States is the Constitution of the United States; and whereas that Constitution has been violated by a majority of the Northern States in their separate legislative action, denying to the people of the Southern States their constitutional rights; and whereas a sectional party, known as the Republican party, has, in a recent election, elected Abraham Lincoln for President and Hannibal Hamlin for Vice-President of these United States, upon the avowed principle that the Constitution of the United States does not recognize property in slaves, and that the Government should prevent its extension into the common territories of the United States, and that the power of the Government should be so exercised that slavery should in time be extinguished: Therefore be it

Resolved by the people of Alabama in Convention assembled, That the State of Alabama will not submit to the Administration of Lincoln and Hamlin, as President and Vice-President of the United States, upon the principles referred to in the foregoing preamble.

On the 10th, the ordinance of secession was reported, and on the 11th, it was adopted in secret session by a vote of ayes, 61; noes, 39. It was as follows:

AN ORDINANCE to dissolve the Union between the State of Alabama and other States united under the compact styled "the Constitution of the United States of America." Whereas the election of Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin to the offices of President and Vice-President of the United States of America, by a sectional party, avowedly hostile to the domestic institutions and to the peace and security of the people of the State of Alabama, preceded by many and dangerous infractions of the Constitution of the United States by many of the States and people of the Northern section, is a political wrong of so insulting and menacing a character as to justify the people of the State of Alabama in the adoption of prompt and decided measures for

their future peace and security: Therefore,

Be it declared and ordained by the people of the State of Alabama in convention assembled, That the State of Alabama now withdraws, and is hereby withdrawn, ica," and henceforth ceases to be one of said United States, and is, and of right ought to be, a sovereign and independent State.

from the Union known as "the United States of Amer

SEC. 2. Be it further declared and ordained by the people of the State of Alabama in convention assembled, That all the powers over the territory of said State, and over the people thereof, heretofore delegated to the Government of the United States of America be, and they are hereby, withdrawn from said Government, and are hereby resumed and vested in the people of the State of Alabama.

And as it is the desire and purpose of the State of Alabama to meet the slaveholding States of the South who may approve such purpose, in order to frame a provisional as well as permanent government, upon the principles of the Constitution of the United States, Be it resolved by the people of Alabama in convention assembled, That the people of the States of Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Ar kansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Missouri, be, and are hereby, invited to meet the people of the State of Alabama, by their delegates, in convention, on the 4th day of February, A. D. 1861, at the city of Montgomery, in the State of Alabama, for the purpose of consulting with each other as to the most effectual mode of securing concerted and harmonious action in what

ever measures may be deemed most desirable for our

common peace and security.

And be it further resolved, That the president of this convention be, and is hereby, instructed to transmit forthwith a copy of the foregoing preamble, ordinance, and resolutions, to the Governors of the several States

named in said resolutions.

Done by the people of the State of Alabama in con

vention assembled, at Montgomery, on this, the 11th day of January, A. D. 1861. WILLIAM M. BROOKS, President of the Convention.

A majority and minority report were presented on the ordinance of secession. Trouble arose in the Convention, because a portion of the members desired that the ordinance should not take effect until the 4th of March. A number refused to sign it for this reason, and as late as the 17th of January, a despatch was sent to the Senators and Representatives of the State in Congress at Washington, to retain their seats until further advised.

A proposition was also made in the Convention to submit their action to the people, for ratification or rejection. This was refused, and an exciting scene ensued.

Nicholas Davis, of Huntsville, declared his belief that the people of North Alabama would never abide the action of that Convention, if denied the right of voting upon it. Mr. Yancey thereupon denounced the people of North Alabama as tories, traitors, and rebels, and said they ought to be coerced into a submission to the decree of the Convention. Mr. Davis replied that they might attempt coercion, but North Alabama would meet them upon the line and decide the issue at the point of the bayonet.

The ordinance was adopted about two o'clock in the afternoon. Subsequently in the afternoon, an immense mass meeting was held in front. of the Capitol, and many cooperation delegates pledged their constituents to sustain secession. A flag which had been presented by the ladies of the city to the Convention, was then raised over the building, amid the ringing of bells and firing of cannon.

In Mobile the news was received at once, and the day became one of the wildest excitement. The people were at the highest point of enthusiasm until a late hour at night. To add to the excitement, news was received that the State of Florida had passed a secession ordinance.

Immediately on the receipt of the news, an immense crowd assembled at the "secession pole" at the foot of Government street, to witness the spreading of the Southern flag, and it was run up amid the shouts of the multitude and thunders of cannon. One hundred and one guns for Alabama and fifteen for Florida were fired, and after remarks from gentlemen, the crowd repaired to the Custom-House, walking in procession with a band of music at the head, playing the warlike notes of the "Southern Marseillaise."

Arrived at the Custom-House, a lone star flag was waved from its walls amid enthusiastic shots. The balcony of the Battle House, opposite, was thronged with ladies and gentlemen, and the street was crowded with excited citizens. Standing upon the steps of the Custom-House, brief and stirring addresses were delivered by several speakers.

The military paraded the streets. The Cadets

were out in force, bearing a splendid flag which had been presented to them a day previous, and, with the Independent Rifles, marched to the public square, and fired salvos of artillery. The demonstration at night was designed to correspond to the importance attached by the people to the event celebrated. An eye-witness declares the display to have been of the most brilliant description. When night fell, the city emerged from darkness into a blaze of such glory as could only be achieved by the most recklessly extravagant consumption of tar and tallow. The broad boulevard of Government street was an avenue of light, bonfires of tar barrels being kindled at intervals of a square in distance along its length, and many houses were illuminated. Royal street shone with light, the great front of the buildings presenting a perfect illumination. Rockets blazed, crackers popped, and the people hurrahed and shouted as they never did before. The "Southern Cross was the most favored emblematic design in the illumination, and competed with the oft-repeated 'Lone Star for admiration and applause from the multitude."

By previous concert with the Governors of Georgia and Louisiana, "all the positions in these three States which might be made to follow the fashion set by Fort Sumter" were seized. The arsenal at Mt. Vernon forty-five miles above Mobile, was seized at daylight on the morning of January 4th; Fort Morgan was taken on the same day, without opposition. Previously, however, and on the 9th of January, five companies of volunteers, at the request of the Governor of Florida, left Montgomery for Pensacola. They were sent to assist in capturing the forts and other property there belonging to the United States. In order to place the city of Mobile in a better state of defence, the Mayor issued a call to the people for a thousand laborers. These were at once supplied, and also money sufficient to meet all demands. The Common Council of the city passed an ordinance changing the names of various streets. The name of Maine street was changed to Palmetto street; Massachusetts was changed to Charleston street; New Hampshire was changed to Augusta street; Rhode Island was changed to Savannah street; Connecticut was changed to Louisiana street; New York was changed to Elmira street; Vermont was changed to Texas street; Pennsylvania was changed to Montgomery street.

The Union feeling in the northern part of the State continued very strong. Many delegates from that region refused at first to sign the ordinance of secession which passed the State Convention, unless the time for it to take effect was postponed to the 4th of March. Some of them withheld their signatures entirely. The sessions of the Convention were conducted wholly in secret, and only such measures were made known to the public as were of such a character as to prevent secrecy.

On the 29th, the Convention adopted a reso

lution instructing the deputies to the Southern Convention to insist upon the enactment of such laws as would forever prevent the reopening of the African slave trade; and, on the next day, they passed a supplemental ordinance authorizing the Governor to carry into effect the previous ordinance for the protection of the defences in the Gulf of Mexico; also, an ordinance adopting as the law of Alabama the laws of the United States relative to patents, and securing the right of invention to citizens of all the Slave States. It then adjourned till the 4th of March.

Thaddeus Sanford, collector of customs for the port of Mobile under the United States Government, was appointed to that office by the Convention, and directed to proceed, as heretofore, collecting duties, issuing clearances, &c., only in the name and by the authority of the State of Alabama, instead of that of the United States.

Upon its adjournment, the President made an address, expressing the most decided views upon the permanency of the secession of the State. He said:

"We are free, and shall any of us cherish any idea of a reconstruction of the old Government, whereby Alabama will again link her rights, her fortunes, and her destiny, in a Union with the Northern States? If any one of you hold to such a fatal opinion, let me entreat you, as you value the blessings of equality and freedom, dismiss it at once. There is not, there cannot be, any security or peace for us in a reconstructed Government of the old material. I must believe that there is not a friend or advocate of reconstruction in this large body. The people of Alabama are now independent; sink or swim, live or die, they will continue free, sovereign, and independent. Dismiss the idea of a reconstruction of the old Union now and forever."

After the adjournment of the Convention, a Commissioner, Thomas J. Judge, was sent by the State authorities to negotiate with the Federal Government for the surrender of the forts, arsenals, and custom-houses, within the limits of the State. It appears that the President declined to receive him in any other character, than as a distinguished citizen of Alabama. In this capacity he declined to be received, and returned home. The negotiations were conducted through Mr. C. C. Clay, to whom the Commissioner writes on the 4th of February:

"I acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 2d instant, enclosing the correspondence between yourself and his Excellency James Buchanan, President of the United States, relating to my mission as Commissioner from the State of Alabama.

"The President declines to give me an audience in the only character in which I sought it, as Commissioner for the State of Alabama, and thereby refuses to receive any proposals from that State for a settlement relating to the public debt of the United States, contracted whilst Alabama was a member of that Confed

eracy, and relating to the property in the possession of Alabaina, which belonged to the United States of America before the withdrawal of Alabama from that Union.

"From this course of the President it is to be presumed that he has abandoned all claim, or resolved not to make any, in his official character, to that property in behalf of his Government; or that, repelling every offer of amicable and peaceable adjustment, he desires that it shall be retaken by the sword.

"But, no matter what motive has prompted his unexpected treatment of me, I should be wanting in proper reverence for my State, and proper appreciation of my present relations to her, to sue for peaceful negotiations, since the right of Alabama to send me, and my right to speak for her, have been denied. And if negotiation is to settle our difficulties touching those forts and arsenals, it must be proposed by the President to the Governor at her capital, whither I shall go and report the result of my mission.

"Whilst I regret this action of the President, it is gratifying to know that the State of Alabama, by her prompt efforts to do that justice in the premises which has been thwarted by him, will stand justified before the world. And that State having now been placed right upon the record, and, under the circumstances, nothing more remaining for me to attempt to accomplish as her Commissioner, my mission ceases with this letter."

The State Convention again assembled on the 4th of March, and took up for approval the Constitution adopted by the Confederate Congress. In all the seceding States it was adopted by the State Convention, without being submitted to the people to vote for or against it. The Convention of Alabama was the first to adopt it, and almost immediately after its promulgation. At the time it was under consideration in that body, the following resolutions were offered, relative to the right of the people to express an opinion on the subject:

“Resolved, 1. That the political power in all free Governments is inherent in the people, and that an attempt to infringe this great principle is dangerous in policy and directly subversive of civil liberty.

"2. That the right of every people to frame the system of government under which they are to live is a fundamental doctrine in all free Governments, and should not be questioned or impaired.

"3. That the acknowledgment of these established principles, the spirit and genius of American institutions, and the well-ascertained precedents of republican usage, imperatively demand that the Constitution of the Confederate States of America' shall be submitted to the people of this State for their ratification or rejection."

They were rejected, by being laid on the table. Ayes, 54; noes, 33.

The vote in the Convention on ratifying the Constitution, was taken on the 13th of March, and was as follows; ayes, 87; noes, 5.

The Convention also adopted an ordinance transferring to the Provisional Government the arms and munitions of war acquired from the

United States, and also all authority over the forts and arsenals in the State. It also passed an ordinance substituting stocks of the Confederate States for those of the United States, to be held by the banks as a basis for their paper circulation, and allowing the issue of two dollars for one of capital. Foreigners and foreign corporations were forbidden to hold stocks belonging in the State. The Convention adjourned on the 20th of March.

The Legislature of the State met, and was organized on the 15th of January. Its action was confined, as far as possible, to business arising from the action of the Convention. The Governor in his message, urged the necessity of placing the State at once upon the most effi cient war footing. It very promptly and efficiently, with large majorities, aided the secession movement by all such acts as were necessary. On the 19th of January, the House passed an act to provide against the invasion of the State by sea. It declared that pilots bringing vessels into Mobile should be liable to a fine and impris onment in the penitentiary, and also authorized the commander of Fort Morgan to destroy the beacon and landmarks at his discretion, and contract for the construction of a telegraph line to Point Clear, in order to more speedily communicate with Fort Morgan.

On the 5th of February, an act was passed appropriating $500,000 to aid the cause of Southern Independence.

After the formation of the Confederate Government the charge of precipitation was made against it in the border States. To this the official press of the State took occasion to reply. The answer was, that so far from being precipitate, the movement had been in contemplation for ten years. The ordinance of secession of Alabama declares that the election of Abraham Lincoln was such a wrong as to require the adoption of prompt and decided measures for their future peace and security. (See also DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE OF CONFEDERATE STATES, and Letter of the Southern

Commissioners to Lord Russell, p. 278.)

The reply to the charge of precipitation was in these words:

"Has it been a precipitate revolution? It has not. With coolness and deliberation the subject has been thought of for forty years; for ten years it has been the all-absorbing theme in political circles. From Maine to Mexico all the different phases and forms of the question have been presented to the people, until nothing else was thought of, nothing else spoken of, and nothing else taught in many of the political schools.

"Civil war, with its attendant disasters, may mar the happiness of the men of the present time; carnage and slaughter may convert our hitherto happy and beautiful homes into barren and dreary wastes for a time; they may become the rendezvous of a devastating enemy; but who would now forego all the enchantment of the present scene for the security and prosper

ity of millions yet unborn? Beyond the gloomy prospect is to be seen an auspicious and an unclouded destiny of greatness for the 'Confederate States of America.'"

So reluctant were the minds of a portion of the people in the Gulf States to entertain the idea of a perpetual and absolute separation of the Union, that the views of a very respectable number turned now to reconstruction. The Commissioner from Alabama, in his address to the people of Baltimore, had put forth the statement that these political movements were designed to obtain better terms of Union. (See BALTIMORE.) It was only the authorities of the State and the principal public men, with a portion of the press, which had comprehended the dread reality in its full extent. Reconstruction was fatal to secession. Reconstruction would throw into political oblivion all the active leaders of secession. Reconstruction would bring over them again the power and sway of the North; absolute secession opened the only door of escape. Reconstruction would set at work again that silently-growing conviction in favor of greater personal liberty, which was spreading like leaven through the minds of the mass of the people. In Georgia every candidate for the Confederate Congress was required to give an assurance that he was not in favor of forming a Government having in view an immediate or ultimate union with the Northern States, before he could receive a vote at the polls. In Alabaina the proposition was denounced in unscrupulous terms. The bitterness of those denouncing it is very fully manifested in the following paragraphs expressing their views:

"Any one who observes the indications of the day will readily conclude that some of those who, before the recent act of secession, only advocated cooperative action' to secure our rights, are now, since cooperation has been triumphantly secured, endeavoring to train the public mind in the direction of reconstruction. While this is an undeniable fact, it can be said that the leading members of the cooperation party in our own and the Conventions of adjacent States have signally vindicated their patriotism and their loyalty. No charge is made against them when it is said that an attempt is made to sell the South into worse than her former bondage, by a plan neatly phrased as ⚫ reconstruction.'

"And what does 'reconstruction' mean? Its advocates, no less than its opponents, perfectly comprehend that it is the concession of all the rights sought to be maintained. It means, little as is said about it, the extinction of African slavery! It means negro equalitythe surrender of the white man's right of domination. And most, if not all, the leaders who advocate it are aware of the ultimate effect to be produced.

Then why, it is asked by the simple-minded, should large property-holders, large slaveholders, favor and foster such a scheme? Why,

the sharp property-holders who do not intend to adhere to the South, are desirous of patching up a compromise, so that a temporary respite from political troubles may enable them to convert their Southern property, and to go with the proceeds wherever inclination may lead them.

"The men of the South, rich and poor, who intend to remain within the South, in weal or woe, will not be deceived by this crafty plan to deliver the South into the hands of free negroism. They see that any thing short of a maintenance of our independence, absolutely, is a total surrender, 'to take effect' at such time as our Abolition masters may choose to designate. This is known to them and to the advocates of the Grecian Horse of Reconstruction, because no sane man, of ordinary intelligence, does or can believe that the Republican leaders could give any guarantees which would be respected by their people. The hate between the two sections is perfect; and everybody knows the fact. Abolitionism, pinched in its belly, might seem to concede something; once fill that belly and give into its hands the Treasury and the army and navy, and the South becomes a San Domingo. Even supposing that the Abolition Government at Washington, after 'reconstruction,' should affect to execute what it had promised, is there any Southern fool so utterly besotted as to suppose that that Government would not wink at and privately promote raida like that into Virginia?"

All thoughts of reconstruction were soon given up, and in its place sanguine hopes were encouraged of the future glory of the Confederacy.

At this time, previous to the surrender of Fort Sumter, a considerable Confederate force was, in a manner, besieging Fort Pickens at Pensacola, under the command of Gen. Bragg. Meanwhile, the Federal fleet lay off at anchor. Supplies having been taken to the fleet by the sloop Isabella, Capt. Jones, of Mobile, the vessel was seized and turned over to the military authorities, and the captain arrested. The charge was that he had attempted to convey supplies on his own private account, or that of his owners, to the United States vessels.

Capt. Jones, in vindication of his rights, afterwards sued out a writ of habeas corpus, through his wife, and had a hearing before the Judge of the Circuit Court at Mobile.

His counsel contended that his arrest was illegal and unauthorized, raising the points whether a state of war existed, which alone could justify such an arrest; and whether Capt. Jones had been arrested within a jurisdiction embracing Mobile; for if so, Gen. Bragg and not the Court should adjudge the offence. He demanded the discharge of the prisoner.

Counsel against the prisoner held that the arrest was made under the regulations of the Confederate States; that a state of war existed by the acts of the Administration; and if the army regulations were decided not to prevail,

then the Court would be protecting the enemy. He thought the case a leading one, and therefore important.

The Court confessing that the anomalous state of political and inter-State affairs surrounded the question with embarrassment, D. C. Green, in order to release the Court from all responsibility, discharged the prisoner from custody. The counsel for the defence insisted upon the Court's passing judgment, but his demand was not acceded to, and Capt. Jones was released.

The reputed owners of the sloop refused to receive her, intending to hold the captors responsible for all loss incurred.

Subsequently, in the month of June, after the relations of the North and South had changed, the Grand Jury of the District Court of the Confederate States found a true bill against three other persons, charging them with treason against the Confederate States, in having traitorously carried and delivered a cargo of fruit to the enemy's fleet off Pensacola. The Court, in its charge to the jury, stated the law to be, that furnishing provisions or important intelligence to the enemy was treasonable. The penalty for that offence, on conviction, was death.

The military operations consisted merely in enlisting and equipping soldiers, and sending them forward to the positions occupied by the Confederate forces in the other seceded States. No hostile soldier put his foot on the soil of Alabama during the year. This was entirely in consequence of her position. She is bounded by the other Confederate States except on the South, where her sea coast is small and less important than other points.

At the time of the secession of the State a small force was sent to aid the volunteers in Florida to capture and hold the Navy Yard and forts at Pensacola. On the 10th of April, President Davis made a requisition on the Governor for three thousand soldiers. On the 1st of May, the first battalion of the Third State Regiment left for Virginia; and on the 15th more troops were sent to Pensacola. Indeed, the business of preparing for the war became the all-engrossing subject in the principal cities, but especially Mobile. One of the public citizens, in rather enthusiastic language, describes the alacrity of the people:

"The like, where it has been left to the free volition of the people without any extraneous appliances to stir enthusiasm, and without the slightest compulsion of Government, the world has never witnessed. We saw men coming, when the news had been scattered abroad that their company had received marching orders,' by ones, twos, threes, to the place of rendezvous, on foot, on horseback, in mule wagons, and every way, without the slightest command or compulsion, save the commands of patriotism. They gather noiselessly at the electric summons of patriotism as the storms gather down behind the horizon of a clear, still day,

when mustering for a tornado, and their stillness to us is as portentous. Can a people moved by such stern, quiet impulses of patriotism be conquered? Never!"

Forts Morgan and Gaines were taken possession of by State troops under orders from the Governor, on the 4th of January, while the State continued a member of the Union. (See FORTS.)

On the 19th of January, four days after Secretary Dix took charge of the Treasury Department of the United States, he sent the Chief Clerk of the First Comptroller's Office, W. H. Jones, to Mobile and New Orleans, to save, if possible, the two revenue cutters stationed at those places. At Mobile Mr. Jones could not find the captain (Morrison) of the cutter Lewis Cass, but he discovered in the cabin the following letter, which explains the surrender of the vessel to the Alabama authorities:

STATE OF ALABAMA, Collector's Office.

J. J. Morrison:

SIR: In obedience to an ordinance recently adopted by a convention of the people of Alabama, I have to require you to surrender into my hands, for the use of the State, the revenue cutter Lewis Cass, now under your command, together with her armaments, properties, and provisions on board the same. I am instructed also to notify you that you have the option to continue in command of the said revenue cutter under the same duties that you have hitherto rendered to the authority of the State of Alabama, in the exercise of United States, and at the same compensation, reporting to this office and to the Governor of the State. In surrendering the vessel to the State, you will furnish me with a detailed inventory of its armaments, will receive special instructions from this office in reprovisions, and properties of every description. You gard to the duties you will be required to perform. I await your immediate reply. Your obedient servant.

T. SANFORD, Collector.

The number of troops furnished by the State to the Confederate army during the year has been estimated at eighteen regiments, besides a number of companies of infantry and artillery. These independent or separate companies were sent to Pensacola, Charleston, and elsewhere, with too much despatch to admit of their remaining until a full regiment was formed.

The commerce of the State was paralyzed by the events of the year. The blockade was so effective that very few vessels were successful in entering or leaving the harbor of Mobile. The internal trade suffered from the same causes. The crops were as favorable as in any former year, but having no market for cotton which could be reached, no return was received from its cultivation, and it became valueless during the continuance of the blockade.

ALBERT, PRINCE, consort of Victoria, Queen of Great Britain, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, born at Rosenau, Aug. 26, 1819, and died at London Dec. 14, 1861. He was the second son of Ernest, Duke of Saxe-CoburgGotha, under whose superintendence he received an admirable education, which he completed by attending for three sessions at the university at Bonn. In July, 1888, he visited