South Carolina. It further provided that no | of the harbor, at the cannon's mouth, if neces appeal should be permitted to the Supreme sary. Court of the United States in any question concerning the validity of the ordinance, or of the laws passed to give effect thereto. This threw the die for the movements to follow. The Legislature immediately took all steps necessary to carry out the programme of the Convention-the legislators being convened for the especial purpose, by call of the Governor. The acts adopted embraced one authorizing the Governor to call on the militia to resist any attempt on the part of the Goverment of the United States to enforce the revenue laws. Ten thousand stand of arms and the requisite quantity of military munitions were ordered to be purchased, and any acts done in pursuance of that law were to be held lawful in the State courts.

At the opening of Congress, Jackson sent in his Message, setting forth the facts of the case. His policy was one of peaceful settlement, if possible; but, if Congress did not repeal or modify the law, he was ready to force South Carolina into submission. Nullification he termed revolution, which he was bound to suppress. The entire country, save the States of Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama, approved “Old Hickory's" policy, and stood ready to sustain him. Even in these apparently disloyal States there was a very powerful Union party, which repudiated the baleful idea of nullification, and which, eventually, succeeded in making itself heard and felt.

The determined front of the government— the argument read in General Scott's facethe silent admonition of Moultrie's guns, induced a material abatement of the nullifiers' zeal. South Carolina, it became painfully evident to the leaders of the conspiracy, could not get out of the Union if she would. Her revenues were collected by the Collector, at the regular Custom House, and, in all other respects, the state of affairs was not changed. The Convention, after its most extraordinary display of arrogance and opposition, resolved to wait until Feb. 1st before ordering hostile action!

This was followed by the resignation of the Vice-Presidency of the United States by Mr. Calhoun, and he proceeded to Washington to resume his seat in the Senate. The President, Andrew Jackson, just re-elected, felt extremely indignant toward Calhoun, and, it is now known, had made up his mind to arrest him, on his arrival at the Capital, to try him for high treason, and to hang him if convicted. He was persuaded from this extreme and hazardous course by Mr. Webster and others; and, on the 10th, issued his famous proclamation against the nullifiers, in which was forcibly and plainly stated the na- On the 21st of January, Mr. Wilkins, of ture of the American Government; the pre- Pennsylvania, introduced in the United States tended right of sovereignty was denied; the su- Senate his bill, to empower the President to premacy of the Federal Government declared, crush out all opposition to the collection of and an exhortation made to the citizens of the revenue by summoning the military powSouth Carolina not to persist in a course er of the Confederacy. Pending the discuswhich must bring upon their State the force sion which followed, Calhoun delivered his of the Confederacy, and expose the Union to argument on the Constitution. It was a most the hazard of dissolution. At the same time powerful and subtle plea, claiming the rights all the disposable military force was ordered of states as states and independencies, and asto assemble at Charleston, and a sloop-of-war suming nullification to be the bulwark of their was sent to that port to protect the Federal liberties. The speech was published and cirofficers, if necessary, in the discharge of their culated extensively throughout the country, duty. General Scott, then as at a later day, to be quickly followed by Webster's truly the watchful Guardian of the public weal, magnificent reply, which, in fact, made the was given charge of the military movements, Government and the Constitution stronger under special instructions from Lewis Cass, for the assault of the Carolina logician The Secretary of War. Ere the South Carolinians | bill of Mr. Wilkins passed by an almost unawere aware Scott was in Fort Moultrie, with nimous vote-so united was the sentiment on a strong force, prepared to collect the revenues the question of sustaining the laws and pro

HISTORY OF FORMER

CONSPIRACIES.

19

tecting the Constitution from infringement | lature steadily refused to substitute a more upon its powers. John Tyler, of Virginia, modern and republican constitution for the was among those who voted against the bill. old, but simple and strong, government of This act was followed by one of concession the Charter. Thomas W. Dorr, an attorney and compromise, introduced by Henry Clay, at law, of Providence, and a member of the proposing a graduated scale, by which the Assembly, sought to introduce a reform; but, duties were to be abated annually. This bill for a long time labored in vain. When allowed Government the needed benefits of brought to a vote his proposition for a change the revenue, only detracting from the tariff obtained only seven out of seventy votes. one-tenth each year upon all articles tariffed Not to be thwarted, Dorr then appealed to over twenty per cent., thus gradually reduc- the people, agitating the question of change ing the duties until they should strike the and reform in several mass conventions, held free list, in December, 1841. This act passed in 1840-41. When the movement had gained both Houses by good majorities, and was sufficient strength, a Convention of Delegates signed March 2d, 1833. In the meantime, was called, which prepared a State ConstituFebruary 1st had come, and the Nullifiers tion to be submitted to a regular vote of the did not drive General Scott out of Fort Moul- people. It obtained 14,000 votes-said to trie, nor cease to pay their duties both to the have been a clear majority of the regular citiCollector and to the Government. Accepting zens of the State. The Chartists pronounced the "highly satisfactory settlement" of the the entire proceedings seditious and declared difficulty, it only remained for Governor the vote, illegal as it was, to have been largeHayne to summon the Convention to undo ly fraudulent. Dorr decided otherwise; and, what they had done. The delegates came with true Puritan pertinacity, proclaimed the together March 11th, placed South Carolina Constitution to be the law of the State. He back in the Union, declared the great princi- ordered, accordingly, an election to be held ple of State Sovereignty established, and, ad- for State officers. journed.

This conspiracy left behind it the seeds of disunion. The idea of a State independence, of a power to control circumstances to their own liking, of a disseverance of all bonds with the "hated North," was left to germinate and grow, to burst out again, when a weak Executive should afford the opportunity, into treason and revolution.

DORR'S REBELLION, 1842.

This merely local "rebellion" deserves mention rather from its peculiar nature than from its importance. Its circumstances were as follows:

Down to 1833 the government of Rhode Island was based upon the original charter of settlement, granted by Charles II. in 1663, by which the elective franchise was restricted to persons possessed of real estate to a specified amount, and to their eldest sons. This disfranchised fully two-thirds of the actual citizens. Yet, so prevalent were old prejudices, so powerful old associations, that the Legis

Dorr was chosen Governor, and a Legislature, composed exclusively of his supporters, was elected, to meet at Providence on the first Monday of May, 1842. The Charter party also held an election for State officers, polling 5,700 votes, while the Suffrage party claimed to have polled 7,300.

On the 3d of May, Dorr's Government attempted to organize at Providence and seize the reins of power. They were resisted by the legal State Government, which assembled at Newport on the same day, and at the head of which was Gov. Samuel W. King. Both sides appealed to arms. The excitement was intense, and the people flocked to the respective standards in large numbers from various New England States. Gov. King proclaimed the State under martial law, called out the militia and asked and obtained the aid of the United States to suppress the treason. On the 18th of May a portion of the Suffrage party assembled at Providence under arms and attempted to seize the arsenal, but were dispersed by Gov. King and a military force. They assembled again, to the number of several hundred, May 25, 1842, at Chepachet Hill,

ten miles from Providence, but again dispers- years. It was one of the most fatal acts for ed on the approach of the State forces. Three the peace of the country which could have days afterwards the affair was over. Dorr been conceived. It alarmed the North. The fled from the State, and took refuge first in country flew to arms. From the South came Connecticut, and then in New Hampshire. A armed bands, who, as a posse comitatus, under reward of $4,000 being offered for his appre- authority of the President, pursued the Antihension by Rhode Island, he voluntarily re- slavery settlers with a vengeance making the turned home, was tried, convicted of high record of 1855 and 56 one of outrage and treason, and sentenced to imprisonment for bloodshed. The North, aggravated by this life. In 1847 he was pardoned, and, in 1852, armed attempt to make a Slave State out of the Legislature restored him to his civil soil unfitted for slave labor, poured in its setrights, and ordered the record of his sentence tlers, armed them for defence, gave them supto be expunged. He lived to see a liberal plies to sustain them through the day of trial, constitution and his party in possession of and, eventually, obtained the victory through the reins of government. the action of that very principle of "Squatter Sovereignty." The Northern "Squatters" became vastly more numerous even than the Missouri invaders and the vagabonds from Arkansas and Mississippi introduced by Capt. Titus and his coadjutors, and, by mere force of numbers, obtained control of affairs.

Rhode Island is now as democratic as any of her sister States. She boasts a population nearly as great as that of Texas, and twice that of Florida, while, in intelligence and industrial enterprise, she is vastly before either of the States named. In the hour of the General Government's peril she has proven a tower of loyalty, and the names of her sons occupy a favored place in the record of the struggle against revolution and national dis-ed, but the great political party which it integration.

THE KANSAS-NEBRASKA TROUBLES.

The years 1854-58 are "representative" in the history of the country. On the 4th of January, 1854, Mr. Douglas, as chairman of the Committee on Territories, in the United States Senate, introduced the bill for the organization of the territories of Nebraska and Kansas. It provided as follows:—

"When admitted as a State, the said territory, or any portion of the same, shall be received into the Union, with or without Slavery, as their constitution may prescribe at the time of their admission."

Thus abrogating the venerable and respected Missouri Compromise Act, of 1820, while it further established the principle of " Squatter Sovereignty," which gave to the people of a territory the right to make their own laws-denying to Congress the power to legislate laws for its territories.

That act became a law, after one of the most exciting sessions of Congress known for

What was most important, however, in this unfortunate re-opening of the Slavery question, was, not the local struggle which follow

called into existence. Taking the powerful
issues of opposition presented, of the non-ex-
tension of slavery and the freedom of the
territories, the Republican party sprang into
life, and, ere long, began to carry all before
it in the Northern States. Mr. Fremont, as
its candidate for the Presidency in 1856,
needed but the vote of Pennsylvania to have
made him President; and Mr. Lincoln, its
candidate in 1860, was elected to that high
office by heavy majorities in seventeen States.
Had it not been for that Kansas-Nebraska
bill the Republican party never would have
had existence, upon such issues as
แ no more
Slave territory,"-"no Slavery in the territo-
ries,"-"no more Slave representation in Con-
gress from new Slave States."
The matter resulted:-

:

1. In the admission of Kansas as a Free State.

2. In the formation of the Republican Party.

3. In the election of a Republican President.

4. In the "rebellion" of the Slave States against his rule.

5.

HISTORICAL SUMMARY OF EVENTS,

FROM NOVEMBER 6, 1860, TO DECEMBER 27, 1860.

Nov. 6.-Presidential Election day. Four candi- | arsenals, &c., in the Southern States, are as follows: dates before the people, viz.: Abraham Lincoln, Republican, of Illinois; Stephen A. Douglas, Demoerat, of Illinois; John C. Breckenridge, Democrat, of Kentucky; John Bell, Unionist, of Tennessee. Seventeen States out of thirty-three States cast their majority vote for Lincoln electors; eleven States for Breckenridge; three for Bell; while Douglas received the vote of Missouri, and three-sevenths of the vote of New-Jersey.

Nov. 10.-Bill introduced in South Carolina Legislature to call out and equip 10,000 volunteers. -United States Senator, James Chesnut, Jr., from South Carolina, resigns his seat in the Senate.

-South Carolina Legislature orders an election of Delegates to a Convention for taking action on the question of secession; the election to be held Dec. 6th; the Convention to assemble Dec. 17th.

at Fort Monroe, Va., eight companies of artillery; at Fayetteville arsenal, N. C., one company of artillery; at Fort Moultrie, S. C., two companies of artillery; at Augusta, Ga., one company of artillery; Key West, Florida, one company of artillery; Barrancas barracks, near Pensacola, Fla., one company of artillery; Baton Rouge, La., one company of artillery; total, about 800 men. There are about 120 United States marines at Norfolk and Pensacola.

Nov. 17.-Grand gathering of citizens of Charleston, S. C., "to inaugurate the revolution." Pine pole, 100 feet high, raised, and the Palmetto flag unfurled. Hotels, private residences, and public buildings all display the flag. Great rejoicing. Secession badges worn by men, women and children.

Nov. 18.-General depreciation of government and state stocks, railway shares, &c. Very unsettled state in the money market. General suspension of -Georgia Legislature refuses to order an election payment of debts due the North by Southern merof United States Senator, to succeed Alfred Iverson. chants, looked for in New York and Philadelphia. -Immense excitement throughout the South -Georgia Legislature appropriates $1,000,000, “to Large meetings held in New Orleans, Augusta arm and equip the State." Orders an election of Montgomery, Vicksburg, &c., to favor disunion. Ex- Delegates to a State Convention, to be held Janciting cabinet session at Washington, to "take ac-uary 2. The Convention to assemble January 9. tion on the alarming state of the country." Great number of resignations of Post-masters, Customhouse officers, &c., received at the Departments in Washington. "Minute men" organizations making throughout the Cotton States.

-South Carolina Legislature authorizes banks to suspend specie payment.

-Major Anderson ordered to Fort Moultrie, to re-
lieve Col. Gardiner, who is ordered to Texas.
Nov. 19.-Gov. Moore, of Louisiana, orders the
Legislature of that State to convene, Dec. 10.

Nov. 20.-Large arrivals in New York of arms for the South. Heavy orders received and filled in New York for rifles, ammunition, pistols, &c., for the

Nov. 11.-United States Senator Hammond, of Southern States. South Carolina, resigns his seat in the Senate.

Nov. 13.-South Carolina Legislature adjourns sine die.

Nov. 14.-Immense torch-light procession in Columbia, S. C., in honor of the action of the Legislature of

S. C.

--Florida, by her Governor, telegraphed to the Governor of South Carolina, "Florida is with the gallant Palmetto flag."

Nov. 15.-Senator Toombs makes a "powerful secession speech" in Milledgeville, Georgia.

-Governor Moore, of Alabama, announces his intention to order an election of Delegates to a State Convention; the election to be held Dec. 24. He advises the people to prepare for secession. The Convention to assemble January 7th.

-Governor Letcher, of Virginia, calls an extra session of the Legislature, to assemble Jan. 7, to "take into consideration the condition of public affairs."

-The United States troops garrisoning the forts,

Nov. 22.-The Washington and Philadelphia banks suspend specie payment. The banks of Baltimore and Richmond suspended specie payment two days previously. Notes of all Southern banks at a heavy discount in New York. The New York banks resolve to consolidate funds and afford relief by a liberal line of discount.

Nov. 23.-Suspension of North Carolina banks legalised by the Legislature of that State. Numerous bank suspensions announced in Pittsburg, Pa., Trenton, N. J., Charleston, S. C. The Boston banks resolve to adopt the course of the banks of New York.

President is understood to take strong grounds -Disagreements in the Cabinet reported. The against the right of secession. Messrs. Cobb, Thompson and Floyd are reported as threatening to resign in consequence. They are understood to favor a "peaceful separation."

-Great public meeting in New Orleans, to organ ize a "Southern Rights Association," whose pur pose is to aid in carrying the State out of the Union.

Nov. 29.-A dispatch from Washington says: "Let-Georgia Legislature, (House,) proposing a Confer ters from members of Congress and others, in South Carolina, written before the Presidential election, are exhibited here, proving that this revolutionary scheme was concocted long ago, and that a secreting exigency, was made the special order for tomilitary organization was formed to carry out the scheme of resistance in the event of Mr. Lincoln's success."