February 18, 1861; The New York Herald
The news from the South this morning is of a very important character. The Southern Congress was proceeding with great vigor in the organization of their new government. President Davis arrived at Montgomery on Saturday last, and was received by the people with the wildest enthusiasm. In a speech delivered on the occasion, he declared that the time for all compromises had passed, that Southern independence must be maintained, even if war should follow, and that no propositions for a reconstruction of the Union could ever be entertained. During the course of his journey he made twenty-five speeches in the same tone, which were everywhere received with enthusiastic applause. President Davis was busily engaged in the construction of his Cabinet, which, it was reported, would consist of the following persons:
Secretary of State….. Herschel V. Johnson, Georgia.
Secretary of War……. P. O. Hider, Louisiana.
Secretary of Navy…… S. R. Mallory, Florida.
Secretary of Interior… W. Porcher Miles, S. Carolina.
Post Office Department.. J. H. Hemphill, Texas.
Attorney General…….. John A. Elmore, Alabama.
Messrs. Slidell and Toombs will probably be sent as Ambassadors to France and England respectively.
Mr. Lincoln yesterday remained in Buffalo where he attended divine service at the Unitarian church, in company with ex-President Fillmore. Today he will leave Buffalo at six A.M., and arrive at Albany about three P.M., where due honors will be paid him by the State authorities. Tomorrow he will leave Albany at ten o’clock by the Hudson River Railroad and arrive in this city at three. We learn that while Mr. Lincoln is in this city he will stop at the Astor House.
The plan of adjustment adopted by the Peace Congress at Washington was, on Saturday, the subject of a lengthy debate in that body. Mr. Baldwin, of Connecticut, moved to substitute his proposition for a National Convention in lieu of the committeeplan. Mr. Guthrie opposed the motion, and urged the Convention to take immediate action. There was considerable difference of opinion respecting the meaning of the plan of adjustment as regards the Territorial question – whether it applied to existing territory only, or also to that to be hereafter acquired. Mr. Reverdy Johnson, of Maryland, said he should move an amendment so as to exclude future acquisitions of territory from the operations of the compromise. The discussion lasted until three o’clock, when the Convention adjourned till this morning.
Mr. Seward’s amendment to the Tariff bill extending the time for the payment of duties to three years instead of ninety days, leaving the warehousing system without alteration, passed the Senate on Saturday by a vote of twenty-five to eighteen. The Confederate Committee on the Deficiency Bill reported that they had come to an agreement respecting the amendments. The Chiriqui amendment has been stricken from the bill.