February 9, 1861; The New York Herald
The President sent in a message to the House yesterday, embodying the correspondence between the government and Colonel Hayne, of South Carolina. The reply of Colonel Hayne to the last communication of the President was not received in time to be laid before the House, but will be found elsewhere in our columns. Colonel Hayne and Lieutenant Hall left Washington yesterday for Charleston.
Advices from Montgomery, Alabama, affirm that the Southern Congress is about to inaugurate a system of free trade for the Southern States, and, with a view to revenue, will levy an export duty of half a cent per pound on cotton. A poll tax will also be levied, so as to produce equality of taxation on the producing and consuming interests.
Delegates are to be appointed by Texas to the Montgomery Convention, as members of the conference, until a vote is taken on the ordinance of secession.
Today elections take place in Tennessee to decide whether the people of that State are in favor or opposed to holding a Convention, and also for the election of delegates. If the majority of the people vote in favor of a Convention the delegates elected will meet on the 25th inst.
Commander Edward G. Tilton committed suicide at his residence in WAshington, yesterday afternoon, by shooting himself in the head with a pistol. He is supposed to have been laboring under mental alienation.