in truth there was no one act of his

administration more thoroughly sustained by lawful authority or made more imperative upon him.

The authority is to be found in the first volume of the "Laws of the United States" of 1795, and date of February 28. In chapter xxxvi., section ii., page 424, it reads: "And be it farther enacted, That whenever the laws of the United States shall be opposed, or the execution thereof obstructed in any state by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, or by the powers vested in the marshals by this act, it shall be lawful for the President of the United States to call for the militia of such state, or any other state or states, as may be necessary to suppress such combinations, to cause the laws to be duly executed. And the use of the militia so to be called forth may be continued, if necessary, until the expiration of thirty days after the commencement of the next session of Congress." And again, by the Act of March 3, 1807, which declares, "That in all cases of insurrection or obstruction to the laws, either of the United States or of any individual state or territory, where it is lawful for the President of the United States to call forth the militia for the purpose of suppressing such insurrection or causing the laws to be executed, it shall be lawful for him to employ for the same purpose such part of the land or naval force of the United States as shall be judged necessary, having first observed all the prerequisites of the law in that respect."

THE ORDINANCE OF SECESSION PASSED IN VIRGINIA.

The balance of the story is soon told. On the next day (the 16th) the outside Convention of secessionists met in full force and in secret session, clamorous and riotous for an ordinance of secession. The legitimate Convention sat with closed doors, and proceeded to enforce an obligation of the

strictest secrecy on every member of the body as to their future proceedings-one and the main object of which was to keep the people in the dark as to the extent of the opposition still existing in this body to a rupture with the general government, and also to enable them to possess themselves of government property before it could be known in Washington what they intended. On the 17th, the ordinance was passed by a vote of 88 to 55, but was, until the injunction of secrecy was removed, generally believed to have been almost, if not quite unanimous. Then followed the seizure of the Custom-house and Post-office in Richmond, the seizure of Gosport Navy-yard and Harper's Ferry, with all the munitions of war they contained, the sinking of vessels in the channel of Elizabeth River to prevent the escape of such war-steamers as were then in the harbor of Norfolk.

Thus was this state not only declared to be out of the Union, but actually plunged into active hostility against the United States by a Convention whose powers were expressly limited by a vote of the people to a recommenda tion only of what should be done.

THE ILLEGAL STATE ACTION OF THE CONVENTION.

But this was not all. On the 25th of April, without waiting for the ratification of the ordinance, the Convention adopted the constitution of the Confederate government as their Constitution, and negotiated a treaty with Mr. Stephens, who had been sent on as commissioner for that purpose, by which the whole power of the state was transferred to the Confederate government at Montgomery, introduced large bodies of troops from other states into Virginia to overawe and control the elections, and having converted the peaceful homes of Eastern Virginia into one grand mil