rward until it shall become alike lawful in all
the States, old as well as new, North as well as South.

"I have always hated slavery as much as any Abolitionist. I have
always been an old-line Whig. I have always hated it, and I
always believed it in a course of ultimate extinction. If I were
in Congress, and a vote should come up on a question whether
slavery should be prohibited in a new territory, in spite of the
Dred Scott decision I would vote that it should."

Notwithstanding the confident tone of Mr. Lincoln's statement that he
did "not expect the house to fall," it _did_ fall, and great was the
fall thereof!

On Saturday, 9th of February, 1861, six seceding States met at
Montgomery, Alabama, and organized an independent government. The
ordinances of secession were passed by the States as follows:

STATE. DATE. YEAS. NAYS.
South Carolina Dec. 20, 1860 169 ----
Mississippi Jan. 9, 1861 84 15
Alabama Jan. 11, 1861 61 39
Florida Jan. 11, 1861 62 7
Georgia Jan. 19, 1861 228 89
Louisiana Jan. 25, 1861 113 17

The following delegates presented their credentials and were admitted
and represented their respective States:

ALABAMA.--R. W. Walker, R. H. Smith, J. L. M. Curry, W. P.
Chilton, S. F. Hale Colon, J. McRae, John Gill Shorter, David P.
Lewis, Thomas Fearn.

FLORIDA.--James B. Owens, J. Patten Anderson, Jackson Morton (not
present).

GEORGIA.--Robert Toombs, Howell Cobb, F. S. Bartow, M. J.
Crawford, E. A. Nisbet, B. H. Hill, A. R. Wright, Thomas R. Cobb,
A. H. Kenan, A. H. Stephens.

LOUISIANA.--John Perkins, Jr., A. Declonet, Charles M. Conrad, D.
F. Kenner, G. E. Sparrow, Henry Marshall.

MISSISSIPPI.--W. P. Harris, Walter Brooke, N. S. Wilson, A. M.
Clayton, W. S. Barry, J. T. Harrison.

SOUTH CAROLINA.--R. B. Rhett, R. W. Barnwell, L. M. Keitt, James
Chestnut, Jr., C. G. Memminger, W. Porcher Miles, Thomas J.
Withers, W. W. Boyce.

A president and vice-president were chosen by unanimous vote.
President--Honorable Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi.
Vice-President--Honorable Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia. The
following gentlemen composed the Cabinet:

Secretary of State, Robert Toombs; Secretary of Treasury, C. G.
Memminger; Secretary