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Mr. YANCEY, of Alabama, was one of the most conspicuous of the actors in the Charleston Convention. He represented the extreme Southern wing of the Democratic Party, and made a very long and elaborate speech in support of the Southern Platform. He burst into tears at the very thought of a disruption, and completely overcame those sentimental gentlemen, Capt. RYNDERS and JOHN COCHRANE, by the fervor of his eloquence and the depth of his emotions. He was very desirous of harmony in the ranks of the Democratic Party. Nothing but that could save the country from convulsion and ruin. Out of regard for the Union, therefore, he besought the Convention to accept the Southern Platform, and carry on the Government upon the principles of the Southern States.

We published a letter from Mr. YANCEY yesterday which shows what all this means. For two years past he has been plotting a revolution. In June, 1858, he wrote to an accomplice thus:

“The remedy of the South is a diligent organization of her true men for prompt resistance to the next aggression. It must come in the nature of things. No national party can save us; no sectional party can ever do it. But if we could do as our fathers did — organize “Committees of Safety ” all over the cotton States (and it is only in them that we can hope for any effective movement) — we shall fire the Southern heart, instruct the Southern mind, give courage to each other, and at the proper moment, by one organized concerted action, we can PRECIPITATE THE COTTON STATES INTO REVOLUTION.”

Mr. YANCEY has no faith in a “national party,” — no confidence that such a party can save “Us.” Naturally, therefore, he cares very little for the triumph of such a party. What he seeks is a revolution in the Cotton States; — and this he hopes to accomplish, after due preparation, after the train is laid, agents of the movement duly stationed, Committees organized, and the popular mind prepared, — by some sudden, concerted action, which shall “precipitate” the South into the rebellion he aims at.

In the letter referred to, he says that others who are leagued together for the same result, will “keep their old party relations on all other questions, but will hold the Southern issue paramount, and influence parties, legislatures and statesmen.” The only motive which Mr. YANCEY and his friends have for remaining in the Democratic ranks is thus seen to be the hope of influencing the party, and State Legislatures, in favor of his revolutionary scheme.

There can be no doubt that there is a very active organization of determined disunionists in the Southern States. They have been at work for years in devising plans for plunging the country into the horrors of a civil war. They profess to act with the Democratic Party, and are quite willing to keep up their connection with it so long as they can make it serve their purposes, or until the moment arrives for “precipitating” the crisis at which they aim. Their only hope of success rests upon sudden action. They dare not give the people of the Southern States time and opportunity to canvass the merit of their plans — to discuss the pros and cons of dissolution, and act deliberately upon the subject. They have made several attempts to unite the South in favor of such a project, but have never yet succeeded. Even after the John Brown invasion, when the public mind was more thoroughly aroused than it had ever been before, they found it impossible to induce the State of Virginia to take any part in movements which might commit her with other States to a dissolution of the Union.

Their only chance of success lies in sudden hasty action. They will aim to carry their point by a coup d’etat. They hope to make their organization so perfect, and to have their agents and accomplices so well trained, that they can upon some sudden emergency override the sound judgment and settled sentiment of the Southern people, and precipitate them into a revolution.

Fortunately, in such a matter as this, to be forewarned is to be forearmed. It is not easy to lay plots and hatch conspiracies for a long time in a country where the Press is free. It may be well, however, for the Democratic Party to understand the real aim of their Southern allies, who feel so much aggrieved by the action of the Charleston Convention, as it may throw some light upon the path they ought to pursue at Baltimore.