"it is impossible for South Carolina ever to regain her civil rights and be restored to the Union till she voluntarily abolishes slavery, and declares by an organic law that neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall ever again exist within the limits of the State." The several steps by which this consummation was reached may properly be shown in considerable detail.

There are two or three delegates who will not so much as admit that slavery is overthrown, hoping, I judge, that the general government will one day be glad to settle the question by paying a certain compensation for the sake of quiet. There are two or three more who think the whole matter ought to be referred to the Legislature. The great body, however, were ready on the opening day of the session to take action upon it in some form. Propositions embracing clauses for the new Constitution were therefore submitted by several members, in form as follows:

By ex-Governor Pickens, of Edgefield District: "The fortunes of war, together with the proclamations of the President of the United States and the generals in the field commanding, having decided that domestic slavery is abolished; therefore, under the circumstances, we acquiesce in said proclamations, and do hereby ordain implicit obedience to the Constitution of the United States and all laws made in pursuance thereof."

By James H. Ryon, of Fairfield District: "The slaves in South Carolina having been de facto emancipated by the action of the Federal authorities, neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall ever be reestablished in this State."

By James L. Orr, of Anderson District: "Slavery, except as a punishment for crime after due conviction, is forever prohibited in this State."

By Henry D. Lesesne, of Charleston: "Slavery having been abolished by the military power of the United States, it shall never be re-established in this State."

By James Winsmith, of Spartanburg District: "Slavery having been abolished by the proclamations of the President of the United States and the military authorities of the same, neither negro slavery nor involuntary servitude shall hereafter exist in this State, except as a punishment for crime of which the party shall have been duly convicted by law."

By Samuel McGowan, of Abbeville District: "The emancipation of slaves having actually taken place, slavery shall not hereafter be re-established in this State."

By William H. Perry, of Greenville District: "Slavery and involuntary servitude are hereby abolished in South Carolina, and shall not again exist in the State except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted."

These various paragraphs show in what form the subject originally presented itself to the minds of such members as were specially interested in it. It will be observed that five of these seven delegates deemed it necessary to recite the manner in which the overthrow of slavery was accomplished.

Some of these propositions went to one committee, and some to another; and, curiously enough, their reports showed that one committee represents that wing of the Convention which insists that the method of the abolition of slavery shall be declared, while the other is willing, like a small number of delegates, to accept the fact without any explanatory words. These reports were as follows:

By the Committee on Amendments to the Constitution: "Slavery having ceased to exist in this State, it shall not hereafter be permitted or re-established.”

By the Committee on Ordinances: "Slavery having actually been destroyed by the military force of the United

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States, it is hereby declared that slavery no longer exists in the State of South Carolina, and that all persons heretofore held as slaves are free; and it is further declared and ordained, that slavery shall not again be established in this State; provided, however, that the General Assembly may adjudge involuntary servitude as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.”

It seemed to an outsider like myself that there was no essential difference between these two propositions, but that the former, being the more direct, was to be preferred. The action of the Convention, however, was to prove that the happiness of a people, not to say the preservation of a State, may depend upon a nice observance of the distinction betwixt tweedledee and tweedledum.

The latter of the foregoing reports came first on the calendar, and was therefore taken up as the order of the day. The discussion that followed had two branches and a side issue. The first branch turned on the question whether the necessary action should be taken by the Convention or by the Legislature; the second had to do with the phraseology of the ordinance, regard being had to the peculiar sensibilities of the people, and to the "historical fact" that the slaves were emancipated by Federal authority; while the side issue concerned the subject of negro suffrage.

Mr. L. W. R. Blair, a delegate from Kershaw District, a very tall and very homely man, with remarkably retreating forehead, an immense and immensely red nose, no chin to speak of, and a weak and straggling grizzly whisker and moustache, whose misfortune it is to be ignorant of the fact that he lives in the nineteenth century, and also of the other fact that there has been a great war, and who, of course sublimely ignores all such things as emancipation proclamations, Congressional enactments, military orders, etc., gravely rose in the back part of the church and proposed the following as a substitute for the Ordinance Committee's report:

"Resolved, That the question of slavery and all questions connected therewith be referred to the Legislature of the State, whose duty it shall be to consult with the proper authorities of the United States, and learn the intention of the government in respect to the institution of slavery; and authority is hereby given to the Legislature to take such action as seems conducive to the best interests of the State of South Carolina, and such action, when taken, shall be final and conclusive; and the Legislature shall have power to make laws applicable to colored persons alone, and shall enact such laws as are needful to prevent negroes and persons of color from engaging in any business or pursuit but such as involves manual labor, mining, road-making, agriculture, and the production of naval stores.”

Mr. Blair proceeded to support this astounding proposition in a speech of half an hour's length. He was willing, he said, to give up slavery, but he was not willing to do it without some guaranties. He had great confidence in the President, but none in the party now in power in the North. That party was already clamoring for concessions which the South could never grant. Every true son of South Carolina would die rather than grant the right of suffrage to the negroes of the State. He was opposed to making a full surrender of slavery till the State had some guaranty that such surrender would bring full restoration of political rights to her people. Moreover, might it not hereafter appear that some pecuniary compensation would be adjudged as due to the South for the destruction of her slave property? He would not take any action till the whole subject had been considered in all its bearings, and the Legislature was the only body that could do that.

Mr. Dawkins, of Union District, chairman of the committee which made the report, said the committee had endeavored to choose language which would accomplish the end he believed all men desired, and would be as little distasteful as possible to the people of the State. The ordinance simply declared that slavery had been actually destroyed by the

Nothing was said as to

and, on the other hand,

military force of the United States. the right of that force to thus act; there was nothing in the ordinance to preclude any man or the State from asking compensation, or from sharing in it if it was voluntarily tendered. He was not wedded to the particular language of the report, but would accept any other that would accomplish the same end. He was, however, wholly opposed to the proposed amendment. I feel certain that it is to the last degree impracticable. We shall have no Legislature till we declare slavery abolished. However it may displease any of us to admit it, the fact is that we are at the mercy of the authorities at Washington. We have been beaten in the contest, and we can have no government but such as is agreeable to them. We are now under military rule. True, we have a provisional governor, but he is, after all, only a military governor with another name. I am glad to bear testimony to the fact that the military authorities are disposed to concede to us every possible advantage consistent with their views of public safety, and to see that there is a prospect of the speedy restoration to us of our civil rights. But I am confident that such restoration will only follow prompt and graceful acquiescence on our part in the action of the authorities on the slavery question; and I repeat, that I believe we can have no Legislature till we declare that slavery is abolished and shall never again be established. What, then, is the part of wisdom and good sense? Is it to be stubborn and obstinate? There is but one condition of society worse than military rule: shall we recklessly provoke that? Shall we not the rather do what the plain duty of the hour requires, and thus relieve ourselves, as soon as may be, from military rule?

Mr. Orr said he would accept the report of the committee, though he would have chosen fewer words. The election of Mr. Lincoln, five years ago, was taken by the people of the South as an evidence that the people of the North were