Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, November 24, 1860
Ever since the vote of the 6th of November, which indicated beyond peradventure that the candidate for the Republican party would be the next President of the United States, there has been a wild excitement and a terrible agitation in our sister States of the South. Even before the vote which settled the doubt, many Southern politicians looked upon the result as a foregone conclusion, and had prepared the minds of their constituents for an organized and determined resistance. So the feeling had been growing and growing, fanned almost to a premature fire by the sneering and insulting tone of too many of the Northern papers, until the public mind at the South was fully prepared for some prompt, definite and determined action.
South Carolina led the van in opposition to the assumption of power of that party so obnoxious to the sentiment of the entire South. Her State Legislature has authorised a Convention, to meet on the 17th, to deliberate upon the present state of affairs and decide what course of action the State shall pursue. Popular indications seem to point to immediate secession as the only means of allaying the feverish excitement of the people. In Charleston and Columbia meetings take place daily and nightly. Distinguished public men address excited crowds from the steps of the public buildings, from the windows of the hotels., and at the corners of the streets. The language of the speakers is unmistakable, and those who speak the loudest for immediate dissolution are the most enthusiastically cheered. A large proportion of the Federal officers have resigned, and are to be remunerated by the State for their sacrifice for. the cause of right, and it is said that their course will be followed by every official; Postmasters, &c., now holding positions under the Federal Government. Senators Toombs, Chestnut and Hammond have resigned.
South Carolina does not stand alone in this secession movement. Georgia and Alabama are active, enthusiastic and demonstrative in the cause. Alabama will call a State Convention on the seventh of December, and the Governor of Georgia, in a lengthy message, recommends a system of retaliation against hostile States (those which nullify the Fugitive Slave Law), and the immediate.calling of a State Convention. From State to State the disunion feeling is spreading with a terrible rapidity, and the more it spreads the wilder and the more intense it seems to grow. In our next issue we shall probably chronicle the first steps taken by the Southern States towards withdrawing from the Union.
Charleston is boiling over with the spirit of secession. It is the theme of every tongue, and, apparently, the hope of every heart.. The palmetto flag was raised amidst the thunder of cannon and the shouts of the people, and now waves from a hundred houses. Several State Legislatures have made large appropriations for the arming of the militia, and “minute” men are being enrolled by hundreds. It has been stated that the minute men organization numbers between one and two hundred thousand men, prepared to defend the action of the South at all hazards. Hardee’s drill is adopted and zealously practised.
The Legislature passed a bill authorizing the banks to suspend specie payments, and the military committees of both houses were to sit during the recess.
Governor Pettus, of Mississippi, is about to summon the Legislature to consider the state of affairs.
There is a disposition at the North to speak lightly of this great and general movement, but a free people so strongly moved, and writhing under what they believe to be a deliberate and settled plan to rob them of that which they consider to be their vested and inalienable rights, are not likely to be quieted without some definite object is obtained, be it what it may.
On Monday, the 12th inst., a mass meeting of the people of Charleston was called to be holden at the Institute Hall, to ratify the call of a convention by the Legislature. The invitation extended to ladies and was responded to with enthusiasm, the galleries of the vast hall being thronged by the gentle sex, who displayed a deep and earnest interest in the transactions. The bantling was densely thronged, and the thousands outside who could not force their way in were addressed at various points by strong and excited speakers. The meeting was presided over by the late Federal Judge Magrath, and addresses were made by ex-Senator Rhett, Mr. Spratt, ex-Government Attorney Conner, ax-Collector Colcock. and other eloquent men. It is stated t
hat when the speaker declared “The Union is dissolved,” the enthusiasm beggared description. The vast audience rose as with one Impulse, and amid waving of hats and handkerchiefs shout after shout pealed forth, which seemed to shake the building to its foundation. Fireworks and illuminations marked the occasion, which appeared to be one of general joy.