element had been eliminated, there could be no hope of a favorable action.

That remnant of the Southern party was again divided by the candidacy of the Honorable John Bell, of Tennessee. "Spent by the fury of the shock," the different Democratic candidates each sustained a defeat, as was to have been expected, until the party united on the nomination and election of handsome, knightly Mr. Breckenridge, who told me immediately after it, I trust I have the courage to lead a forlorn hope."

Thus Mr. Lincoln was finally elected over the divided household of our faith on issues antagonistic to our institutions. To the South he represented nothing but the embodiment of the enmity of his party. He was the candidate of a part only of the people of the United States, elected with the express understanding that he would rule in hostility over the minority, while ostensibly acting as the guardian of the whole country.

CHAPTER XLV.

MR. DAVIS WITHDRAWS FROM THE SENATE.

THE story of Mr. Davis's final withdrawal from the Senate of the United States shall be told in his own words:

"Mississippi was the second State to withdraw from the Union, her ordinance of secession being adopted on January 9, 1861. She was quickly followed by Florida on the 10th, Alabama on the 11th, and, in the course of the same month, by Georgia on the 18th, and Louisiana on the 26th. The conventions of these States (together with that of South Carolina) agreed in designating Montgomery, Ala., as the place, and February 4th as the day, for the assembling of a Congress of the seceding States, to which each State convention, acting as the direct representative of the sovereignty of the people thereof, appointed delegates.

Telegraphic intelligence of the secession of Mississippi had reached Washington some considerable time before the fact was officially communicated to me. This official knowledge I considered it proper to await before

taking formal leave of the Senate. My associates from Alabama and Florida concurred in this view. Accordingly, having received notification of the secession of these three States about the same time, on January 21st, Messrs. Yulee and Mallory, of Florida, Fitzpatrick and Clay, of Alabama, and myself, announced the withdrawal of the States from which we were respectively accredited, and took leave of the Senate at the same time.

'In the action which she then took, Mississippi certainly had no purpose to levy war against the United States, or any of them. As her senator, I endeavored plainly to state her position in the annexed remarks addressed to the Senate in taking leave of the body:

"I rise, Mr. President, for the purpose of announcing to the Senate that I have satisfactory evidence that the State of Mississippi, by a solemn ordinance of her people, in convention assembled, has declared her separation from the United States. Under these circum. stances, of course, my functions are terminated here. It has seemed to me proper, however, that I should appear in the Senate to announce that fact to my associates, and I will say but very little more. The occasion does not invite me to go into argument, and my physical condition would not permit me to