policy was changed. This change, however, was not communicated to the Commissioners. They were still kept uninformed and left to rest upon the assurances given, while the most energetic measures and active preparations for war and subjugation were being concocted and executed. The sequel, so far as relates to the striking of the first blow and the fall of Fort Sumter, we have seen.*

It is, perhaps, needless to speak of the effect of this great event, either at the North or South. I will here only say that, within my observation, the first general feeling produced by it, was one of surprise, accompanied with deep regret. The duplicity of the Washington authorities was, it is true, the cause of general indignation; for the informal assurance on the subject of the early evacuation of that Fort, was extensively known to the intelligent in all parts of the country. President Davis immediately summoned an extra session of Congress, at Montgomery. This body, after having gotten through with their labors on the Constitution for the Permanent Government, on the 11th of March, and having adopted such general measures as they thought proper and sufficient, in view of the peaceful prospect before them, had, on the 16th, adjourned, subject to the call of the President, in case of need, to report their action to their respective State Conventions. The Sovereign State Conventions all promptly, and with great unanimity, ratified the Constitution proposed for their Permanent Government. Alabama ratified it, on the 13th of March, by a vote of eighty-seven yeas to five nays; Georgia, on the 16th of March, without a dissentient voice-two hundred and seventy-six voted for the ratification, and not one against it; Louisiana, on the 21st of March, by one * Ante, page 39.

hundred and one yeas to seven nays; Texas, on the 25th of March, by sixty-eight yeas to two nays; Mississippi, on the 30th of March, by a vote of seventy-eight yeas to seven nays. The exact vote in South Carolina and Florida I do not know, but the action of both these States on the ratification, was not less decisive. The call for the extra session was made on the fall of Fort Sumter; but hardly had that summons reached the country by the telegraphic wires, before these mystic messengers, with the wings of lightning, brought Mr. Lincoln's celebrated Proclamation of the 15th of April.

The effect of this upon the public mind of the Southern States cannot be described or even estimated. The shock was not unlike that produced by great convulsions of nature-the upheavings and rocking of the earth itself! It was not that of fright. Far from it! But a profound feeling of wonder and astonishment! Up to this time, a majority, I think, of even those who had favored the policy of Secession, had done so under the belief and conviction that it was the surest way of securing a redress of grievances, and of bringing the Federal Government back to Constitutional principles. Many of them indulged hopes that a Re-formation, or a Re-construction of the Union would soon take place on the basis of the new Montgomery Constitution, and that the Union, under this, would be continued and strengthened, or made more perfect, as it had been in 1789, after the withdrawal of nine States from the first Union, and the adoption of the Constitution of 1787. This proclamation dispelled all such hopes. It showed that the Party in power intended nothing short of complete Centralization. There was no longer any divisions amongst the people of the Confederate States. This proclamation, with its doctrines and principles, we will examine hereafter. What I have said

clearly shows the political position of both Parties to the war, at the time of its inauguration and the fall of Fort Sumter, so far as concerns the principles on which they acted. The principles actuating the Washington authorities were those aiming at Consolidated Power; while the principles controlling the action of the Montgomery authorities were those which enlisted devotion and attachment to the Federative system as established by the Fathers in 1778 and in 1787. The object on the one side the aggressive side-the Federal side, so miscalledwas to overthrow the very principles upon which every Federal system is based; while, on the other, it was to defend and maintain those principles. In short, the cause of the Confederates was State Sovereignty, or the Sovereign Right of local Self-Government on the part of the States severally. It was the same cause, to maintain which all the Colonies at first, and all the States afterwards, united, in the ever memorable conflict with the Mother Country, in 1776; and on the success of which, in that contest, depended the whole fabric of American Free Institutions. The cause of their assailants involved the overthrow of this entire fabric, and the erection of a Centralized Empire in its stead! This is the issue, in a Constitutional point of view, fairly presented.

JUDGE BYNUM. Do you maintain that the United States by putting down Secession became a Centralized Empire?

MR. STEPHENS. No. I do not maintain that they have as yet reached that point; but I do mean to maintain that the principles upon which they waged the war, involved that final result, and will, unless abandoned, necessarily and inevitably lead to that ultimate result.

JUDGE BYNUM. I should like to know the grounds upon which you found such an opinion?

MR. STEPHENS. These we will come to hereafter, in our consideration of the results of the war. The present object was to present these organic principles clearly, and the position of the Parties towards them in the beginning, as well as the comparative physical ability, or material resources of each to sustain and maintain its side. What has been said is sufficient on the first of these points; before proceeding further on the main line, however, it is not only proper, but necessary, to examine somewhat in detail Mr. Lincoln's Proclamation referred to, of the 15th of April, and the effect it produced upon the public mind throughout all the Southern States. This, if again agreeable, we will postpone to another occasion.

But before suspending just now, it may be proper to add, that amongst the general measures adopted by the Confederate Congress before its adjournment, was the full assumption of jurisdiction over and control of the Forts, Arsenals, and all other joint property of the United States, in each of the Confederate States, which had by them, severally, been transferred to the Confederate States.

All the existing Federal laws, so far as applicable, were adopted, and everything was done that was necessary for the complete organization of the Confederate States Government, under the Provisional Constitution, in its Judicial and Military Departments, as well as in its Legislative and Executive. The whole machinery of a regularly organized Government was put into complete and practical operation in all its functions. Ways and means for raising funds for present and prospective needs were provided.

The navigation of the Mississippi River had also been declared to be open and free. Besides the Commission sent to Washington, another very able one had been

sent to Europe to present the Confederate cause and position to England and France, with the view of opening negotiations with those Powers. At the head of this latter Commission was placed, Mr. William L. Yancey, of Alabama, a man of brilliant genius, with many eminent qualities of natural as well as acquired ability. He it was, who took the lead on the policy of Mr. Buchanan, in the Charleston Convention, which, in 1860, led to the rupture of that body. He was amongst the ablest men of the South who zealously espoused the cause of Secession at an early day, and no one felt a deeper interest in its success. With him were associated in this Commission, Mr. A. Dudley Mann, of Virginia, and Mr. A. P. Rost, of Louisiana. Mr. Mann had already become distinguished in the Diplomatic service of the United States. But enough for the present.