USA > Georgia > Georgia's landmarks, memorials and legends, Volume II > Part 40
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SIXTY-FOURTH CONGRESS .- Williani C. Adamson, Thomas M. Bell, Charles R. Crisp, Chas. G. Edwards, Wm. Schley Howard, Dudley M. Hughes, Gordon Lee, Frank Park, Samuel J. Tribble, Carl Vinson, J. Randall Walker and J. W. Wise.
Governors
COLONIAL
James Edward Oglethorpe, humanitarian and soldier,
Founder of the Colony of Georgia 1732-1743
William Stephens, Acting Governor 1743-1751
Henry Parker, Acting Governor .1751-1754
PROVINCIAL
John Reynolds. 1754-1757
Henry Ellis. 1757-1760
James Wright, created a Baronet. 1760-1776
PROVISIONAL
Archibald Bulloch, President of the Executive Council. . . . 1776-1777 Button Gwinnett, President of the Executive Council. .1777-1777
STATE
John A. Treutlen 1777-1778
John Houstoun 1778-1778
John Wereat . .1778-1779
George Walton. 1779-1780
Richard Howley 1780-1781
Stephen Heard, President of the Senate. 1781-1781
Nathan Brownson 1781-1782
John Martin. 1782-1783
Lyman Hall. 1783-1784
John Houstoun .1784-1785
Samuel Elbert
1785-1786
Elbert Telfair.
1786-1787
George Mathews. 1781-1788
George Handly. .1788-1789
George Walton. 1789-1790
Edward Telfair 1790-1793
550
GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS
George Mathews. 1787-178S
Jared Irwin. 1796-1798
James Jackson 1798-1801
David Emanuel. 1801-1801
Josiah Tattnall. 1S01-1802
John Milledge 1802-1806
Jared Irwin
1806-1809
David B. Mitchell. 1S09-1813
William Rabun .
1817-1819
Matthew Talbot, President of the Senate. 1819-1819
John Clark 1819-1823
George M. Troup 1823-1827
John Forsyth. 1827-1829
George R. Gilmer 1829-1831
Wilson Lumpkin. 1831-1833
William Schley
1833-1837
George R. Gilmer 1837-1839
Charles J. McDonald 1839-1843
George W. Crawford. 1843-1847
George W. Towns.
1847-1851
Howell Cobb. 1851-1853
Herschel V. Johnson 1853-1857
Joseph E. Brown. 1857-1865
James Johnson, Provisional. 1865-1865
Charles J. Jenkins.
1865-1868
General T. H. Ruger, U. S. A., Military
1868-1868
Rufus E. Bullock, Reconstruction.
1868-1871
Benjamin Conley, Reconstruction, President of Senate. 1871-1872
James M. Smith. 1872-1876
Alfred H. Colquitt. 1876-1SS2
Alexander H. Stephens. 1SS2-1883
James S. Boynton, President of the Senate. 1883-1883
Henry D. McDaniel. 1SS3-1SS6
John B. Gordon 1SS6-1890
William J. Northen. 1890-1894
William Y. Atkinson 1894-189S
Allen D. Candler. 1898-1902
Joseph M. Terrell. 1902-1907
Hoke Smith. 1907-1909
Joseph M. Brown 1909-1911
Hoke Smith. 1911-1911
John M. Slaton, President of the Senate. 1911-1912
Joseph M. Brown 1912-1913
John M. Slaton 1913-1915
Nathaniel E. Harris, Governor-Elect 1915-
551
GEORGIA'S STATE FLAG
Georgia's State Flag
"The flag of the State of Georgia shall be a vertical band of blue next the staff and occupying one-third of the entire flag; the remainder of the space shall be divided into three horizontal parallel bands, the upper and lower of which bands shall be scarlet in color, and the middle band white."1
"Every battalion of volunteers shall carry the flag of the State, as its battalion colors. But this require- ment shall not be construed to prevent it from carrying, in addition thereto, any other flag or colors of its own adoption."2
"Whenever a sufficient number of the militia to con- stitute a regiment or battalion shall be detailed for service to operate beyond the limits of the State, such regiments shall be furnished by the Governor with two flags-one the regimental colors, bearing the arms of the State, the other the national colors, bearing the arms of the United States; both inscribed with the name of the regiment, etc.''3
1 Acts, 1878-9, p. 114; Code of 1895, Vol. I, p. 319.
2 Acts, 1878-9, p. 113; Code of 1895, Vol. I, p. 337.
3 Acts, 1878-9, p. 111; Code of 1895, Vol. I, p. 343.
1
SECTION VII
Historic County Seats, Chief Towns and Noted Localities
SECTION VII
HISTORIC COUNTY SEATS, CHIEF TOWNS AND NOTED LOCALITIES
APPLING
Old Holmesville. It was not until 1874 that Baxley be- came the county-seat of Appling. For nearly half a century the official business of the county was transacted at Holmesville, a town whose existence is today only a dim memory of the past. Appling was made a county in 1818 out of treaty lands acquired from the Creeks and was named for Colonel Daniel Ap- pling, a distinguished soldier of the war of 1812. But, due to unsettled conditions on what was then our western border, ten years elapsed before a county-seat was chosen. Finally an Act was approved December 8, 1828, which fixed the site for public buildings on a lot owned by one Solomon Kennedy, said lot having been selected by the judges of the Inferior Court .* This was the be- ginning of Holmesville. Its charter of incorporation as a town was granted in 1854.
Baxley. But Ifolmesville was fated. It was not on the iron highway of travel. It was not much of a center for trade, and other communities were begin- ning to bristle with the life of a new era. At last a bill was put through the Legislature, approved August 23, 1872, submitting the question of a new county-site
*Acts, 1828, p. 168.
556
GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS
to popular vote. Messrs. Seaborn Hall, Gideon H. Hol- ton, Allen P. Surrency, Isham Reddish, and James Smith were designated as commissioners to choose a site for public buildings, in the event a majority advocated re- moval.1 As a result, Baxley, a town located on what is now the Southern Railway, was two years later made the new county-seat. Baxley was named for William Baxley, an early pioneer settler in this neighborhood from the State of North Carolina. The town was in- corporated by an Act approved February 23, 1875, with Messrs. B. D. Mobley, J. M. Powell, Philip Ketterer, W. W. Beach and J. H. Comas as commissioners.2 Bax- ley is today a progressive town, with up-to-date public utilities. Its schools are among the best, and there is not a community in the State with a finer body of citi- zens.
BACON
Alma. On July 27, 1914, an Act was approved creating by Constitutional amendment, the new county of Bacon. It is proposed to create this new county out of lands embraced within the present limits of Appling, Pierce and Ware Counties, in the extreme Southern part of the State. Since there was no opposition to the bill on the part of the counties directly involved, the amendment to the Constitution passed both houses by safe majorities, and its ratification at the ballot box will be more or less of a formality. The bill creating the new county designates Alma as the county-seat. This is a small town on the Atlanta, Birmingham, and At- lantic Railroad, the commercial activities of which have already commenced to attract population from remote points. The county will bear the name of Hon. Au- gustus O. Bacon, one of Georgia's most distinguished and honored sons. In the high office of United States
1 Acts, 1872, p. 385.
2 Acts, 1875, p. 156.
557
BAKER
Senator, a position to which he was four times elected, Major Bacon was the intellectual peer of any of his col- leagues; and at the time of his death was chairman of the Senate committee on foreign relations. As a par- liamentarian, as a ready debater, and as a sound Consti- tutional lawyer, he possessed few equals. Major Bacon was the first member of the United States Senate to be returned to the upper house of Congress, under the new law providing for the popular election of United States Senators, at which time he was re-elected for a fourth term without opposition. His death on February 15, 1914, in Washington, D. C., on the eve of a threatened rupture with Mexico was deplored as a national calamity, and messages of regret were received from every part of the world, some of these coming from crowned heads. Senator J. L. Sweat, of the Fifth District, stated in the Senate, when this measure was pending, that in 1872, during the administration of Gov. James M. Smith, this county had been authorized by the Legislature, under the name of Nicholls County, but was vetoed by the Gov- ernor for Constitutional reasons.
BAKER
Newton. In 1825, Baker was formed out of a part of Early County, and named for Colonel John Baker, of the Revolution. The original county-seat of Baker was a little hamlet called Byron. But, under an Act approved December 26, 1831, stating as a cause of complaint that the county-seat was then within a mile of the Lee County line, a commission was appointed to locate a new county-site on lot number one hundred and seventy-two, in the eighth district; and out of this pro- vision grew the present town of Newton. The following commissioners were appointed to lay off the new town into half-acre lots and to provide for the erection of public buildings, viz., Joel L. Scarboro, Henry B. Nelson, William Thomas, James Chance, and Green Tinsley .*
*Acts, 1831, p. 67.
558
GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS
It was probably for Sergeant John Newton, of the Revo- lution, that the present county-seat of Baker was named, thoughi local traditions may be at variance with this statement. Newton was incorporated as a town on Jan- uary 20, 1872, with the following board of commission- ers, to wit: A. L. Hawes, J. V. Norris, Howell Will- iams, W. C. Odum, and A. W. Muse.1
BALDWIN
The Great Anti- Major Stephen H. Miller, in his Tariff Convention : Bench and Bar of Georgia, has pre- Forsyth and Berrien in a Battle Royal. served the following detailed ac- count of one of the most dramatic debates ever known in the politics of this State.2 This was the historic occasion, to which allusion has already been made, when two of the most illustrious of Georgia's ante-bellum orators wrestled for the palm of victory in a contest whichi lasted for three days. The issue between them grew out of the famous tariff of 1832; and Forsyth supported, while Berrien antagonized the Jackson administration. Says Major Miller:
"As another scrap of political history deserving preservation, the author makes no apology for a somewhat extended notice of the Anti-Tariff Con- vention held at Milledgeville. The official record of the proceedings is now before him, and he copies the names of the delegates, with such other matters are seem most relevant. [These names are important as showing the leaders of opinion in Georgia in the early thirties.] The Convention met in the Representative Chamber, at 3 o'clock in the after- noon of Monday, the 12th of November, 1832, when the following delegates appeared :
APPLING-MALCOLM MORRISON.
BAKER-Young Allen.
BALDWIN-William H. Torrence and Samuel Rockwell.
BIBB-Robert A. Beall and Robert Collins.
BULLOCH-SAMUEL L. LOCKHART.
1 Acts, 1872, p. 303.
2 Bench and Bar of Georgia, Vol. I, Chapter on Berrien. Vol. II, Chapter on Forsyth.
559
BALDWIN
BURKE-J. Lewis, E. Hughes, and DAVID TAYLOR, JR. CAMDEN-H. R. WARD and J. HULL. CHEROKEE-Z. B. HARGROVE and W. W. WILLIAMSON. CLARKE-A. S. Clayton, Thomas Moore, and J. Ligon. COLUMBIA-Isaac Ramsey, W. A. L. Collins, and J. Cartledge. COWETA-THOMAS WATSON and OWEN H. KENAN. CRAWFORD-HENRY CROWELL and HIRAN WARNER. DECATUR-DRURY FORT and Jehu W. Keith. DE KALB-LEWIS J. DUPREE, D. KIDDOO, and O. CLARK. DOOLY-THOMAS H. KEY.
EARLY-JOSIAH S. PATTERSON.
EFFINGHAM-CIem Powers. ELBERT-Beverly Allen, I. N. Davis, J. M. Tate. EMANUEL-JOHN R. DANIEL.
GLYNN-Thomas Butler King. GREENE-W. C. Dawson, J. G. Matthews, and W. Greer. GWINNETT-J. G. PARK, W. MALTBIE, Hines Holt, and S. McMULLIN. HALL-W. H. UNDERWOOD, J. MCAFEE, R. SANFORD, and N. GARRISON. HANCOCK-THOMAS HAYNES, Tully Vinson, and JAMES LEWIS. HARRIS-Jacob M. Guerry and BARKLY MARTIN.
HEARD-Rene Fitzpatrick.
HENRY-A. R. MOORE, GIBSON CLARK, J. JOHNSON, and J. COKER. HOUSTON-WALTER L. CAMPBELL, HUGH LAWSON, and C. WELLBORN. IRWIN-WILLIAM SLONE. JACKSON-David Witt, J. Park, and J. G. PITTMAN. JASPER-ALFRED CUTHBERT, D. A. REESE, and M. PHILLIPS. JEFFERSON-Roger L. Gamble, and Philip S. Lemlie. JONES-W. S. C. Reid, J. L. Lewis, and T. G. Barron. LAURENS-David Blackshear, and Eason Allen.
LEE-JOHN G. OLIVER.
LINCOLN-REM REMSEN and Peter Lamar. MADISON-THOMAS LONG and W. M. MORTON. MARION-Wiley Williams. MCINTOSH-Thomas Spalding and James Troup.
MERIWETHER-W. W. Alexander and HUGH W. ECTOR.
MONROE-John Macpherson Berrien, Thomas N. Beall, George W. Gordon, and Elbridge G. Cabaniss.
MONTGOMERY-Joseph Ryals. MORGAN-W. S. Stokes, Van Leonard, and C. Campbell. MUSCOGEE-Allen Lawhon and W. S. CLIFTON. NEWTON-Charles Kennon, Richard L. Sims, and Seth P. Storrs. OGLETHORPE-George R. Gilmer and John Moore.
PULASKI-BURWELL W. BRACEWELL.
PUTNAM-L. W. Hudson, C. P. Gordon. RABUN-SAMUEL FARRIS and HENRY T. MOSELY. RANDOLPH-BENJAMIN HOLLAND,
560
GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS
RICHMOND-JOHN FORSYTH, WILLIAM CUMMING, and JOHN P. KING.
SCREVEN- A. S. Jones, and P. L. Wade.
TALBOT-Samuel W. Flournoy and N. B. POWELL.
TALIAFERRO-Absalom Janes and S. C. Jeffries.
TATTNALL-Joseph Tillman.
THOMAS-WILLIAM H. REYNOLDS and A. J. Dozier.
TROUP-Samuel A. Bailey and Julius C. Alford.
UPSON-Reubeu J. Crews and John Robinson.
WALTON-THOMAS W. HARRIS, T. J. HILL, and ORION STROUD.
WARREN-Henry Lockhart and THOMAS GIBSON, JR.
WASHINGTON-S. ROBINSON, J. Peabody, and MORGAN BROWN.
"From the above roll, it appears that one hundred and thirty delegates presented credentials from sixty-one counties. [Chatham does not appear to have sent delegates, but John Macpherson Berrien, though credited to Monroe, was a citizen of Chatham. He was also leader of the anti-tariff forces. The names in capitals represent the Forsyth delegates; the names in small letters the Berrien delegates.] Hon. George R. Gilmer was elected President, and William Y. Hansell, Benjamin T. Mosely, and Mansfield Torrance, Esqs., were appointed secretaries.
"On motion of Mr. [W. H.] Torrance, it was decided to appoint a Com- mittee of Twenty-One, whose duty it should be to report resolutions' ex- pressive of the sense of the Convention in regard to the best mode of ob- taining relief from the Protective System, to report what objects ought to engage the attention of the Convention, and to suggest the most effecive means of accomplishing the same. [Time was required for selecting this important committee; and consequently, after transacting a few minor matters, the Convention adjourned.]
"On the second day, Mr. Forsyth' moved that a committee of five be appointed by the President to examine and report at the next meeting by what authority the various persons present were empowered to att as delegates, the credentials which they possessed, etc. Mr. Torrance, in lieu thereof, moved as a substitute that a Committee of Elections be named to inquire into the right of any member to hold his seat, whenever the same should be contested. Both motions were laid on the table for the time being. The President then announced the Committee of Twenty-One, to wit: Messrs. Blackshear, Berrien, Forsyth, Cumming, Clayton, Cuthbert, Gamble, Reese, Spalding, Tate, Rockwell, Beall of Bibb, Taylor of Burke, Bailey, Warner, Dawson, Haynes, Gordon of Putnam, Clark of Henry, Janes and Harris.
"On the third day Mr. Forsyth called up his resolution of the day before, and Mr. Berrien moved to amend. Thus began the battle royal be- tween the giants. Perhaps on no other occasion in Georgia was there such an imposing display of eloquence. Mr. Forsyth stood forth in the majesty of his intellect and the graces of his unrivaled elocution. For
561
BALDWIN
three days the Convention and the crowded galleries listened to the debate with rapt attention. All conceded the victory to Mr. Forsyth in the pre- liminary discussion. He seemed like a giant, bearing down all obstacles in his way. Mr. Berrien took the floor amid plaudits from the galleries. He waved his hand and shook his head gravely, his beaming face upward, to repress the demonstration in his favor. What delight he afforded all present by his polished style and sweet deliverey may be imagined by those who have had the good fortune to hear this American Cicero. Other speakers participated in the discussion; but the author does not remember all of them, though a spectator. Col. William Cumming, in point of dignity and force, called to mind a proud Roman Senator. Messrs. Clayton, Torrance, Rockwell, Cuthbert, Spalding, Beall, G. W. Gordon, Haynes and Alford were among the principal debaters. Gov. Gilmer made an argument with his usual zeal and ability on the main question, at another stage of the Convention.
"On Friday, General Blackshear, Chairman of the Committee of Twenty- One, made a report, which was read to the Convention by Mr. Berrien. It emphasized State Rights, set forth the limited powers of the Federal Gov- ernment, and declared the several tariff acts of Congress, designed for the protection of domestic manufactures, to be unconstitutional and void. It also recommended unanimity of action on the part of the aggrieved States of the South, and authorized the president of the Convention to communicate the action of the body to these sister Commonwealths.
"Mr. Forsyth offered a substitute for this report, denying the necessity for any radical action of this kind in regard to the tariff, and suggesting that the Legislature be asked to appoint delegates to a Southern Conven- tion to discuss measures of relief, whenever the other States of the South were agreed in regard to the wisdom of this method of redress.
"The substitute was lost, but before a vote was taken in the Conven- tion on the Report of the Committee of Twenty-One, Mr. Forsyth laid on the secretary 's table a protest signed by himself and some fifty delegates, all of whom then retired together from the Convention. The scene was very exciting, but it passed off quietly; and, after slight amendments, the report was adopted by a vote of 64 yeas and six nays. Two important committees were appointed-one to address the people of Georgia, consisting of Messrs. Berrien, Clayton, Gordon of Putnam, Beall of Bibb, and Torrance ; and the other styled the Central Committee, consisting of Messrs. Torrance, Rockwell, John H. Howard, Samuel Boykin and James S. Calhoun, to take whatever steps were necessary to give effect to the measures adopted.
"The author has dwelt freely on these topics for the principal reason that the young men of the State should understand the condition of parties, at a season of great peril to the Union; and also because the Convention was anterior to the "Ordinance of Nullification" in a sister State. No formal action was ever taken at the ballot-box to carry out the objects of the Convention. "
562
GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS
The Secession One of the best narrative accounts of the
Convention. great Secession Convention at Milledge- ville was written by Colonel Isaac W. Avery for his well-known "History of Georgia-1850- 1881," and from the chapter which deals with this sub- ject the following resume is condensed. Says he :
"The Secession Convention was the ablest body ever convened in Georgia. Its membership included nearly every well-known public man in the State, and represented nearly every shade of political opinion. The President of the Convention was George W. Crawford, who had been Governor of the State from 1843 to 1847, a gentleman of commanding ability and wide influence, and a recognized popular leader for years. There was Robert Toombs, United States Senator, afterwards Secretary of State; the two famous Stephens brothers, Alexander H. Stephens, Vice-President of the Confederate States, and Linton Stephens, Judge of the Supreme Court; ex-Governor Herschell V. Johnson, candidate for Vice-President on the Douglas ticket and ex-United States Senator; Eugenius A. Nisbet, ex- Member of Congress and ex-Judge of the Supreme Court; Benjamin H. Hill, afterwards United States Senator; Alfred H. Colquitt, subsequently a Major-General, Governor, and United States Senator; Henry L. Benning and Hiram Warner, the one an ex-Judge and the other an ex-Chief Jus- tice of the Supreme Court. There was also Augustus H. Kenan, Washington Poe, David J. Bailey, ex-President of the Georgia Senate; William T. Wof- ford, afterwards a Major-General; Francis S. Bartow, soon to be the first martyr of Manassas; Thomas R. R. Cobb, an eminent lawyer, afterwards a Brigadier-General, killed at Fredericksburg; Dr. H. R. Casey, Judge R. H. Clarke, Hiram P. Bell, afterwards both a Confederate and a Federal Con- gressman; Dr. J. P. Logan, an eminent physician; William H. Dabney, D. P. Hill, Goode Bryan, Judge William B. Fleming, Henry R. Harris, afterwards a Member of Congress; Thomas P. Saffold, Judge Augustus Reese, Dr. Alexander Means, afterwards President of Emory College; Par- medus Reynolds, Arthur Hood, Henry D. McDaniel, afterwards Governor; Charles Murphey, afterwards a Member of Congress; Willis A. Hawkins, afterwards Judge of the Supreme Court; T. M. Furlow, A. H. Hansell, S. B. Spencer, P. W. Alexander, James P. Simmons, Nathaniel M. Craw- ford, Carey W. Styles, N. A. Carswell and John L. Harris.
"Among these gentlemen two were the most unexpected and potential workers for secession. Judge Eugenius A. Nisbet, the author of the Ordi- nance of Secession, had always been a very conservative public man. He was' small of statue, though of great personal dignity. He possessed un- usual culture and erudition, and was a Christian of profound piety. Having been a Congressman and a Judge of the Supreme Court, he was known for eloquence, learning and ability, and was characterized by a moral and social character of exquisite purity. The other of these two unlooked-for
563
BALDWIN
disunion advocates was Thomas R. R. Cobb. Like Judge Nisbet, he was an earnest, fervent Christian worker, but, unlike his distinguished col- league, he had never taken any part in State or national politics. He was a lawyer of marvelous industry and acumen. But the secession issue had aroused the fervor of his earnest soul, and the election of Lincoln threw him into the political arena, the most intense, unwearied champion of secession in the State. All of the powerful energies of his will and mind were bent upon withdrawing Georgia from the Union and establishing a Southern Confederacy. As Mr. Stephens fitly called him, Mr. Cobb was a sort of Peter the Hermit in this secession crusade, pursuing it with an almost fanatical enthusiasm.
"Mr. Albert Lamar was made the Secretary of the Convention. Gov- ernor Brown and Hon. Howell Cobb were invited to seats on the floor. The assemblage was addressed by James L. Orr, Commissioner from South Carolina, and by Hon. John G. Shorter, Commissioner from Alabama, ex- plaining the attitude of those States, and seeking the co-operation of Georgia in disunion. On January the 18th, Judge Nisbet introduced a resolution calling for a committee to report an ordinance of secession. This precipitated the issue. For Judge Nisbet's resolution, ex-Governor John- son, acting in concert with Mr. Stephens, offered a substitute, written by the former, proposing a plan of co-operation among the Southern States and suggesting a Congress for this purpose, to be held in Atlanta on the 16th of February, 1861. There were various other recitals in the substitute, dealing with the difficulties of the situation and setting forth the wrongs of the South; but the main idea of the substitute was to secure concert of action before any radieal steps were taken. It was further provided that on the 25th of February an adjourned meeting of the Convention was held for final deliberation upon the matter.
"The discussion of this issue was elaborate, able, and eloquent. Judge Nisbet, Governor Johnson, T. R. R. Cobb, Mr. Stephens, Alexander Means, Augustus Reese, Ben Hill and Francis S. Bartow, all spoke. It was a battle of giants. The secession champions were Nisbet, Cobb, Toombs, Reese, and Bartow, and pitted against them in favor of a further attempt at a friendly settlement of troubles, were Johnson, Stephens, Means and Hill. The key-note of the secessionists, as condensed by Mr. T. R. R. Cobb, in a speech of rare power, was: 'We can make better terms out of the Union than in it,' and Mr. Stephens was of the opinion that this single, focal idea of Mr. Cobb, looking to a more certain re-formation of the Union on a higher vantage ground outside the Union, did more to carry the State out than all the arguments of all the others combined. The position of the anti-secessionists was enunciated by Mr. Stephens in the sentence that ' the point of resistance should be the point of aggression.' Secession as a remedy for anticipated aggressions was deemed to be neither wise nor politic, and these gentlemen opposing secession believed that Georgia,
564
GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS
standing firm with the border States in an effort to obtain a redress of grievances, would succeed; but a Higher Power was ruling the occasion.
"Governor Johnson's motion to refer both resolution and substitute to a special committee was lost; and after the debate was over, the previous question being called and sustained, the Convention was brought to a direet vote on Mr. Nisbet's resolution favoring secession. The resolution was passed by a vote of 166 yeas and 130 nays. It gave the secessionists the vic- tory, but emphasized the strength and character of the conservative senti- ment. The truth is that some of the strongest intellects of the State op- posed secession, not as a right, but as a remedy for existing evils. Mr. Toombs was the undoubted head of the secessionists in the Convention. His superb qualities of leadership and his double leverage as a Senator of the United States and as a delegate upon the floor, equipped him for hasten- ing the march of the revolution. He had made a speech in the United States Senate, on January 7, 1861, or surpassing power, in which he set forth the demands of the South, all of them based upon Constitutional guarantees; and, fresh from this great tilt in the national arena, he was the acknowledged leader of the disruptive forces. [The fact that Mr. Toombs, in 1850, when secession was first advocated in Georgia, had sought to extinguish the fires and had repeatedly avowed his devotion to the Union, both in and out of Congress, only gave him an additional element of strength.]
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