ell, McDowell, Burke, Rutherford, Cleveland, Polk, Henderson, Buncombe, Madison, Haywood, Jackson, Macon, Cherokee, and Caldwell.

The "basis of representation" question with respect to the lower house of the Legislature, which excited so much debate at Columbia, could get attention from but one delegate here, Love, of Jackson County, who was allowed to make a speech of an hour's length in favor of making that basis the white population of the State. It remains as heretofore, i. e. "Federal population, that is, all free persons and three fifths of all other persons."

The attendance on the daily sessions of the Convention has been very meagre. I doubt if one hundred persons of the resident population have, from first to last, looked into the chamber.

I have only to add, further, that the ordinance declaring secession null and void, and that prohibiting slavery, are to be submitted to a vote of the people of the State.

For my final judgment with regard to the Convention, I adopt the words of Judge Howard, and say that I have

more faith in those who, without making loud professions of what they have always felt and believed, honestly give up all their past ideas, and avow themselves henceforth good citizens of the United States, than in those whose fierce zeal for the Union slumbered during all the years of secession, and only broke out in the hour of the triumph of the Union cause," or, in other words, a conquered Rebel will, to my thinking, be much more easily converted into a good citizen than most of these North Carolina Unionists.

POSTSCRIPT.

The Convention was in session sixteen days. At the beginning of the second day's session, it ordered the United States flag to be raised on the State House. At the beginning

of the last day's session, the President made the announcement that the order had not been executed because no flag could be obtained in the city. Possibly the strict letter of the order required that one should be bought, though the delegate who offered the resolution supposed one would be borrowed of the military. A hearty acquiescence in its spirit would have suggested an application to the general commanding the department, whose head-quarters are here, or would have permitted the acceptance of one of those tendered to the Convention through individual delegates. The facts in the case are somewhat suggestive when coupled with the professed Unionism of the Convention.

When I left Raleigh, it was generally understood that the Convention would not take any decisive action in respect to the war-debt question. There was an extreme sensitiveness in regard to the matter. The secession ordinance had been emphatically declared null and void from the beginning; but I believe the debt incurred in the endeavor to support that ordinance would have been assumed, had it been possible to get a vote upon the direct proposition! It was comparatively easy to repudiate an act which the result of the war had already repudiated; but the debt was a question of pocket instead of principle, and very many of the so-called Union leaders were unable to see its illegality.

On the second day's session a resolution was offered calling on the Governor for information as to the specie-value of the war-debt of the State at the time when incurred. It was a simple inquiry; but the purpose of the Convention to take no steps at all in relation to the matter was apparent enough by its almost unanimous vote in sending the resolution to the table.

On the fourth day, a resolution was offered asking the Provisional Governor if he had any information or intimation from the President as to the course that should be pursued by the State relative to the debt contracted for the prose

cution of the war. The purpose of the Convention to assume this debt was further apparent by the decisive manner in which it rejected this resolution.

On the fifth day there came an ordinance declaring that no tax should be laid, and no money appropriated, to pay any part of this debt. It was sent to its grave without debate.

On the sixth day, Mr. Settle introduced an ordinance providing for the payment of all just debts of the State, and also declaring that no part of the Rebel war debt should be paid. He asked that this might be made the special order for the following day, but was pressed to allow it to go to the Finance Committee. To this he would not seriously object, he said, but gentlemen might as well understand, first as last, that this war-debt question could not be ignored,

they could not stifle debate, nor could they bury his ordinance under a committee's table. The motion to refer to the Finance Committee prevailed.

On the seventh day an ordinance was offered which provided for issuing bonds in payment of the State debt incurred before the war. As no provision was made for the war debt, the ordinance practically denied the validity thereof, and it was tabled by 59 to 40.

On the eighth day the Finance Committee made report of Mr. Settle's ordinance, - recommending that no action be taken by the Convention on the war-debt question. Mr. Settle made a strenuous effort to get the rule suspended so that immediate action might be taken on the report, but was defeated by 60 to 47.

On the ninth day there was further effort to get action on this question; but while a motion was pending to that effect, an adjournment was carried by 57 to 53. The position of affairs at this juncture was such that this vote was regarded as being much nearer a test-vote than any other that had been taken. It seemed to indicate very

clearly that the Convention meant to do nothing that could jeopardize the prospects of the war debt for ultimate pay

ment.

On the fourteenth day it was agreed that the Convention should adjourn sine die on the evening of the following day. Nothing had been done about the war debt since the ninth day, and everybody understood that nothing would be done. There were, to be sure, a dozen or more delegates anxious to settle the questions connected therewith; but, on the other hand, there was a strong party, including several of those who were foremost in the effort to annul the secession ordinance, which openly favored the assumption of that debt, and another large party which chose only to be known as opposed to any action in regard thereto. The pressure of the lobby was very strong. Its representative men were anxious to secure a formal acknowledgment of the validity of the debt, but were reasonably well content with defeating all efforts to formally annul it; and, on the evening of this fourteenth day, the whole lobby gleefully chuckled at its

success.

On the fifteenth day, early in the morning hour, the resolution appointing a committee to determine what part of the debt of the State incurred since May 20, 1861, was for war purposes, what for other purposes, the best means of discharging the same, and of providing a sound currency, was called up, and tabled by a strong majority. This was the last measure touching the debt before the Convention, and its death was acknowledged to be the final stroke of victory in favor of the assumptionists.

An ordinance of local interest was taken up. The real Unionists of the Convention were not at all pleased with the situation; but the sentiment of the house had been so often declared, that they were determined to make no further effort on the debt question. At this juncture, and during the debate on this local ordinance, a message was announced

from the Provisional Governor. The delegate on the floor gave way, and the message was read. It proved to be a simple announcement that he had received from the President the following telegram:

"WASHINGTON, October 18, 1865.

“W. W. HOLDEN, Provisional Governor :

Every dollar of the debt created to aid the Rebellion against the United States should be repudiated finally and forever. The great mass of the people should not be taxed to pay a debt to aid in carrying on a Rebellion to which they in fact, if left to themselves, were opposed. Let those who have given their means for the obligations of the States look for payment to that power they tried to establish in violation of law, Constitution, and the will of the people. They must meet their fate. It is their misfortune, and cannot be recognized by the people of any State professing themselves loyal to the government of the United States, and in the Union. I repeat, that the loyal people of North Carolina should be exonerated from the payment of every dollar of indebtedness created to aid in carrying on the Rebellion. I trust and hope that the people of North Carolina will wash their hands of everything that partakes in the slightest degree of the Rebellion which has been so recently crushed by the strong arm of the government in carrying out the obligations imposed by the Constitution of the United States.

(Signed)

"ANDREW JOHNSON, "President of the United States."

excited delegate exclaimed, Then silence fell upon the

The scene which followed the reading of this Presidential message was extraordinary. The score of faithful Union men applauded it, and one “Hurrah for Andy Johnson! house, and every man looked to his neighbor for guidance. Mr. Conigland, of Halifax County, was the first to speak, and he announced himself as a free and independent man. My conscience is my own, and I shall allow no earthly government to control my thoughts or form my opinions." Mr. Settle moved and carried a postponement of the subjectmatter of the message till evening.

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