extent and violence of the existing panic in New York. Suppose, most unfortunately, that the cotton States should withdraw from the Union; New York would still be the great city of this continent. We shall still have within the borders of the remaining States all the elements of wealth and prosperity. New York would doubtless be somewhat retarded in her rapid march; but, possessing the necessary capital, energy, and enterprise, she will always command a very large portion of the carrying trade of the very States which may secede. Trade cannot easily be drawn from its accustomed channels. I would sacrifice my own life at any moment to save the Union, if such were the will of God; but this great and enterprising brave nation is not to be destroyed by losing the cotton States, even if this loss were irreparable, which I do not believe, unless from some unhappy accident. I have just received an abstract from the late census. In the apportionment of representatives the State of New York will have as many in the House as Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, and South Carolina united. The latter State contains 296,422 free people and 408,905 slaves, and will be entitled in the next Congress to 4 representatives out of 233. Why will not the great merchants of New York examine the subject closely and ascertain what will be the extent of their injuries, and accommodate themselves to the changed state of things? If they will do this, they will probably discover they are more frightened than hurt. I hope the Treasury Note Loan may be taken at a reasonable rate of interest. No security can be better, in any event, whether the Cotton States secede or not. Panic in New York may, however, prevent, because panic has even gone to the extent of recommending that the great city of New York shall withdraw herself from the support of at least twenty-five millions of people and become a free city. I had half an hour, and have scribbled this off in haste for your private use. Your friend, very sincerely, ROYAL PHELPS, ESQ. JAMES BUCHANAN. TO MR. STANTON.1 WASHINGTON, 24th December, 1860. HON. EDWIN M. STANTON, SIR: Attorney General. I enclose to you thirteen drafts, bearing date at different periods from 13th September to the 13th December, 1860, both inclusive, drawn by Russell, Majors & Waddell on the Secretary of War, amounting in the whole to $870,000, and by him accepted. I desire to have your opinion whether the Secretary of War had any authority under existing laws to accept such drafts, and whether their acceptance has been prohibited by any law. JAMES BUCHANAN. (Private.) MY DEAR SIR: TO MR. BROWN.1 WASHINGTON, 25th December, 1860. I have read with deep mortification your editorial this morning in which you take open ground against my message on the right of secession. I have defended you as long as I can against numerous complaints. You have a perfect right to be in favor of secession, and for this I have no just reason to complain. The difficulty is that the "Constitution " is considered my organ, and its articles subject me to the charge of insincerity and double dealing. I am deeply sorry to say that I must in some authentic form declare that the "Constitution" is not the organ of the administration. Yr. friend very respectfully, WM. M. BROWN, ESQ. JAMES BUCHANAN. 1 Buchanan Papers, Historical Society of Pennsylvania. TO MR. HOLT.' [December 28, 1860.] MY DEAR SIR I would thank you to call as soon as you reach the Department, and bring with you the draft of your letter to Messrs. Slidell and others respecting Fort Sumter. SIR: We have the honor to transmit to you a copy of the full powers from the convention of the people of South Carolina, under which we are "authorized and empowered to treat with the government of the United States for the delivery of the forts, magazines, light-houses, and other real estate, with their appurtenances, within the limits of South Carolina; and also for an apportionment of the public debt, and a division of all other property held by the government of the United States, as agent of the confederated States of which South Carolina was recently a member; and generally to negotiate as to all other measures and arrangements proper to be made and adopted in the existing relations of the parties, and for the continuance of peace and amity between this commonwealth and the government at Washington." In the execution of this trust it is our duty to furnish you, as we now do, with an official copy of the ordinance of secession, by which the State of South Carolina has resumed the powers she delegated to the government of the United States, and has declared her perfect sovereignty and independence. It would also have been our duty to have informed you that we were ready to negotiate with you upon all such questions as are necessarily raised by the adoption of this ordinance; and that we were prepared to enter upon this negotiation with the earnest desire to avoid all unnecessary and hostile collision, and so to inaugurate our new relations as to secure mutual respect, general advantage, and a future of good will and harmony, beneficial to all the parties concerned. But the events of the last twenty-four hours render such an assurance 'Holt Papers, Library of Congress. 2 H. Ex. Doc. 26, 36 Cong. 2 Sess. 5-6. impossible. We came here the representatives of an authority which could at any time within the past sixty days have taken possession of the forts in Charleston harbor, but which, upon pledges given in a manner that we cannot doubt, determined to trust to your honor rather than to its own power. Since our arrival an officer of the United States, acting, as we are assured, not only without but against your orders, has dismantled one fort and occupied another, thus altering to a most important extent the condition of affairs under which we came. Until those circumstances are explained in a manner which relieves us of all doubt as to the spirit in which these negotiations shall be conducted, we are forced to suspend all discussion as to any arrangements by which our mutual interests might be amicably adjusted. And, in conclusion, we would urge upon you the immediate withdrawal of the troops from the harbor of Charleston. Under present circumstances they are a standing menace which renders negotiation impossible, and, as our recent experience shows, threatens speedily to bring to a bloody issue questions which ought to be settled with temperance and judgment. We have the honor to be, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servants, THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STates. THE STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA. At a convention of the people of the State of South Carolina, begun and holden at Columbia, on the seventeenth day of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty, and thence continued by adjournment to Charleston, and there, by divers adjournments to the 20th of December in the same year: An ordinance to dissolve the union between the State of South Carolina and other States united with her, under the compact entitled "The Constitution of the United States of America."-We, the people of the State of South Carolina, in convention assembled, do declare and ordain, and it is hereby declared and ordained: That the ordinance adopted by us in convention on the twenty-third day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight, whereby the Constitution of the United States of America was ratified, and also all acts and parts of acts of the general assembly of this State ratifying amendments of the said Constitution, are hereby repealed; and that the Union now subsisting between South Carolina and other States, under the name of the "United States of America," is hereby dissolved. Done at Charleston the twentieth day of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty. D. F. JAMISON, Delegate from Barnwell and President of the Convention, and others. Attest: BENJAMIN F. ARTHUR, Clerk of the Convention. OFFICE OF SECRETARY OF STATE, CHARLESTON, S. C., December 22, 1860. I do hereby certify that the foregoing ordinance is a true and correct copy, taken from the original on file in this office. Witness my hand and the seal of the State. ISAAC H. MEANS, THE STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA, BY THE CONVENTION OF THE PEOPLE OF THE SAID STATE. Whereas the convention of the people of the State of South Carolina, begun and holden at Columbia, on the seventeenth day of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty, and thence continued by adjournment to Charleston, did, by resolution, order: "That three commissioners, to be elected by ballot of the convention, be directed forthwith to proceed to Washington, authorized and empowered to treat with the government of the United States for the delivery of the forts, magazines, light-houses, and other real estate, with their appurtenances, within the limits of South Carolina; and also for an apportionment of the public debt, and for a division of all other property held by the government of the United States, as agent of the confederated States of which South Carolina was recently a member; and generally to negotiate as to all other measures and arrangements proper to be made and adopted in the existing relation of the parties, and for the continuance of peace and amity between this commonwealth and the government at Washington," And whereas the said convention did, by ballot, elect you to the said office of commissioners to the government at Washington: Now, be it known that the said convention, by these presents, doth commission you, Robert W. Barnwell, James H. Adams, and James L. Orr, as commissioners to the government at Washington, to have, to hold, and to exercise the said office, with all the powers, rights, and privileges conferred upon the same by the terms of the resolution herein cited. Given under the seal of the State at Charleston, the twenty-second [L. S.] day of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty. D. F. JAMISON, President. ISAAC H. MEANS, Secretary of State. ROBERT W. BARNWELL, JAMES H. ADAMS, and JAMES L. ORR. |