1859 UNION-SAVING MEETINGS. 433 fifty-nine students, said the Richmond Whig, driven by the fanaticism of the North from their studies in Philadelphia, will continue them in the Medical College in this city. This will be the beginning of its prosperity, and the future will find Southern students coming to Richmond and spending here the hundreds of thousands of dollars which have heretofore gone to swell the fortunes of the people of Philadelphia.* The Enquirer described them as a band of the truest Southerners that had "yet appeared on this present revolutionary stage," as youths who had cut loose from those who encouraged rebellion against their native States and treason against their common country, "resolving no longer to encourage by their patriotism that section which harbors such incendiaries as Phillips, Passmore Williamson, and Giddings." The Press defended Philadelphia as a Southloving city, and knew that the departure of the Southern students would give pain to every one of her citizens who loved the Union.I Union-saving meetings now became common in Northern cities. That at Philadelphia pledged support to the Union and the Constitution, denounced fanaticism, expressed sympathy for Virginia, approved the execution of Brown, and opposed all meddling with slavery.§ That at New York was called "to unite the friends of this Union as it is and of the Constitution as interpreted by the Supreme Court, in a general movement of conciliation toward the South." That at Boston denounced Brown's invasion and expressed devotion to the Union.|| In the lower South the feeling against the North was well shown by an Atlanta newspaper, which published "A Black list of Republican Houses" in New York City. If we know, said the editor, of any merchant receiving goods. without the stencil mark of the house from which he buys we shall announce the trick and the merchants. Houses * Richmond Whig, December 22, 1859. || Ibid., December 9, 1859. named in the black list, we know, are steeped in Sewardism, Brownism, Greeleyism, Helperism, incendiarism.* A meeting in Savannah resolved that, if Seward or any other Republican who endorsed Helper's book were elected President, it would be a just cause for the dissolution of the Union. Two school teachers from the North living in the Williamsburg District, South Carolina, were ordered by a public meeting to leave, and a Cincinnati publication, "The World We Live In," was thrown out of the mail at Nashville by the postmaster. A traveling agent for the North American Nurseries of Rochester was forced to leave the Kanawha Valley, where he was soliciting orders. § The Governor of Louisiana in his message asked that the State meet her sisters of the South in convention if certain contingencies arose, favored retaliation for the hostility of the North, and suggested licenses for the sale of Northern goods and discrimination amounting to prohibition. The legislature resolved that the foray at Harper's Ferry was an attack on the rights of the South, and that the election of a Northern President would cause a dissolution of the Union. Mr. Memminger, having been appointed commissioner from South Carolina to Virginia, went to Richmond, and was escorted to the capital by troops. He spoke for two hours, described the Northern invasion of Southern rights, and the rise and spread of Abolitionism, drew a dreary picture of present relations between the two sections, and urged a Southern convention to decide what should be done. It was then late in January, and by that time the struggle in the House was nearing the end. On the thirtieth Sherman withdrew and William Pennington of New Jersey became the Republican candidate. February first he was elected by a bare majority, and as the news spread * Daily Southern Confederacy, quoted by New York Tribune, January 23, 1860. New York Tribune, January 27, 1860. Ibid., January 27, 1860. § Ibid., January 27, 1860. Ibid., January 20, 1860. || Ibid., January 25, 1860. 1860 THREATS OF SECESSION. 435 over the North and West the victory was celebrated in scores of cities and towns by salutes of one hundred and seventeen guns.* While the House was engaged with its wrangle over the election of a Speaker, threats of disunion were often made in the Senate. Scarcely had it been called to order on the opening day of the session when Senator Mason moved for a committee to inquire into the facts attending the Harper's Ferry invasion, whether any citizens not present were implicated by contributions of money, arms, or otherwise, and to report what legislation, if any, was necessary for the future preservation of the peace of the country and the safety of government property. Trumbull of Illinois at once reminded the Senate that in December, 1855, citizens of Missouri had robbed the arsenal at Liberty and used the arms, then taken, on a raid into Kansas, and offered an amendment providing for the investigation of this proceeding. A bitter debate followed before the amendment was defeated and Mason's resolution unanimously carried. In the course of it Iverson of Georgia told the Senate he was sure the irrepressible conflict must go on till it ended with the extinction of slavery in the Union. It was his intention, therefore, to urge the Southern States to dissolve the Union on the election of a Black Republican President by a sectional Northern party on a platform of opposition and hostility to Southern slavery. Clay of Alabama assured the Republicans that his State and all the other Southern States, with two or three exceptions, would never submit to the government of a President professing the Black Republican faith and elected by a sectional majority. Gwin of California then rose and said the South must prepare for resistance should a Republican President be elected; showed how by seizing federal property within her limits before he was inaugurated she could make it impossible for him to administer government in the South, and declared that the election. of a Republican President would surely be followed by the *New York Tribune, January 25, 1860. Congressional Globe, 36th Congress, 1st Session, Part I, p. 573. destruction of the Confederacy.* Clingman of North Carolina said that there were then hundreds of disunionists in the South where ten years before there had been but one, that in some States those who would willingly see the Union dissolved were in the majority, and that he believed the election of the Black Republican candidate for the presidency would give them sufficient cause to dissolve it.† The contest for the speakership having ended, public interest in the proceedings in Congress went down rapidly. The annual message had been read to the Senate early in December. The country, therefore, had long been aware of its contents. The President began by referring to the recent sad and bloody occurrences at Harper's Ferry, implored his "countrymen North and South to cultivate the ancient feelings of forbearance and good-will," begged them "to allay the demon spirit of sectional hatred and strife" alive in the land; congratulated them that the Supreme Court had finally settled the issue of slavery in the territories; condemned the attempts to reopen the African slave trade; again invited Congress to acquire Cuba by purchase; and asked its earnest attention to the state of affairs in Mexico. At a popular election in July, 1857, General Comonfort was chosen President of Mexico, and took the oath of office in December; but in less than a month was driven from the capital and General Zuloaga declared President by the insurgents. Under the Constitution, when the President was absent, the office passed to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Comonfort was absent, he had fled the country, and because of this the chief justice, General Juarez, formed a cabinet and established a constitutional government at Vera Cruz. An assembly of citizens, called by those hostile to both leaders, elected General Miramon. He refused to serve; but Zuloaga soon retired and Miramon became "President substitute." To open relations with Miramon was impossible. That it was wise to do so with Juarez was doubtful, and to remove all doubt an agent was sent to Mexico early in 1859 to report on the actual conditions and prospects of * Congressional Globe, 36th Congress, 1st Session, Part 1, pp. 125-126. † Ibid. 1860 THE MEXICAN TREATY. 437 the two parties. So favorable an account was given of the Constitutional party that Mr. Robert McLane was appointed minister and given authority to recognize the government of Juarez if, on reaching Mexico, it seemed entitled to recognition. McLane had no hesitation in declaring the Juarez government the only real one in Mexico, presented his credentials, and was received with every manifestation of friendly feeling toward our country. Scarcely had he been received when three American physicians, while attending the sick and dying of both parties in the hospital at Tacubaya, were seized and, without cause and without trial, were quickly executed by order of General Marquez of the Miramon government. Later in the year an American citizen was shot at Tepic by order of the same general without trial and without cause of offence. A government either unable or unwilling to redress such wrongs, Buchanan said, was "derelict to its highest duties." To ask the government at Vera Cruz for redress was useless, for its authority did not extend to the interior of Mexico, where the recent outrages had been committed. Therefore he asked for authority to send troops into Mexico to obtain indemnity for the past and security for the future, a request to which Congress made no response. What were the instructions to McLane is not known, but in December, 1859, he concluded a "treaty of transits and commerce," and a "convention to enforce treaty stipulations" which the President sent to the Senate early in January, 1860.* By the treaty the United States was granted transit rights in perpetuity over four routes. These were the right of way across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, from sea to sea, by any kind of road, for foreign goods and mails free of duty and charges; the right to move troops, stores and war material across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and from Guaymas on the Gulf of Mexico to some point on the international boundary near the one hundred and eleventh meridian; the right of way over any route or railway from Camargo and Matamoras, or any point on the Rio Grande in the Mexican * Richardson's Messages and Papers of the Presidents, Vol. 5, p. |