enty-five or eighty who were not believers either in secession or revolution. Of these, I judge, about twenty-five quietly acquiesced in the work of the Secession Convention ; about forty submitted to Confederate rule, but were always its avowed enemies; and about eight or ten stubbornly refused to acknowledge any allegiance to the Rebel government. This, I believe, may be taken as a fair statement of the record of the delegates. The progress and result of the war, however, changed the views of many of those who originally favored rebellion or secession; and of the whole number, not more than the odd seventeen were, I judge, known as "Secessionists" at the close of hostilities. Of these seventeen, I doubt if more than half a dozen are to any extent believers in the State-rights doctrine, and Judge Manly, of the Supreme Court, is the only one who has avowed his belief publicly in that dogma.

Nine of the delegates in this body were members of the Secession Convention, viz.: Giles Mebane of Alamance County, E. J. Warren of Beaufort, D. D. Ferrebee of Camden, Bedford Brown of Caswell, George Howard of Edgecombe, R. P. Dick of Guilford, W. A. Smith of Johnston, John Berry of Orange, and A. H. Joyce of Stokes. Of this nine, four held positions, civil or military, under the Rebel government; and two, Messrs. Dick and Warren, are now provisional judges.

In the Secession Convention, Mr. Dick, present judge of the seventh circuit, was chairman of the Committee on General Amendments to the Constitution, and the mover of the long-debated proposition for submitting the ordinance ratifying the Constitution of the Confederate States to a vote of the people, which was lost by thirty-four to seventy-two. Mr. Warren, present judge of the second circuit, was the mover, in that Convention, of the exceedingly troublesome proposition, that the powers delegated to the Confederate government might be at any time withdrawn by the people

conferring them, a proposition embodying the very quintessence of State-rightsism, on which, I believe, a direct vote was never reached; the usual method of procedure having been to postpone it from time to time, by an average vote of about two to one, for the consideration of some other

measure.

B. F. Moore, of this city, is not only one of the ablest men in the Convention, but also in the State. His standing is indicated by the fact that he was put at the head of the committee appointed to prepare business for the Convention. He is a clear-headed and comprehensive lawyer, of short and stocky person, round and strongly marked face, rosy complexion, white hair, clean-shaven chin, and, though carrying at least sixty-five years, stands as straight and square as a boy of twenty. Intellectually he is tough and pugnacious; politically he is a Whig, and an uncompromising opponent both of Secession and Rebellion.

"Uncle Nat Boyden," though not one of the ablest men, should be set down as one of the leaders of the Convention. He lives at Salisbury, and must be near seventy years of age. His hatred of Secessionists and "the infernal heresy of secession," as he terms it, is something charming to see. He is at the head of the Committee on the Ordinance of Secession. In appearance he is one of the cleanly, precise gentlemen of the old school: in manner he is blunt and courteous. He is of slight and bent figure, and has a delicate and scholarly face, noticeable for its small chin and exceedingly high, full, and broad forehead. His plain, hard, practical good sense, rather than any particular ability or acumen, gives him a good deal of power among the average men of the Convention; and he stood next to Mr. Reade in the informal ballot for the Presidency.

Honorable Thomas Settle, Jr., of Rockingham County, of some years' service in the Legislature, and for one or two sessions Speaker of the lower house, was given the chairman

ship of the regular committee on the slavery question, and afterwards that of the special committee on the State debt. He is a man about six feet in height, one hundred and ninety pounds in weight, and thirty-eight years of age; erect, broad-shouldered, with full face, firm mouth, bronzed and rosy cheeks, large black eyes, and black hair and whiskers. He speaks with force and unmistakable emphasis, gesticulates with a full sweep from the shoulder, and adds a sincere love of the Union to a hearty hatred of Secessionists.

M. E. Manly, of Craven County, is perhaps the leading Calhoun man of the State, as he certainly is the only member of the Convention who has courage and frankness enough to openly avow his belief in the doctrine of State rights. "I still believe in that doctrine, as expounded by Mr. Calhoun," said he, this afternoon, "and still hold that it is necessary, to save us from centralization and secure to us our rights under the Constitution." Mr. Manly is a tall, spare man of about fifty-three, I judge, with a noticeably long, thin face, much cut up with fine wrinkles. He has a firm mouth, thin Roman nose, and square forehead, almost covered with the reddish gray hair which falls from above and is combed up from the sides. Forget everything else about him you might, but, having seen him even but once, you never could forget his eyes,-small, steely, restless, incisive, half-closed, set far back under jutting frontals,eyes that at first glance seem to see nothing, but that unquestionably do see everything. Mr. Manly is a poor speaker, a very able jurist, and was one of the secession leaders, and a judge under the Rebel government. "I am willing," he now says, "to vote for a resolution declaring that the arbitrament of the sword has decided against the right of a State to secede from the Federal Union."

John Pool, of Bertie County, is called one of the ablest lawyers in the State. He is said to be a very strong and clear-headed Union man, and is mentioned as a probable

candidate for the United States Senate. He is a short and thick-set man of forty-five or thereabouts, has a round and genial face, prominent nose, small gray eyes, broad and wrinkled forehead, short and grizzly whiskers, and thin dark hair. He speaks with ease and freedom, and appears to have a passion for good cigars.

XVI.

DEBATE AND ACTION IN RESPECT TO THE ORDINANCE OF SECESSION.

THE

HE Convention has done but one thing. most thorough manner,

RALEIGH, October 7, 1865. been five days in session, and has That thing, however, it did in the did so decisively that it will not

ever again need doing in this State.

When Mr. Boyden was announced as chairman of the Committee on the Ordinance of Secession, everybody understood that the Secessionists would get no favor from that committee. There was little surprise, therefore, when he reported the following:

"Be it declared and ordained by the delegates of the good people of the State of North Carolina in Convention assembled, and it is hereby declared and ordained, That the ordinance of the Convention of the State of North Carolina, ratified on the 21st day of November, 1789, which adopted and ratified the Constitution of the United States, and all acts and parts of acts of the General Assembly ratifying the same, are now and at all times since the adoption and ratification thereof have been, in full force and effect, notwithstanding the supposed ordinance of the 20th day of May, 1861, declaring that the same be repealed, rescinded, and abrogated; and the said supposed ordinance is now, and at all times hath been, null and void."

When this came in, an effort was made to get immediate action by a suspension of the rules; but Judge Manly said its phraseology was very objectionable to him, and he hoped the usual method of business would be adhered to, in order that he might have time to prepare an amendment. It was accordingly laid over. When it came up in regular order yesterday, Mr. D. D. Ferrebee, of Camden County, announcing that he concurred in view with Judge Manly, offered the following as a substitute and a compromise:

"We, the delegates of the good people of the State of North Carolina, in Convention assembled, do declare and ordain, and it is hereby declared and ordained, That the ordinance of the Convention of the State of North Carolina, ratified on the 21st day of November, in the year 1789, which adopted and ratified the Constitution of the United States, is in full force and effect; and the ordinance of the late Convention of the State of the 20th day of May, in the year 1861, is hereby declared to be null, and the same is hereby repealed, rescinded, and abrogated."

Judge Manly said he would accept the substitute, though he did not altogether like it. He very briefly argued that the language of the original was both unusual and unnecessary, and that it gravely reflected upon the able body which passed the ordinance of secession.

Thereupon the debate began, and the end was not reached till ten long hours had been consumed in talk. Twelve gentlemen advocated the original report, and eight favored the substitute. The difference between the two propositions lies in a single sentence, - the one simply repeals the ordinance of secession, while the other declares that ordinance to have been always null and void.

All that was said on the actual merits of the question in issue did not occupy more than two hours. Several sterling Union men, whose lips have been sealed for four or five years, took the opportunity to lash certain Secessionists and pound the dogma of secession; and what they had to say