New York Herald, October 12, 1860
Recent events at the elections in some of the Central States, and all the eventualities and chances which they foreshadow with regard to the Presidential contest, pointing in the direction of Mr. Lincoln’s election by the Northern States, people are beginning naturally to look towards the South and ask what the people there are going to do. The South has for a few years past been threatening disunion and secession, and all kinds of movements, in the event of the triumph of a Northern faction, and in the present aspect of affairs we think it is about time now that the Southern people should be making arrangements for their future course. If the politicians and orators of the South rightly represent the feelings of the people, there is a strong inclination towards secession in South Carolina, in parts of Virginia, in Alabama and other States. Mr. Yancey has just delivered a very eloquent speech in this city, in which he touched upon many points concerning the interests of his section of the country, but he did not solve the problem, “What they are going to do down there”
The South has a great many important relations, social as well as commercial, with the North, and consequently its future proceedings in the event of Lincoln’s election are matters of considerable interest. We presume that the Legislatures of the different Southern States will come together at once and consult about the plan of action to be adopted. They have time enough to decide upon what they intend to do between this and the inauguration day, March the 4th, 1861.