edressed, or for which satisfaction
has not been demanded, I have, Senators, in this hour of our
parting, to offer you my apology for any pain which, in the heat
of discussion, I have inflicted. I go hence unencumbered by the
remembrance of any injury received, and having discharged the
duty of making the only reparation in my power for any injury
offered.

"Mr. President and Senators, having made the announcement which
the occasion seemed to me to require, it only remains for me to
bid you a final adieu."

There are some who contend that we should have retained
our seats and "fought for our rights in the Union." Could
anything be less rational or less consistent than that a Senator,
an ambassador from his State, should insist upon representing
it in a confederacy from which the State has withdrawn?
What was meant by "fighting in the Union" I have never
quite understood. If it be to retain a seat in Congress for the
purpose of crippling the Government and rendering it unable to
perform its functions, I can certainly not appreciate the idea of
honor that sanctions the suggestion. Among the advantages
claimed for this proposition by its supporters was that of thwarting
the President in the appointment of his Cabinet and other
officers necessary for the administration of public affairs.
Would this have been to maintain the Union formed by the
States? Would such have been the Government which Washington
recommended as a remedy for the defects of the original
Confederation, the greatest of which was the paralysis of the
action of the general agent by the opposition or indifference of
the States? Sad as have been the consequences of the war
which followed secession--disastrous in its moral, material, and
political relations--still we have good cause to feel proud that
the course of the Southern States has left no blot nor stain upon
the honor and chivalry of their people.

"And if our children must obey,
They must, but--thinking on our day--
'Twill less debase them to submit."

CHAPTER IV.

Threats of Arrest.--Departure from Washington.--Indications of
Public Anxiety.--"Will there be war?"--Organization of the "Army
of Mississippi."--Lack of Preparations for Defense in the
South.--Evidences of the Good Faith and Peaceable Purposes of
the Southern People.

During the interval between the announcement by telegraph of the
secession of Mississippi a