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Two Points Of
View.........The following are excerpts from editions
of 1861 newspapers. One from the New York Herald and the
other from Charleston Mercury.
New
York Herald
February 26,
1861
The News.
Mr. Lincoln yesterday
visited both houses of Congress and the Justices of the Supreme
Court. His appearance at the Capitol created quite a
sensation. In the evening he had an informal reception at his
hotel. Mr. Lincoln was occupied during a portion of the day in
perfecting his inaugural address. The rumors respecting Mr.
Lincoln's Cabinet are as plentiful as usual on the eve of a new
administration. The following list is supposed to be not very
wide of the mark: Secretary of State Mr. Seward, of N.Y.,
Secretary of the Treasury Mr. Cameron, of Pa., Secretary of War C.M.
Clay, of Ky. or Montgomery Blair, of Md., Secretary of the Navy Mr.
Welles, of Conn., Secretary of the Interior Mr. Smith, of Ind.
Postmaster General Mr. Etheridge, of Tenn., Attorney General Mr. Bates,
of Missouri.
The Peace Conference at
Washington were busy up to eleven o' last night discussing the points
of the plans of adjustment before them, with a determination to settle
the question, if possibly, before adjourning. The main subject in
dispute was the territorial question.
In the Southern Congress
yesterday the Committee on a Permanent Constitution announced that they
would report on Wednesday. Hon. Henry T. Ulett, of Mississippi,
and Hon. Judah P. Benjamin, of Louisiana, were confirmed as Postmaster
General and Attorney General respectively. Messrs. Abroman, of
Louisiana, Mr. J. Crawford, of Georgia, and John Forsyth, of Alabama,
have been appointed Commissioners to Washington.
Dispatches from Texas
announce that General Twiggs, the commander of the federal troops in
that department, has turned over to the State authorities the property
of the United States Valued at $1,300,000. The federal troops
were allowed to depart quietly. There are, we believe, about two
thousand United States troops in Texas. General Twiggs, it will
be recollected, has been offered the command of the Georgia States
troops.
We publish in another
column the new Tariff act recently adopted by the Congress of the
Southern Confederate States. It will be seen that all kinds of
provisions, agricultural productions in their natural state, and
munitions of war are exempt from duty. All merchandise purchased
in any of the States not members of the Southern confederacy, during
the ten days subsequent to the 18th instant, the date of the passage of
the Tariff act, is also exempt from duty, provided said merchandise be
imported into the States of the Southern confederacy before the 4th of
March next. We also publish a circular from the Collector of the
port of Charleston giving notice that all vessels from States not
members of the Confederate States will, from and after the 22nd inst.
be regarded as foreign vessels, and as such must enter, clear, pay fees
and comply with all the laws and regulations in force on the 1st of
November last. Large orders for goods have been received at the
North from the seceded States since the passage of the Tariff act
referred to above. Collector Hatch, of New Orleans, has decided
that goods purchased and invoiced on the 28th inst. can be shipped on
board the steamer Bienville, which leaves New York on the 1st of March
for New Orleans and will be exempt from duty.
In Congress yesterday the
Senate passed the House bill authorizing the discontinuance of the
postal service in the seceded States. The bill now goes to the
President for his signature. The vote stood 34 to 12. The
Miscellaneous Appropriation bill was taken up, the amendment for
carrying out the Chiriqui contract was rejected, and the bill
passed. The Oregon and Washington War Debt bill, and various
Territorial bills, are special orders for the day. In the House
the Tariff bill was taken up. The Senate's amendments, levying a
tax on tea and coffee, were rejected, but all the other amendments of
the Senate were agreed to. The bill was sent to the Senate, and a
conference committee will be appointed on the tea and coffee
amendments. The Force bill is the first business in order today.
The garrison at Fort
Sumter fired a salute of thirty-four guns on Washington's
birthday. It is reported that Fort Moultrie responded, but how
many guns were fired by the secessionists is not stated.
The
Charleston Mercury
February 23,
1861
Our Washington
Correspondence
Washington, February 23,
1861
Surprises are not always
pleasant. Jaded by the excitement of yesterday's military
performance, to say nothing of the numerous balls at night, we were not
prepared this morning to receive the news of LINCOLN'S arrival with
that joyful enthusiasm which the suddenness of the occasion, and the
meanness, if not the magnitude, of the event demanded. That the
man of the people's choice should select, of all other methods of
reaching the capital of the United States, that method which a negro
pilferer chooses when he would despoil a hen roost, is surely, to use
old ABE'S language, "a most gratifying circumstance".
After threatening to set
his foot down firm, and announcing his entire willingness to be for the
sake of anti slavery principles, the dirty old wretch creeps
tremblingly across the soil of Maryland under the cover of darkness,
and in defiance of the lying programme he had caused to be
published. Here, with a thousand men at arms to guard him, he
considers himself safe. It is hoped that the proud old State of
Virginia will be inflamed with admiration of this daring performance,
which was not on the bills.
The Commencement of the
National Medical College came off at the Smithsonian Institute night
before last, and from what the city papers say, I infer that the
graduates from South Carolina and Mississippi were hissed, when their
names were called to come forward and receive their diplomas. But
this disgraceful occurrence was not needed to prove what has all along
been known - that this city is as thoroughly abolitionized as Boston
itself.
JOSEPH HOLT, who is more
cordially and justly hated and despised than any man in the Cabinet,
has refused to receive a box sent to him from South Carolina. The
box, when opened at the ADAMS' Express Company's office, was found to
contain beautiful flowers. No one dared to disturb these flowers,
for fear of an explosion or of some subtle poison. HOLT does not
deserve the honor of an assassination. But he is a marked
man. If ever he ventures within the confines of the Confederate
States, he will never return to practice coercion again. The
breed of such traitors cannot be perpetrated among us.
And so begins
the Civil War as we know of it today from our
American history.
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