TOOMBS AND SECESSION.
On the 16th of January, the State Sovereignty convention met in
Milledgeville, Ga. The election had taken place shortly after the
delivery of Senator Toombs' farewell address, and Georgia had answered
to his call in the election of delegates by giving a vote of 50,243 in
favor of secession, and 39,123 against it. The convention was presided
over by George W. Crawford, who had lived in retirement since the death
of President Taylor in 1850, and who was called on to lend his prestige
and influence in favor of the rights of his State. The convention went
into secret session, and when the doors were opened, Hon. Eugenius A.
Nisbet of Bibb offered a resolution, "That in the opinion of this
convention, it is the right and duty of Georgia to secede from the
Union." On the passage of this, the yeas were 165 and the noes 130. Mr.
Toombs voted "yes," and Messrs. Hill, Johnson, and Stephens, "no." Next
day the committee of seventeen, through Judge Nisbet, reported the
Ordinance of Secession. It was short and pointed; it simply declared
that the people of the State of Georgia, in convention assembled,
repealed the ordinance of 1788, whereby the Constitution of the United
States was ratified and adopted. The Union was declared dissolved, so
far as the State of Georgia was concerned, and the State to be in full
possession of all those rights of sovereignty that belonged to a free
and independent State. On the passage of this ordinance, the yeas were
208, and the noes, 89. Messrs. Toombs and Hill "yes," and Mr. Stephens
"no." At 2.15 P. M. on the 19th of January, a signal gun was fired, and
the "Stars and Stripes" lowered from the State Capitol. One moment
later, the white colonial flag of Georgia fluttered to the winds, and
the State was in uproar. The news flashed to the utmost corners of the
commonwealth. Guns were fired, bells rung, and men were beside
themselves. The night only intensified this carnival of joy. There were
some men who shook their heads and doubted the wisdom of this step, and
there were women and little children who regarded these demonstrations
with awe. They did not comprehend what was meant by "going out of the
Union," and by some inscrutable instinct feared the result of such an
act. The old Union sentiment was, perhaps, stronger in Georgia than in
any other Southern State. Georgia was the youngest of the thirteen
States, the last of the commonwealth to come into the national compact.
Her charter from the Crown had originally barred slavery from her
limits, but the success of the institution in Carolina, the progress of
other States in subduing land and in cultivating indigo and tobacco in
the Southern savannas, rendered white labor unavailable, and left
Georgia a laggard in the work of the younger colonies. Finally, slaves
were admitted, and commerce and agriculture seemed to thrive. But if the
State had preserved its original charter restrictions, it is not certain
that, even then, the Union sentiment would have prevailed. As Senator
Toombs had declared: "The question of slavery moves not the people of
Georgia one-half so much as the fact that you insult their rights as a
community. Abolitionists are right when they say that there are
thousands and tens of thousands of people in Georgia who do not own
slaves. A very large portion of the people of Georgia own none of them.
In the mountains there are but a few of them; but no part of our people
is more loyal to race and country than our bold and hardy mountain
population, and every flash of the electric wire brings me cheering news
from our mountain-tops and our valleys that these sons of Georgia are
excelled by none of their countrymen in loyalty to their rights, the
honor and glory of the commonwealth. They say, and well say, this is our
question: we want no negro equality; no negro citizenship; we want no
mongrel race to degrade our own, and, as one man, they would meet you
upon the border with the sword in one hand and the torch in the other.
They will tell you, 'When we choose to abolish this thing (slavery), it
must be done under our direction, according to our will. Our own, our
native land shall determine this question, and not the Abolitionists of
the North.' That is the spirit of our freemen."
The spirit of the people was plainly manifested by the zeal and ardor of
Thomas R. R. Cobb. He was a young man who went into the secession
movement with lofty enthusiasm. He had all the ardor and religious
fervor of a crusader. He had never held public office, and had taken no
hand in politics until the time came for Georgia to secede. He was the
younger brother of Howell Cobb. He declared that what Mr. Stephens said
was the determining sentiment of the hour, that "Georgia could make
better terms out of the Union than in it." The greater part of the
people was fired with this fervor, which they felt to be patriotic.
Gray-bearded men vied with the hot blood of youth, and a venerable
citizen of Augusta, illuminating his residence from dome to cellar,
blazoned with candles this device upon his gateway--"Georgia, right or
wrong--Georgia!" Never was a movement so general, so spontaneous. Those
who charged the leaders of that day with precipitating their States into
revolution upon a wild dream of power, did not know the spirit and the
temper of the people who composed that movement. Northern men who had
moved South and engaged in business, as a general thing, stood shoulder
to shoulder with their Southern brethren, and went out with the
companies that first responded to the call to war. The South sacrificed
much, in a material point of view, in going into civil conflict. In the
decade between 1850 and 1860, the wealth of the South had increased
three billions of dollars, and Georgia alone had shown a growth measured
by two hundred millions. Her aggregate wealth at the time she passed the
Ordinance of Secession was six hundred and seventy-two millions, double
what it is to-day. In one year her increase was sixty-two millions.
Business of all kinds was prospering. But her people did not count the
cost when they considered that their rights were invaded. Georgia was
the fifth State to secede. South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, and
Florida had preceded her. Of the six States which formed the Provisional
Government, Georgia had relatively a smaller number of slaves than any,
and her State debt was only a little more than two and a half millions
of dollars. Her voting population was barely 100,000, but she furnished,
when the test came, 120,000 soldiers to the Confederate army.
As a contemporary print of those times remarked, "The Secession
convention of Georgia was not divided upon the subject of rights or
wrongs, but of remedies." Senator Toombs declared that the convention
had sovereign powers, "limited only by God and the right." This policy
opened the way to changing the great seal and adopting a new flag. Mr.
Toombs was made chairman of the committee on Foreign Relations and
became at once Prime Minister of the young Republic. He offered a
resolution providing that a congress of seceded States be called to meet
in Montgomery on the 4th of February. He admonished the convention that,
as it had destroyed one government, it was its pressing duty to build up
another. It was at his request that commissioners were appointed from
Georgia to the other States in the South. Mr. Toombs also introduced a
resolution, which was unanimously adopted, "That the Convention highly
approves the energetic and patriotic conduct of Governor Brown in
seizing Fort Pulaski."
The Ordinance of Secession was, on the 31st of January, signed by all
the members of the convention, in the open air, in the Capitol grounds.
The scene was solemn and impressive. Six delegates entered their
protests, but pledged "their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred
honor" in defense of Georgia against coercion and invasion.
When the time came for the election of delegates to the Provisional
Congress at Montgomery, Robert Toombs was unanimously selected as the
first deputy from the State at large. His colleague, Howell Cobb, was
chosen on the third ballot. The district selected Francis S. Bartow,
Martin J. Crawford, E. A. Nisbet, B. H. Hill, A. R. Wright, Thomas R. R.
Cobb, A. H. Kennan, and A. H. Stephens.
The address to the people of Georgia adopted by this convention, was
written by Mr. Toombs. It recited that "our people are still attached to
the Union from habit, national tradition, and aversion to change." The
address alluded to our "Northern Confederates" and declared that the
issue had been "deliberately forced by the North and deliberately
accepted by the South. We refuse to submit to the verdict of the North,
and in vindication we offer the Constitution of our country. The people
of Georgia have always been willing to stand by this compact; but they
know the value of parchment rights in treacherous hands." The report
charged that the North had outlawed three thousand millions of our
property, put it under a ban, and would subject us, not only to a loss
of our property, but to destruction of our homes and firesides. It
concludes: "To avoid these evils, we withdraw the powers that our
fathers delegated to the government of the United States, and henceforth
seek new safeguards for our liberty, security, and tranquillity."
On the 4th of February, 1861, forty-two delegates met at Montgomery,
Ala. The States of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi,
and South Carolina were represented. Howell Cobb of Georgia was chosen
President of the Provisional Congress. Mr. Stephens said it was the most
intellectual body of men he had ever seen. One of the first duties of
this convention was to elect a President and vice president of the new
Confederacy. All eyes were turned to Robert Toombs. It was by common
consent agreed that Georgia, owing to her commanding position, her
prominence in the movement, and her wealth of great men, should furnish
the President. Toombs towered even above the members of that convention.
Bold, imperious, and brainy, he had guided the revolution without haste
or heat, and his conservative course in the Georgia convention had
silenced those critics who had called him "the genius of the
revolution," but denied to him the constructive power to build upon the
ruins he had made. He had, in the choice of delegates to the Provisional
Congress, boldly advocated the election of Mr. Stephens from his own
district, although the latter was a Union man and, at that time, was not
on good terms with Toombs. Toombs declared that Alexander Stephens was a
patriot notwithstanding his views against secession. He had secured the
recommitment of a dangerous resolution upon slavery which, he declared,
would injure the South by the announcement of an ultra policy. He had
written a very conservative letter to Senator Crittenden. He had been a
prominent Secessionist, and had contemplated the movement as unavoidable
when men were talking with bated breath. But in the opening of the
revolution, he had proven a safe counselor. Mr. Toombs was approached,
and announced that he would accept the presidency if it were offered
with unanimity. He was surprised to learn that the delegates from four
States had agreed on Jefferson Davis. When this report was confirmed,
Mr. Toombs, ignorant of the real cause of this sudden change of
sentiment, forbade further canvass of his own claims, and cordially
seconded the nomination of Mr. Davis. Mr. Toombs was a man of rare
magnanimity. He was absolutely without envy or resentment, and turning
to Mr. Stephens, pressed him to accept second place on the ticket. The
announcement of a Georgian for vice president effectually disposed of
his own chance for the presidency. The fact was that Mr. Toombs was the
first choice of Georgia, as he was thought to be of Florida, Carolina,
and Louisiana. Jefferson Davis had not been presented by Mississippi. He
had been selected by that State as the commander-in-chief of the
military forces and himself preferred a military station. He was not in
Montgomery when his nomination was confirmed. A messenger had to be
dispatched to inform him of his election as President of the Confederate
States of America.
The sudden selection of Mr. Davis by four States probably carries a bit
of secret history. Old party antagonisms arose at the last moment to
confront the candidacy of Mr. Toombs. Toombs had summarily left the Whig
party in 1850, to join the great Constitutional Union movement.
Jefferson Davis had always been a States' Rights Democrat, and had been
defeated for Governor of Mississippi by the Constitutional Union party.
Thus it would seem that, at the eleventh hour, party lines were drawn
against Robert Toombs, and his boast that he had saved the Union in 1850
probably cost him the presidency of the new republic. There was a story,
credited in some quarters, that Mr. Toombs' convivial conduct at a
dinner party in Montgomery estranged from him some of the more
conservative delegates, who did not realize that a man like Toombs had
versatile and reserved powers, and that Toombs at the banquet board was
another sort of a man from Toombs in a deliberative body.
At all events, the recognized leader of the Confederacy was set aside,
and with rare unanimity the election of officers was accepted with
unselfish patriotism.
At that time a curious and remarkable incident in the life of Mr. Toombs
was related. Within thirty days he had performed journeys to the extent
of fifteen hundred miles, largely by private conveyance, and during that
brief period he served under four distinct governments: as senator in
the Congress of the United States, as delegate from his native county
(Wilkes) to the convention of the sovereign republic of Georgia, as
deputy from his State to the Congress of seceding States, which
instituted a Provisional Government, and finally in the permanent
government which he aided in framing for the Confederate States of
America.
In the perfection of a permanent government and the new-molding of a
Constitution, Mr. Toombs was now diligently engaged. The principal
changes brought about by him may be briefly recalled. It was specified,
in order to cut off lobby agents, that Congress should grant no extra
compensation to any contractor after the service was rendered. This item
originated with Mr. Toombs, who had noted the abuses in the Federal
Government. Congress was authorized to grant to the principal officer of
each of the executive departments a seat upon the floor of either house,
without a vote, but with the privilege of discussing any measure
relating to his department. This was an old idea of Mr. Toombs, and
during his visit abroad, he had attended sessions of the British
Parliament in company with Mr. Buchanan, then Minister to England. He
had been impressed with the value of the presence in Parliament of the
Ministers themselves. During a debate in the United States Senate in
1859, Mr. Toombs had said: "My own opinion is that it would be a great
improvement on our system if the Cabinet officers should be on the floor
of both Houses, and should participate in the debate; I have no doubt
that we should thus get rid of one of the greatest difficulties in our
Constitution."
Mr. Toombs also incorporated into the organic law a prohibition of the
payment of bounties and of the internal improvement system. There was a
tax upon navigation for harbors, buoys, and beacons, but this was
adjusted upon the Toombs principle of taxing the interest for which the
burden was levied. Mr. Toombs was made chairman of the Finance Committee
of the Provisional Congress. This appointment was received with general
satisfaction. His long legislative experience, his genius for finance,
and his executive power, fitted him for this position. To provide ways
and means for the new nation which was, as yet, without resources or a
system of taxation, involved no little difficulty. It was important that
the young Confederacy should exhibit resources sufficient to equip her
armies and maintain herself before she could sue for independence or
foreign recognition. It was for these admitted qualities of Mr. Toombs
for details and management, that President Davis preferred him to take
the position of Secretary of the Treasury. Next to the presidency this
was his real place, but it was suggested that a man like Toombs deserved
the first position in the new Cabinet. A telegram from President Davis,
offering him the portfolio of Secretary of State, reached Mr. Toombs in
Augusta. He at first declined, but being urged by Mr. Stephens, finally
consented to serve. The Cabinet was then made up as follows. Robert
Toombs of Georgia, Secretary of State; C. G. Memminger of South
Carolina, Secretary of the Treasury; L. P. Walker of Alabama, Secretary
of War; J. H. Reagan of Texas, Postmaster-General; J. P. Benjamin of
Louisiana, Attorney-General; S. B. Mallory of Florida, Secretary of the
Navy.